Seeing clearly

Everyone has their own story; Rwanda has hers except it is a very complicated one. Looking in, it is easy to pass judgment. I am guilty of this; I had my preconceptions; this is a flaw of mine.

I stand corrected on several levels. Rwanda is not fine, it is a nation that is finding a way to carry on after an unimaginable genocide. The perpetrators, the bystanders, the victims and the confused all having to live cheek by jowl. This is a nightmare situation for many of us, yet the Rwandan people are doing it with great aplomb. 

Rwanda’s genocide was and is painful. Most of us think it just happened, well it didn’t. We all know that the method favoured by colonisers was to divide and rule. They did it in quite a spectacular fashion in Rwanda; elevating some sections of society, whilst leaving others behind. Ethnic groupings had never been a thing pre colonisation; but of course the need to control totally meant that new norms were established.

This fostered hate and resentment and the simmering pot that eventually led to the state endorsed genocide we all know about. We won’t talk about the many who had to seek refuge is neighbouring countries and the sporadic attacks that previously plagued this nation.

How do you lead a traumatised nation such as Rwanda. Do you allow people to continue to hold the same unfounded perceptions that they held against their neighbours or do you find new alternatives. 

Like it or not, no-one can take away what the Rwandan government has done in bringing people together and raising living standards in this country. Umuganda is the modus operandi here. Working together for the betterment of community and country.

Look it up!