In his early teens, Mussa Fazil Harerimana, seasoned politician, had dreams of becoming a driver like his father, or an imam in a mosque like his uncle. For those were the most decent careers for Muslims in Rwanda at that time.

He remembers very well that even his clique of youngsters then, all of them dreamt of the same thing. What else could they have aspired to? Their parents had been marginalised for long just because they were Muslims, so there was nothing more than that for them.

Harerimana was born in the famous University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) in 1962. 

According to him, his mother probably walked there and brought back home a bouncing baby boy who would later go to Ecole de Swahili de Kigali, a Nyamirambo based Muslim school. 

"You would be asked to put your arm around your head to touch your ear. If you could, you would be of age to start school,” Harerimana told The New Times.

He was around 8 years old when he started school, and he, like most of his classmates, carried his own stool to sit on while in class. Serving the whole Muslim population at that time, there were only around 15 rooms, some built in mud.

His experience, however, was so much better than Sudi Munyentwali’s. He was 11 years old when the school was opened in 1957. He should have started at the age of 7, but to be admitted in existing schools, he had to be baptised in a catholic church, which his family of dedicated Muslims couldn’t agree to.

"We were older than usual because we hadn’t gotten a chance to attend school like other children. I remember some pupils would marry after completing primary school. They were old enough,” Munyentwali said.

Many have attributed the marginalisation of Muslims in Rwanda to the close links the Belgian colonialists had with the Catholic Church, which viewed itself as a rival of Islam. That is why in addition to being discarded to the wilderness, Muslim children were forced to convert to Christianity. A baptism card was a requirement for admission to schools, most of which were under the Church.

In 1954, the Muslim community wrote to the Belgian Government asking for financial support to build a school for their children. The request was rejected, citing civilisation as the reason.

"We would be using taxes in a shameful activity that even goes against our mission to civilise territories we are in charge of,” read the letter dated April 4, 1956.

The main gate of Ecole Primaire Intwali Kigali was the king’s school. / Photo by Craish Bahizi

Meanwhile, Muslim parents had started construction activities in 1955, and in 1957, the school started teaching despite the fact that it was not authorised by the Catholic Church.

The first ever private school was then opened, with school fees amounting to Rwf160 per term.

Just a year later, there was a party to celebrate King Mutara III Rudahigwa at his home in Nyanza. The Muslims had prepared a nice chair they had bought from Kenya to gift him. Some even say it was made of gold! But their children from Ecole de Swahili de Kigali had also prepared a poem for him.

"They spoke very good French and the King asked where the children were from. He learnt they were from the Muslim school and promised to visit soon,” Munyentwali said.

In just a few months, he visited the school and after learning of their struggle to raise funds, among other things, he pledged to support them. He also acknowledged their heroic act of building a school for their children despite efforts of the Belgian government to discourage them. He called them "Intwali” for "Heroes”, and the school was from then until now called "Ecole Rwandaise Intwali Kigali” and some referred to it as the "School of the King.”

He built them several classrooms right after the visit but unfortunately, he died a few months later before construction work was done.

For subsidization, he had told the Belgian government to assist the school like they were supporting other schools in the country. Munyentwali said that because Islam was not accredited in Rwanda, the school had to be assigned to either the Catholic or Protestant churches in 1960.

Because of the rough history between the Muslim community and the Catholic Church, they chose the Protestants.

Students at Ecole Primaire Intwali Kigali in Nyarugenge District in Kigali on March 18, 2022. / Photo by Craish Bahizi 

Later, the first republic snatched the school from them and even alleged that it belonged to "Inyenzi” because of the support they had received from the King. This went hand in hand with the persecution of Muslims across the country.

The Muslim community only got it back in 1997 at the order of President Paul Kagame, something that was highly celebrated.

Nevertheless, there is no known allegation of discrimination based on religion done by the Muslim school ever since it was built. Although most residents of Nyamirambo were Muslims, you didn’t have to be one to be admitted.

Harerimana, who set his dream standard way higher (he even heads a political party now) when the RPA liberated the country said that someone who was discriminated against could never go back to discriminate against other people.

Now, the school has almost 2,500 students with a passing rate of 95 percent in National Examinations. According to the school headmaster, Ayubu Sengabo, the school’s policy on inclusiveness has been the fuel of its success, since religion is not in any way considered for admission.

However, this has always been the case. While the school was built by Muslims, most of its teachers were Christians, since only a few Muslims had gone to school. Some were even punished by their respective churches for helping Muslims.

It now lies in the beautiful Nyamirambo with two and three storey buildings and happy children who will never know discrimination because of good leadership, according to Harerimana.