The 27th African Union Summit starts today here in Rwanda. This is a moment that Rwandans have spent quite a long time waiting for. Even before you talk about the summit itself, Rwandans had spent long waiting for the magnificent facility that is hosting the summit to take shape and come to life.

Kigali Convention Centre (KCC) together with the hotel complex all run under the brand name, Radisson Blu Hotel and Convention Centre Kigali, as a project was started in 2008 and as President Kagame pointed out during its launch, there was a lot of failing and learning until eventually when it was completed by a Turkish company.

Rwandans had gotten used to passing near the facility covered with iron sheets until this year when it came to life glowing in the night and painting the sky with different colours. Now the facility is in place and fully functioning. It has transformed Rwanda’s skyline as well as the whole area around it with new traffic flow that makes the place a car free zone too. In the vicinity, the Kigali Heights structure is ready and Kigali Business Centre that stood tall for years is now also getting a makeover to fit in the new big picture.

During the launch of the KCC facility, President Paul Kagame said something that the final completion of the facility could be attributed to the Rwandan spirit of never giving up. "True to the Rwandan spirit, we failed many times but we have succeeded many more times than we have failed. We keep learning from our failures and we finally succeed,” he said.

This learning bit, for me is what should be the take away for the delegates and hosts. We should all do some learning and reciprocate by doing some teaching as well. Rwanda as a country is now known by that spirit that the president described, but that spirit is something other African countries need to learn.

For the continent to shed off that hopeless tag (without waiting for Western media magazines to do it for us) each African country should do some soul searching to identify its own spirit. The desire to keep getting better at what we do and live by this constant desire is a lesson delegates can and should pick from here and take back to their countries.

These delegates should also come with some lessons from their home countries and teach that to our people here as well as to other delegates. I am certain that there is some good from any corner of Africa that we can share with other Africans at such summits. Simple lessons here and there can gradually go a lot way in changing the way we operate as a continent and a people.

I am always irked by the ignorance we have concerning other African countries and people. A few weeks back while in Papua New Guinea a gentleman sitting across me asked me which country I was coming from and when I said Uganda, he instantly blurted, "Idi Amin!” I took a while before taking him on a brief lesson on the Uganda of 2016 that is obviously very different from the one he relates to a man I never even got to see in power. 

But even when I came back, I was amazed at how many people thought Papua New Guinea was somewhere in West Africa, just like Equatorial Guinea and Guinea (Bissau). A summit like the one Rwanda is now hosting is a good opportunity for us to ask and learn. Those asked should also proudly speak about their countries as that is a teaching opportunity that they shouldn’t ignore.

For Rwandans, as hosts this is a good time to brag about your country. When you meet a foreigner, ask them where they are from and what is good there then also tell them about Rwanda, what is good here, what they should try out while here or what they should pick and take with them as they leave. Help and explain anything that may seem to confuse them like your name, your history etc.

To those who are here for the first time, please enjoy the Rwandan hospitality to the fullest and make it a point to come back again after all Rwanda has an open policy for African visitors. We look forward not only to fruitful deliberations but a better Africa once all this is done. Let us stop priding ourselves in the ignorance about our continent. Murakaza Neza!