Last Saturday was a special one at the Rwanda Defence Force Command and Staff College in Musanze District.

The college could pass for any other cultural institution that showcases various cultures from across the region.

The students, from eight regional countries who are normally seen in their military fatigues, changed the dotted green and adorned their traditional attires to show the way people from their countries dress or used to dress before colonialists introduced modern way of clothing.

Stands were erected and filled with various products ranging from traditional foods and drinks to other traditional products.

Along with these were troupes from some countries such as Rwanda and Burundi to entertain guests.

It was a cultural day, the first of its kind to be organised by the college, following the inclusion of cultural studies in the college curriculum covered by senior officers during their one year course.

Troupes from some countries were invited through their respective embassies to showcase traditional dance and music.

Rwandan cultural troupe ‘Indangamirwa’ put up a spirited showing through various songs, with elegant women and men in traditional attires doing their best.

Burundian troupe, ‘Indangakaranga Cultural Group,’ was also not ready to be outdone. They showcased stylish drumming and magical dance that wowed the crowd.

The culture day, according to officials, aims at reinforcing students’ understanding of countries’ traditions, customs and culture.

It is also meant to create conducive environment for enriched interactions and afterwards.

In a military perspective, officials said a cultural day for senior officials is important given the fact that the emerging national security concepts, traditions, values and cultures have re-emerged to take a central consideration.

The protection and respect of the individual country cultures and norms has become one of the national vital responsibilities and for the defence and security  forces, the apprehension of the relationship between national traditions, cultures and values with security has become a fundamental variables in understanding various issues, according to the officials.

Maj Gen Jean-Bosco Kazura, the college commandant, said the cultural day is important as it helps course participants to know the culture of each country, adding when militaries understand various cultures, defence on the continent would become easy.

"This is a cultural event for different countries whose goal is to bring people together so that nobody thinks they live in isolation. Knowing each other’s culture strengthens their interrelationship to together defend their countries,” said Gen Kazura.

The commandant added that the event will be held annually to help students be conversant with other cultures and work together to defend the continent with a common understanding.

He explained that everything was organised by the students themselves.

Course participants speak out

Some course participants said the cultural day was an opportunity for them to interact and learn from among themselves various cultures and norms and draw a lesson of how to respect each others’ cultures.

"This event is very significant because we are from various countries, it is very important to display our products because as students we may be interacting but we may not have a glimpse of the background of where we are coming from,” said Maj. Grey Malua, from Malawi.

The Malawians displayed various foodstuff, beverages and wildlife, among others.

"From the other countries, there other cultural aspects that we had never seen and we did not know them until today but also you see there are other cultural aspects  that are connected to ours , this shows that we are just one people only separated by distance and boundaries,” Maj Malua said.

Maj Desiré Manirakiza, from Burundi, said it was a great opportunity to share the various cultures and the way people used to dress and eat, sing and how the cultures are almost interconnected.

He said this would help them in military discipline to work together while they at least understand cultures of their colleagues from various countries.

Students in the fourth intake were drawn from Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.