ABSTRACT

The research teams proved keen to start interviewing people familiar with the oral traditions while also continuing with the census of Katuruka and Nkimbo villages. The committee arranged for the rental of a room in a local home owned by Ma Georgina, the sister of committee member Ma Esther Karumuna. From the very first articulations of the Katuruka heritage agenda, archaeology featured as a central focus in development and interpretative plans. A centerpiece of the Katuruka heritage plan was to build a small archaeological museum at the exact location where the ritual house in the gashani of King Rugomora Mahe had been located. In past days, this was called the Buchwankwanzi house, the spitting of pearls, a metaphor that means that many precious things come from mouths within. The Katuruka project was about finding a way to reclaim positive values associated with sacred sites and places that were demonized by Christianity and thus lost to ethical life today.