We have lived through the worst of times. We have lived through the best of times. As this unique year moves towards its close, one cannot help but marvel at the dark times we have lived through, and the best of humanity we have seen. It has been the worst of times. Covid-19 has disrupted lives and livelihoods in ways we could not even have imagined a few years ago. For a time, it looked like the universe was conspiring to consign vision 2020 to history as a mirage. An ambitious, well-meaning attempt at utopia; worth fighting for, granted, but a mirage none the less. But it has been the best of times. Rwandan Unity, insouciant verve and resilience have rarely been on as much display as during the difficult times. Neighborhoods mobilized to support the poorest members of society withstand the challenges of a national lockdown. Volunteers organized to help distribute food and other necessities to needy households – making sure no Rwandan fell through the cracks. Businesses were supported to stay afloat. Market women organized and worked in shifts to sell their mangoes, avocadoes and tomatoes safely. We all rose up to construct thousands of extra classrooms and latrines so schools could re-open safely – in fulfillment of health guidelines. Places of worship innovated to continue to give spiritual support to their congregants. The liturgy adapted. Virtual worship proliferated. God moved from sterile shrines into every Rwandan home – Imana came home to where He has always been, inside Rwandan Homes, a permanent member of every Rwandan Family – sharing their lives, trials, tribulations, homes, aspirations and being part of the continuum of the households – through the ancestors to the unborn. And we got the first Rwandan cardinal in history of our country. The future met a strengthened cultural past – and the result was an explosion of Rwandaness and innovation. Drones joined the health work force and helped mass public health campaigns …. As our First Lady, Madam Jeannette Kagame so succinctly put it (during the recently concluded Unity Club retreat), leadership investments in Rwandanness, Rwandans and Rwanda, fully came into its own. Rwandans finally became their brothers/sisters’ keepers. Government of the people for the people became more of a reality, a shared experience. Of course, some people complained, as humans inevitably will, when confronted with existential challenges. But I was struck by the equamonity with which the population faced the challenge together. When curfew found them in the streets, they patiently waited for the police to escort them to night abodes in the various stadiums around the country – grudgingly of course, but with unmistakable joie de vivre. Rwandan women simply asked that police give them written affidavits that they spent the night at the stadium, to facilitate the difficult conversation with their husbands and families the morning after. Rwanda students and other nationals stuck in foreign countries were efficiently brought home, quietly, with no fanfare. Even Rwandan criminal elements, fugitives bent on sowing terror and destruction, found themselves back where they belonged - home. Some western media unwittingly revealed the contempt in which they hold them, even as they shower some of them with meaningless accolades, by claiming that these individuals were “exported” to Rwanda – as if these are mere goods, not human beings. – damaged goods they may be, but Rwandans have an innate dignity they can never loose, even when they commit crimes. So, in the midst of COVID-19 19, they came home, to face justice, yes, but in a country, they should be proud to call theirs, Rwanda. We have lived through the worst of times; we have lived through the best of times; and yet, the best is yet to come. A happy holiday season to all. Ibyiza biri imbere!! Indeed!!
