Even Roosters Dream to Fly

By Felician Kanyamibwa

Even Roosters Dream to Fly is a chronicle of a hunter-turned King Manzi. The story starts in prison, where the imprisoned king is narrating his long-life journey to his youngest son. Manzi was someone who was adventurous and inquisit

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Writing Founders
• Release date: Jan 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088067697

Felician Kanyamibwa

Dr. Felicien Kanyamibwa is an activist for human rights and an advocate of humanity, justice, peace, and development. He is of a view that human beings possess superior characteristics that must be identified, embraced, nourished, and empowered to help the world make a better place.He is the author of two inspirational African fairy tales, "Legs of Tornado: The Human Who Outran the Wind" and "Even Roosters Dream to Fly," which can be accessed through major platforms.Apart from his writing career, he has earned a Ph.D. in Business Administration - Management Science from Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, a Master's degree in Quantitative Business Analysis and Management Information Systems from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and an Engineering degree in Statistics and Econometrics from the African Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics in Rwanda (IAMSEA).Beside academic dissertations, he has also produced short essays and pamphlets and contributed to academic journals and proceedings on business problems, historical themes and events, and social and political issues.Apart from that, he has taught business, advanced analytics, data science, machine learning, and econometrics courses at colleges and has worked with big organizations and institutions in the United States and Africa.

Book preview

Even Roosters Dream to Fly

The Epic of a German White Catholic Priest and Manzi, a Freedom Fighter and a Mythological King of Rwanda

By

FelicienAroniAaron Kanyamibwa, Ph.D.,2022

©  Copyright  2022  by  Felicien  Kanyamibwa  -  All  rights reserved.

It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the author’s imagination and have no relation whatsoever to anyone’s name or names. They are not inspired by anyone known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are based on the author’s imagination.

Dedication

This novel is dedicated to my father Reuben Rubeba Ntanshungu Zirimwabagabo, my brothers and sisters Javan Pistolet Hanyurwimfura, Obed Oban Ndarama, Zephaniah Sinkirarubanda, Priscilla Nyirarusagi Nyirahabineza, Emmanuel Munyaruguru, Thaddée Munyamvuke, and Appoline Elizabeth Mujawimana and all my relatives, in Northern Rwanda, Mutara, Kibungo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, victims of the Rwandan wars.

About the Author

Felicien Kanyamibwa, a US citizen, is a native of Rwanda who grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. He lives in the United States.

He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Penn State University, University Park, PA, a Masters’s degree in Quantitative Business Analysis and Management Information Systems from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA and a BS in Statistics and Applied Economics from the Institut Africain et Mauricien de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquée(IAMSEA), Rwanda. A graduate of Musanze High School, he majored in Math and Physics.

In Rwanda, he was a senior executive in banking, manufacturing, and civil engineering companies.

In the United States, his professional experience spans multiple industries and areas, including as a university professor and as an executive in the technological, financial, and pharmaceutical industries.

His work has been published in academic and professional journals.

He enjoys reading books; discovering ethnic, modern, and classical art and music; and telling African stories.

What Inspired the Story in the Book

The World has witnessed decades of upheaval in Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East. What do these continents have in common?

Colonialism.

Kenyatta, the independence father of Kenya, once said: "Whenthemissionariesarrived,theAfricanshadtheland,

and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened our eyes, they had the land, and we had the Bible."

The story of colonization follows this logic, but this novel tries to explore the complexity of the logic.

However, it is quick to blame colonial powers for wars and destruction in these areas. Few authors of non-fiction or fiction have explored how culture collision within colonialism sowed the seeds for post-colonial implosion. Even Roosters Dream To Fly accomplishes part of the mission.

The region I hailed from has always epitomized rebellions. The legendary Rukara, the Rwandan historical figure who resisted the colonization by Germans of regions currently in Northern Rwanda, planted a seed of independence and revolt against oppression and occupation. Northern Rwandans have since Rukara's revolt earned the reputation of independent free thinkers, and many have followed in his footsteps.

Rukara, the epitome of resistance in Rwandan history, killed a White catholic priest from the order of the White Fathers. Rukara’s life is still celebrated in Rwandan poems, songs, and dances. His death inspired many Rwandan nationalists and eventually contributed to the demise and the defeat of the German colonial empire in Eastern Africa when indigenous troops supported the Belgian and the British colonial army during World War I.

Rukara, who lived well before Kenyatta, tried to resist the insidious religious tool used to infiltrate, then dominate, and finally oppress and mercilessly exploit the colonies. Most families and clans in Northern Rwanda emulated Rukara’s resistance. Where the religious tool did not work, the colonial powers used a deadlier scheme: division. They divided clans and nations into competing groups: ethnic groups.

