Twenty one years ago today, Rwanda descended into the abyss. A frenzy of killing on a scale not seen before, driven by an ideology of hate.

Three months later and one million lives lost, the killing was brought to an end. It did not stop because it had run its course, or because there were no more people to kill.

It did not end because the killers were tired or, by some miracle, had suddenly been smitten by a sense of remorse. Nor was it brought to an end by a world revolted by the brutal and massive destruction of human life.

Rwandans stopped it. They were horrified by it, and rather than freezing into inaction by its scale and violence, were spurred into action to save lives and the nation from disintegration.

They followed that with a process of recovery, reconstruction and development. The rest is not history as they say, but a story of steady progress.

Today, the nation remembers those who perished in the Genocide against the Tutsi committed in those three months. More than that, Rwandans mark their collective tenacity, resilience and independence. They recommit to unity, respect for the life of everyone and the development of the nation.

Twenty one years is a significant milestone in the life of an individual. It is majority age when one is deemed mature enough to grapple with challenges of adulthood and be able to make independent decisions.

However, in the history of a nation, whose life is not limited to a definite timescale, twenty one years, though important, is a very short time. Still, in our circumstances, it is significant.

The events of twenty ones years ago, their effects and related issues are still very fresh and we are still coming to terms with them.

We have to deal with questions of memory as we try to heal physical and psychological wounds, and ensure social cohesion.

We are rebuilding the country and putting it firmly on the road to development from which no one is excluded.

We have reset our national compass and must do everything possible to see that our collective human, moral, political and social values remain within the direction we have set.

In many ways, Rwanda is still in a state of transition, where we are moving from a broken, abnormal state towards normalcy. That transition, too, must be completed.

Yet as we grapple with these daunting issues, there are some in the world who would want us to treat the passage of time in the life of our nation as if it was that of an individual.

There are some who urge us to forget our experience, actually erase it, and move on as if nothing happened. That would be negating part of our history, tragic as it is, on which we have to build a new beginning.

Others want to rewrite our history and compel us to believe their recreation of our world. They say that what we remember today actually did not happen, or if it did, it was different from what we know.

Many more advise us to abandon the road we have been travelling, reject the choices we have made along the way, and instead adopt what they prescribe for us.

In short, we are being asked to unlearn the lessons of the past. But if we do, we will certainly make mistakes in the future, and allow the past to return and haunt us.

That cannot be allowed to happen. That is the significance of remembrance.

We have learnt that whereas human beings have the ability to do evil, the capacity for good is greater. People cannot permanently break from moral and social restraints imposed by the fact that we live in society.

The Genocide taught us that we are the ultimate guarantors of our lives and our future. In doing this, sometimes we have to make tough decisions and unusual choices, travel on a road less trodden but that leads to our desired destination, and build systems that suit and work for us.

The Genocide and its immediate aftermath revealed the kind of world we live, and more importantly, how to survive in it.

When people were being killed, no one from outside came to our rescue. When the state all but collapsed, no one was prepared to save it. On the contrary, there was a great rush to kill it completely.

Vultures were hovering to feed on the carcase. Undertakers were readying themselves for its burial.

But the state refused to die. Rwandans stirred it back to life and it has been growing since. The spirit of Rwandans refused to break. It has been getting stronger since.

jorwagatare@yahoo.co.uk