Rwanda is a place that forces you to look at yourself critically. What does it mean to be a modern African, how do you marry tradition with the here and now and what am I doing for my mother land. Rwanda made me want to be a better person, to be part of the change, to take pride in my heritage and make it my everyday.
The vision for the country is an ambitious one, it is also a singular vision. All on board and please don’t ask too many questions. My rebellious nature instinctively tells me this approach is not ok. I want the subsistence farmer to have as much say as the high flying executive. I want a society that does not turn its nose at others because they have a different opinion or a different belief system.
I hope as Rwanda continues on her journey she softens a little and is more embracing of alternative voices. This is what the modern Africa looks like, fearless, kind and tolerant.
Culture is deep, has long tendrils and it makes us who we are. African culture, is not about doing what we have always done because some long gone elders told you it is our culture.
Culture is not static, it is up to all of us to challenge it and reconfigure it when it marginalises others. It should never be used as an excuse for poor behaviour and we should not let others hide behind the very convenient culture catchall.
They weaponise it and wheel it out when they want to have their wicked way. Be particularly careful of those who freely use ‘our culture’ in an argument. These types are particularly insidious and I would just steer clear!
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.
Kigali is all lovely and green, the grass is neatly trimmed and trees well manicured. It is ordered and super clean. The immigration officials are pleasant yet efficient, the taxi drivers gentle and honest, the people agreeable.
It is a green and pleasant land yet I feel queasy. I gotta lay it on the table, the Freedom House stats on Rwanda are not pretty, I also heard that the people are cowered and yet I still elected to come, was it a mistake. Okay, I am going to Bujumbura, I wonder what it’s like.
I try to have a conversation with the taxi driver and he is giving me monosyllabic responses. Bujumbura seems more appealing. It sounds interesting!
I arrive at my home and I am in a local neighbourhood. Phew, this is fine. I go out for dinner and it is fine, I go out for breakfast and it is fine. I gotta get out.
Thanks to a mishap with an Apple download I had to go to the phone shop. If anyone has ever watched Phone Shop don’t think for a minute the characters I met were the same. Emery tried to fix my phone with no success so I had to take it to a specialist iPhone doctor. Emery and his buddies were headed for that direction so were happy to take me. The doctor did not fare any better; I now have a toy phone for a mobile device but it does the job.
With my phone business taken care of, I sat with Emery and friends as they ate, I wanted to continue our conversation. First, let me tell you about these remarkable young men. All are at university and just about to graduate. All have jobs because they self-fund, all are super smart and eager to engage. They had chat, ideas, banter and plenty of concerns, they want to be successful. We talk about the trappings of success and the African big man syndrome. I suggest that a bicycle is better that a Chelsea tractor, they laugh with me (I think). I tell them all they need to attract a pretty girl is their charm and knowledge and they laugh at me (I am certain).
In Africa it’s all about image they say, to access the right anything you gotta have the right look, you even gotta smell nice. These guys are politically aware, they know that their past has shaped their present, they feel angry about the colonial legacy, they think Rwanda has no choice but to take China’s investment. Africa is behind so we gotta catch up, this is our reality.
We also talk about the leaders that have come before them and how they generally morph into ‘something else’. These guys are not afraid to go there, they feel able to talk, within limits of course. They see the positive change in Rwanda and are willing to go along with it until their time comes. I am absolutely certain that these are the future leaders. In a space of an hour (maybe more) we had a most inspired conversation, we spoke as openly as we could, laughed and reflected. Bujumbura seemed like a distant memory.
I had cracked Rwanda and I was ready for her to reveal herself to me!
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