Envisioning our growth signifies we have outlived our pain

WE HAVE all many a time visualised what we would wish to be in the next couple of years or decades and have actually set plans guided by lucid strategies with focused targets; all matched well to drive us to the desired future. Rwanda in itself is still healing from the outrageous wounds of the past but also looking beyond that pain to get to the “promised land”. Forging a way forward has been very central and integral part to Rwanda’s renewal in all aspects. The entire world is full of suffering but it is also full of overcoming. Following the most recent commemoration event where the world and more so the region pledged its support to Rwanda, it was a clear indication that Rwanda, as a country, ought to be proud of the fact that it got itself back on its feet and, above all, managed to beat all the odd fixations the world once had of it. And if that can’t pass for a huge milestone, then what else can we call it? In the economic sense, as recently stipulated by officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, whilst presenting focal points the government seeks to employ to achieve targets for the Vision 2020 agenda (The New Times, April 15), it validated the fact that at least Visions have to be realistic and need usual revision. A 2011 report showed the deviations in light with what were achievable goals against the very unrealistic. I actually think that it is through these revisions that the country can always keep on track, knowing the variances from preplanned and, most importantly, what is achievable; the same way the commemorations have constantly intoned peace and unity that have to a great extent been achieved over time; in what an acquaintance connotes as PID – Persistence, Insistence and Determination – for any goal to be achieved. Helen Keller, a renowned American educator and author of the book The story of my life overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century’s leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder of the ACLU (American civil Liberties Union). She was once quoted saying, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision”. Like Keller, Rwanda could almost perfectly fit the common street adage thus “from grass to grace” only if it keeps its focus on its well founded ideologies. It only takes a vision! Knowing the rest of the region well equally has its visions, say Uganda’s Vision 2040 and Kenya’s Vision 2030, all aimed at Economic development among other common aims, how about we synchronise our visions into just a single solid vision? As a region, there is quite a lot to learn from and share with each other and harmonising our visions would not only breed interstate cohesion, but also bring revered economic prowess to the region as a whole. Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much. Our solidarity as a region is not just within the confines of sharing boundaries and common synonyms in our languages, it goes as far beyond that. True happiness as a region will be attained through fidelity of a worthy purpose; which purpose I believe we already have. The writer is a social commentator currently based in Kigali