In a surprising act of self depreciation, many Rwandans identify the apparent non-aggressive attitude towards work as a regional disadvantage. In the New Times Commentary, my good friend Stephen Rwembeho laments about the supposed inability of Rwandans to exploit the relatively better security in Kigali “Instead, they sleep or go out to dance. This kind of attitude towards work in general will remain the undoing of the people in Rwanda. It will be difficult to match the speed with which other East African states are growing.” For many Rwandans, this unpalatable reality is hard to take in, especially when the energy of youth drives one to dream big. The bad news is that the World Health Organisation recognises Uganda’s world topping prowess in drinking beer and nobody loves a good party like a Kenyan. So how come they work long hours and save the best behavior for customers? Are Rwandans any different? This might be a symptom of a culture that quietly sneaked up into society. If a child watches Daddy’s lunch routinely washed down by two bottles of Primus, do not blame him for emulating his father. This can happen in Kigali or Nairobi or Kampala. If that same child is by a certain chance exposed through good television, newspapers, internet etc, he/she may notice that daddy’s lunchtime siesta is uniquely his. Kenyans or Ugandans are not genetically predisposed to a good attitude. In Kenya, the cut-throat competition forces the positive attitude in its citizens. An agriculture graduate from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture will snatch an opportunity to start a small business of growing and supplying sukuma wiki to a supermarket chain because he is best suited for the job. A Makerere University agriculture graduate may not want to grow vegetables but might be contented with working in a flower farm, as long as there is a good salary. The same graduate from the National University of Rwanda might be looking for a white collar job in government or a plush NGO. Five years later, the sukuma wiki grower will be self sufficient, expanding into growing French beans. The flower grower may be vastly experienced looking for a promotion but will not achieve the financial freedom of the sukuma wiki grower. The chap in the office might be frustrated with lack of new opportunities and will be eyeing a scholarship for a master’s degree abroad to improve his employability. I give you my assurance that there are frustrated white collar employees of that type in Kenya and a successful sukuma wiki grower in Rwanda. The difference is in the attitude towards the same skills that all three have. It has little to do with the location and more to one’s self ideals. The government cannot force a good attitude into an individual. No school teaches good attitude. Parents should make it clear to their children that it all boils down to their attitude towards life. Teachers should tell their pupils that the key to success is to open their minds to new ideas and challenges. We should learn to challenge the existing stereotypes and practice objectivity over preexisting notions and beliefs. If you keep telling a child, “You can’t be this, you can’t do that, you must be this or that,” you subconsciously make them believe that they can only be what you think they can, which is essentially false. If Barack Obama had spent his life regretting, “my dead father came from a poor African country, my mother is from Hawaii, of all places, am doomed”. He would not be the president of the United States of America. We should give those around us the gift of knowing that anything is possible, and indeed it is. I know many Rwandans with a stellar attitude and good work ethics. A good attitude begins with a personal decision to seek your own full potential and to inspire those around you to eternally seek knowledge and success instead of forever trying to put then down, comparing your own successes to theirs or trying to limit other people’s dreams. Contact: kelviod@yahoo.com
