As young Rwandans, we have had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness and live through transformative politics and governance over the past thirty years. As we are called to serve, sustain, and take Rwanda to the next level, we need to be reminded that our choices will determine this, not what we say or what we hope.
Choices have consequences, whether good or bad. Every decision we make, even in seemingly trivial situations, carries its own consequence.
As students, we have the choice to spend all our free time watching movies, drinking in a bar, partying, or studying a bit more or volunteering in the community to gain hands-on experience or be useful to our community.
As we start families, we have the choice of raising children who will be hateful or children with compassion and kindness. Children who will look beyond the divisions that have shaped our history and those that are yet to come. There are many reasons that people have been divided, in our case, it has been around ethnicity.
Religion, country of origin, district of origin and gender are among an endless list of why we are different. We have the choice to focus on these differences or focus on what unites us. How we raise our children will shape the strength of our unity, which is the bedrock of everything else as a country.
For those of us going into public service or the private sector, the choices that we make when hiring, promoting, or offering opportunities need to be based on competence and not nepotism or favoritism.
Those of us within different levels of authority have the choice to use our power to take advantage of those we have authority over or to serve them. We have the choice to ask/take a bribe or refuse to take/ask for a bribe to render any service. We have the choice to drive drunk or not.
Some of these choices might seem inconsequential, but the possibility of a drunk driver running into a loved one is not only consequential but existential. Bribing to win a tender of medicines, you end up procuring sub-standard products that harm hundreds of Rwandans down the line.
Those of us selling products or services, such as waiters, bank tellers, shop attendants, carpenters, have the choice to offer good customer service to our clients, seek feedback and work on it, be more diligent with our craftsmanship, and be honest in our dealings. Alternatively, we can choose to provide substandard services or products or be dishonest for short-term benefits.
The choices we make today will greatly determine the next 30 years. As President Paul Kagame reminded us during his speech at Kwibohora 30, "Remaining principled and consistent is extremely difficult, but the results are beautiful."
Striving for and working towards a Rwanda where all Rwandans are not surviving but thriving is within reach, but it will require each one of us to make the right and often difficult choices.
We have choices to make, today and every day, where we are with what we have.
The author is a youth development expert