Today we went to visit the Rwakazina family farm (a banana and coffee plantation) in Gahanga. Gahanga is part of Kigali City, though it is rural. It was about 1 hour drive from the city center. The farm was bought 35 years ago, but none of the family ever lived on it. A landkeeper was hired who lives on the property, manages it and takes care of the livestock. A rudimentary little house was built on the property for the him to live in. On the land are banana trees, orange trees, cassava trees, coffee trees/beans, sweet potatoes, and beans. There might be others but I can't remember right now. When the Rwakazinas lived in the country, they never bought beans or bananas from the market, because they grew their own on this land. The surplus was sold. There are also two female cows ("inka") and one calf, one pig ("ingurube") and two adult goats ("ihene") and one little goat. The farm definitely has that "animal" smell.
The first thing we noticed as soon as we pulled up to the property in our minivan was one of the adult goats that was tethered to a tree while it was grazing. Somehow it had run circles around the tree, probably searching for better grass to eat, and the string attaching it to the tree had gotten shorter and shorter as it wound around the tree. It probably was only a matter of time until it choked itself, poor little goat. We tried to help it, but it was so scared of it that it would run away as soon as we approached. So Christian and Placide (the youngest of the Rwakazina cousins), decided to chase it in the opposite direction from which the string was tied to the tree. It worked. As soon as they approached, the goat started running and within 3 or 4 circles it was free again! Later on, we saw a baby goat nursing from its mother. Christian tried to grab the little goat for a picture, but it was so skittish! He finally caught it and we took some cute pictures. We'll share later. Another highlight was feeding the long-horned Inka and seeing charcoal being made on the neighbor's field. And just observing the beauty of this property and no matter where you look you see rolling hills covered with terrace farming.
There are so many other experiences from the farm to tell, but no time to tell everything. More to come...
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