First Lady Jeannette Kagame has made a case for the relationship between faith and patriotism, saying the two run on the same principles and values.

She was speaking on Sunday, August 21, during the Young Leaders Prayer Breakfast-an event that brings together young leaders from the private sector, government and civil society to thank God for the country’s achievements, pray together, and talk about the challenges affecting society.

This year’s edition was held under the theme "Young Leaders and Patriotism,” and it brought together over 300 young leaders.

"God gave us values and principles that govern us as believers. Those principles do not differ from the principles of patriotism. They say, if you do not love a human you see, it will not be easy for you to love God that you do not see. Loving the human that was created in God’s image cannot be separated from loving God,” Mrs. Kagame told her audience.

She pointed out that leaders who have faith help in fostering unity among people, fight injustice and inequalities, as well as looking for solutions for the problems affecting society.

"God will protect Rwanda and bless it because you - the leaders will have done what is worthy for the Rwandans that he created,” she said.

She also spoke to families, as she called upon family members to uphold the values of love, responsibility, and understanding.

Here, she quoted the first letter of John, 3: 18 which says:

"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Pastor Lambert Bariho, the preacher of the day, shared from Luke 19:41, showcasing to his audience how Jesus was patriotic.

In the scripture, Jesus is weeping over Jerusalem due to some things that were going wrong in the city.

"Such is a person who loves his city. He looks at it closely, sees what others don’t see, and notices that there is something that is not going well,” Bariho said.

"As young leaders, can we look at our country and feel its burden, so that we can even cry for it?” he asked.

Anita Kayirangwa, the Executive Director for National Unity, Itorero and Citizenship Education at the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement, also spoke at the event, calling upon parents to make an effort to tell their children about the history of their families and the country at large.

"As the children are growing up, we should tell them that they belong to the country and the country belongs to them. This reminds them that they have rights in the country, but also have responsibilities in it,” she said.

She pointed out the need for parents to be role models to the children, not only in what they say, but in everything they do.

"Our children always look at us and note what we do. If what we say is different from what we do, they will take nothing from us,” she noted.

Captain Joseph Abakunda, a military officer working at Rwanda Space Agency, spoke about the negative effect that information technology can have on people, especially the young generation.

He urged people to use the internet in a way that adds value to them and the country, following in the footsteps of several people that did heroic things in Rwanda.

"You all know the history of slave trade. What amazed me is that the Kingdom of Rwanda is the one that stopped it from entering this region. That is military history. In intellectual history, arithmetic originated from Rwanda. In religion, Christians know that revival started from here and went on to spread in the region,” he said.

"So, for me I feel like the most unpatriotic thing is having a bloodline that stopped slavery, invented arithmetic, ushered in a revival, but you are there watching twerking videos (on the internet),” he added.