Clans, families, or ethnic groups who understood the complexity of the logic followed by colonial powers and explored ways to draw good lessons from both missionaries’ teachings and adopted colonial modern skills and technology to improve on their ancestral customs forged ahead and eventually managed to dominate others. For one reason or another, social groups that could not adjust to the new ways or failed to be actors in the new order lost and eventually were subjugated by the colonial powers or the more adaptive group, or by both. The subjugation of ethnic groups marked the birth of ethnic or sectarian politics in Africa. Althoughethnicdivisionsexistedwellbeforecolonization,one would argue that, from then on, ethnicity and group politics would become the foundation of politics, power, and domination, replacing the traditional structures. Before colonization, the foundation of social structures rested on the shared goal of the survival of identifiable groups within a homogenous society governed by known and accepted institutions.

Like other kids of my generation, I was constantly exposed to Rukara's epic life. As I listened, as a boy, to the mix of tales, epic, story, and fiction of Rukara, I was scared. It did not matter really what was fact or fiction about Rukara. Rukara’s story shaped my life more than I realized: his story is worthwhile to set the stage for an epic such as this.

The story in this book is a work of fiction. However, it is based on true events that happened in the geographical area now known asRwanda,inthelate19th early20th Century,especiallybetween 1885 and 1918.

Manzi is the epitome of Rukara, the Rwandan historical figure who resisted the colonization by Germans of regions currently in Northern Rwanda.

Like Rukara, Manzi, the figure in Rwandan history, killed a catholic priest –the White Father- from the order of the White Fathers. Rukara’s life is still celebrated in Rwandan poems, songs, and dances. His death inspired many Rwandan nationalists and eventually contributed to the demise and the defeat of the German colonial empire in Eastern Africa when indigenoustroops

supported the Belgian and the British colonial army during World War I. Later, Rukara’s resistance also served as a reference as Africans sought to eliminate the Belgian, French, and British colonial rules. The novel about Manzi’s fictional life explores what could have been the motivations of Rukara’s rebellion.

Though the novel is a work of fiction, some places and characters or depicted events in the plot are factual: The Busigi territory and mountain ranges, the Rwandan kings and kingdoms, Byinshi and his failed revolution, Rucunshu coup, Minyaruko, son of Nyamikenke’s rule and role, and the religion of Nyabingi, Biheko and Ryangombe are real. Other names of places might be fictitious or real, whereas the names of individuals and the scenes portrayed in this novel are a work of fiction.

Towritethisbook,Iresearchedseveralpublishedworksand got  inspiration from many  authors. The  list  in the  footnote  is indicative¹.However,themajorinspirationforthisworkcomes from  the  poems  and  songs  by  my  great  maternal  uncle, Sebatunzi²,  a  revered  iconic  Rwandan  traditional  poet  and

¹KAGAME, Alexis. Inganji Kalinga, Vicariat Apostolique du Ruanda, Kabgayi, 1959 (2nd edition), vol. I, Part III, n° 35

KAGAME, Alexis, Les organisations socio-familiales de l'ancien Rwanda, A.R.S.C., Bruxelles, 1954, p.33, note 31

DELMAS, Léon, Généalogies de la noblesse (les Batutsi) du Ruanda, Vicariat Apostolique du Ruanda, Kabgayi, 1950, p.28.

D'HERTEFELT, Marcel, Les clans du Rwanda ancien. Eléments d'ethnosociologie et d'ethnohistoire, M.R.A.C., Tervuren, 1971

² Sebatunzi, Epic of Rukara Rwa Bishingwe. Song with Rwandan Harp.

musician. Although his recordings are in the public domain, and that Sebatunzi is long dead, I had a rare opportunity to interact with him and hear the story of Rukara directly from him when he visited my home, as he usually did on his way to visit his daughter Nyiramanuma. I was then a small boy and never thought his epics would inspire me. I hope that through this novel, Sebatunzi sings to all of us.

Abstract

EVEN ROOSTERS DREAM TO FLY

by Felicien Aroni Aaron Kanyamibwa, Ph.D.

henovelfollowstherisetopowerbyManziandhisdemise bytheGermancolonialrule.ThedemiseoftheKingdomof Abasigi marked the end of the Hutu kingdoms in theGreatLakes RegionofAfrica.Manzi,thelastindigenousKing,hadasmuch ambition as the African hero King of Zulu Kingdom, Shaka kaSenzangakhona, the brutal Agathocles the Sicilian, King of Syracuse, the fortunate Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, the incredible Makeda, Queen of Sheba, Ethiopia, YaaAsantewa,the majestic Queen of Ashanti Kingdom, Ghana, Kigeli IV Rwabugiri, the warrior king and first Rwandan king to come into contact withEuropeans,              and              Sitting              Bull,              the              Native              American              chief instrumental in uniting the Sioux tribes against the White settlers.

