Visit the Home of Kigezi-A Museum of living Culture and Natural History!
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HOME OF KIGEZI – Museum of Living Culture and Natural History.
Tucked off the main road into Kisoro with the rolling terraced foothills all around, the HOME OF KIGEZI is a delight for those weary of the hustle and bustle of modern life. This region is known as the Switzerland of Africa and when you come here you can understand why.
A garden calls you to enter into this realm of living culture where indigenous traditions and practices embrace you. A small museum shows how people used to live in the area and how human impact has devastated the environment, which is now in urgent need of conservation, and driven urban migration that so many people have left. Relics and recycled objects demonstrate what was and what can be. Blooming with herbs and indigenous trees, life is evident in every corner, contrasting magnificently with the abundant natural materials – volcanic rocks, reeds, fibres, timber and half decayed tree stumps. For visitors the wealth of diversity in such a small space allows time to explore and really observe the intricate details. Smell the plants, feel the different textures, hear the buzzing bees and birds singing and see the explosion of colours and natural beauty unfold.
This place is filled with opportunity: to learn, to co-create, to practice, to integrate and to understand. It is said that people learn by doing and here there are many ways to get involved. These include: permaculture gardening, community walks and talks, adventure and wildlife treks, learning traditional skills like herbal tea making and weaving mats or baskets.
Best of all is that the funds raised support local community initiatives to restore and re-introduce traditional practices which empower family health and generate additional income. This conservation approach to both celebrate and create local responsibility for preserving cultural traditions is gaining momentum and visitors are engaging in the process. Ethical and eco-tourism (or whatever label you choose) fundamentally re-examine the relationship between visitor and visited and their impact upon the environment. In a fast-changing world, driven by technology and urbanisation, the rural landscape is left to bear the damages of human demands upon natural resources and biodiversity. By integrated dialogue and activity visitors are actually able to understand more very quickly from this small corner about the wider implications for our planet earth. A meaningful encounter will carry a much deeper memory and possibly even a behaviour change in how we do things, taking account of how our actions impact others and our environment.
Home of Kigezi is proud to be part of the living culture cycle which bridges this gap for visitors and locals alike. Immersing oneself in nature brings health benefits beyond wealth defined boundaries. Celebrating and re-introducing cultural skills and practices that empower families financially and physically cannot easily be measured either, as only the long-term benefits and repercussions will begin to testify as communities feel less pressure to migrate to the big urban centres for economic survival.
Family well-being through improved nutrition, basic medical care through home herbal ‘farmacy’ allows communities to be more productive and spend less on expensive healthcare. Awareness is a very powerful tool and living culture provides people the access to pick up these tools.