By Fred Niringiye & Silver Bahane
KISORO: Kisoro District is teeming with significant cultural sites of a kind that once harnessed might bring huge revenues to the border district.
These Cultural sites which these writers have visited have potential as cultural heritage sites which need protection and preservation.
Cultural heritage sites must display a work of art or a significant exchange of human values over a lengthy period of time. This exchange must be visible in architecture or technology, town or city planning, and landscape design. It must reveal evidence of a long-defunct or still-existing tradition or culture. It can also be a great example of a certain sort of building, a set of buildings, or the application of technology, or it can represent significant information.
It is crucial to safeguard a region that features unusual natural formations, such as distinctive rock shapes that are exceptionally beautiful, or has habitats and species of animals and plants that can only exist there. As a result, such an area could be designated as a World Heritage Site.
A number of cultural sites in Kisoro District have been threatened or are being threatened by human activity and developments. Due to a lack of conservation measures, even species that are currently safe are on the edge of extinction. Listed below are a few examples:
Lake Mutanda Punishment Island.
Pregnancy before marriage was considered an evil in African culture. It was something that was against society and hence a source of concern for any member of the community.
In Kisoro, during the 19th century and before, a girl who became pregnant outside of marriage would be transported to this island in the middle of the lake, 10 kilometers from the shore. It is also thought to be the sacred site of the ABAHINZA clan, who are known for their rainmaking abilities. In the early 1980s, the clan’s leader, RUSAKI, was regarded as a renowned rainmaker. Communities could gather produced crops and bring them to his house during the Harvest to beg him to make rain when it was too dry or to stop it when there was too much. Furthermore, anyone throwing a celebration would bring a few pots of local beer, a goat, and some baskets.
Changushu Island:
The Abagesera community living along the shores of Lake Mutanda used the site as a sacred burial cemetery. The island, which is near the Mushungero Peninsular, includes a cave that houses human bones. It’s thought that the island’s communities used it as ancestral burial grounds, and some clan members still visit the spot for worship and to ask the deceased to forgive those who have wronged them.