Like these other kings, queens, warriors, and chiefs, he ascended to the throne by his ingenuity, virtue, skills, and acumen; unlike them, he lost the Kingdom he worked hard to acquire and maintain. He reminds of the Native American hero King Geronimo or Nat Turner, the literate Black slave and preacher in the antebellum American South, who dared to orchestrate an uprising.

A descendent of dispossessed noble Hutu and Tutsi families, Manzi overcame these obstacles and won the throne when the dynasty of Abasigi was at the crossroads, as a new race and civilization threatened the traditional rule: The Germans were at the gates of the Kingdom.

When an indigenous warrior assassinated a German catholic missionary, Manzi tried to escape but fell prisoner to the combined German forces and Rwandan warriors. His warriors could not escape the terror unleashed by the Germans to avenge the death of the priest. The firing of canons and rifles and the hissing of the bullets frightened the once awesome warriors. Those who did not die in battles resigned to a defeat. Most of the once feared warriors became shadows of themselves. Manzi lost the mighty Kingdom forever to the Rwandan and German invaders.

As he sat in shackles in a dungeon, awaiting the German firing squad, Manzi held the hand of his youngest son and started to talk about his life, the crash with the Western civilization, and the unfolding brutal end of the once-mighty indigenous Kingdom of Abasigi. You must tell the story to the World, Manzi finally told his son. Beyond his demise, Manzi narrates a story of love, betrayal, the crash of cultures, and humanity.

Acknowledgment

A book such as this is a fruit of efforts from numerous people, some tangible, but many more nameless.

I would like to thank my wife, Marie-Renee Furaha, and children Joel Ngomituje Kanyamibwa, Jennifer Kanyange Kanyamibwa, Jessica Kaneza Kanyamibwa, who helped with everything while I wrote this novel and who, most importantly, encouraged me to create thiswork.

Glossary

Abasigi: see Sigi Abasindi: see Sindi

Baganda – Abaganda: people from the kingdom of Buganda

Buganda: An old kingdom that extended to the areas currently located in Southern Uganda.

Busigi: see Sigi

Busindi: see Sindi

Buriza: the current Rwandan region of Gitarama.

Karagwe: an old Kingdom that extended to the areas currently located in Eastern Tanzania.

Nyabarongo: a river that springs up in the south-central rain forests of Rwanda, splitting Rwanda from South to North and then South and forming one of the sources of the Nile.

Sigi: Umu –singular, Aba – plural. A subclan of Abasindi, one of the largest traditional clans in Rwanda. A member/member of the subclan. Busingi is the Kingdom of Abasindi or the fiefdom occupied by the subclan Abasigi.

Sindi: Umu –singular, Aba – plural. One of the largest traditional clans in Rwanda. A member/members of the clan.

Ubwiru: Rwandan Tutsi dynastic emblems, esoteric codes, and secrets.

Umusigi: see Sigi Umusindi: see Sindi

Contents

Dedication

About the Author

Abstract

Acknowledgment

Glossary

Discovering A Father

The Rooster Who Would Never Fly

The Long Journey Home

The Hunter

Sinda: The Rebel Prince’s Descendant

The White Man has Arrived

History Repeats Itself

The Throne of Destiny

The Rain Forest

The Great Hunt

The Long Road Home

From Groom to Heir

Beware of The Uncles

Establishing A Kingdom

Chariots of Love

False Hopes

The End Is Near

The Fortress

The Flight

The Rooster That Would Fly

Introduction

Discovering A Father

he White Father was dead, like that, the way he came. Few understood what really happened and what led to the tragedy. A month later, my father Manzi fell prisoner of the German colonial army reinforced by Rwandan warriors as he tried to escape to an intricate swamp in ourKingdom’s forbidden hamletof healers, soothsayers, priests, and revered priestesses. Had hereached the swamp, no one could have dared to confront

Nyabingi priests.

He had trusted Nsenga. The thought of Nsenga being a traitor never crossed my father’s mind. Not after what the two had endured together and the help our Kingdom had provided to Nsenga’s beleaguered rebellion. My father’s army could not escape the terror unleashed by the Germans to avenge the priest. The firing of canons and rifles and the hissing of the bullets frightened the once awesome warriors. Warriors who did not die in the battle resigned to a defeat: the once most feared warriors across the kingdoms of the African Great Lakes region became shadows of themselves. Yesterday the aristocrats, today they are dispossessed, with their motherland gone, hunted