Let’s light a candle of hope

During my previous researches on the ancient Rwandan society, I was overwhelmed by the beautiful imagination of the blissful and harmonious bond our grandfathers enjoyed. What intrigued me most are the unwritten societal obligations, responsibilities and laws which guided Rwandans. When a child was born in those golden times, every member of society regardless of whether they are Hutu, Tutsi or Twa would gather at the parents’ home and offer gifts of thanks to the parents. They would celebrate the addition of a priceless gift of a child to their society. As the child grew up, a ceremony of giving the child back to society would be held. Here, the parents would ask the community members to own the child and also be responsible for its upbringing. By this, a social contract guaranteeing societal responsibility in the child’s upbringing was signed. Henceforth, punishment for any wrong done and appraisal for the good done was a societal responsibility as empowered by the social contract. In a case of intense decay detected or exhibited by a society member, the entire village would seat in village courts called ‘Gacaca’ and a resolution would be taken mutually and collectively. During times of good harvests, the farmers used to share with herdsmen who in turn gave them milk and other milk products. This downplayed feelings of jealousy and envy and in turn promoted hard work which strengthened their unity. This kind of setting is synonymous with many other African countries. However all this was systematically destroyed by the deceitful and opportunistic ideologies employed by the white man when he came to our land. He came armed with religion as the instrument of manipulation and deceit, which he tactfully used to drive home his agenda. All the values and beliefs that had bound the Rwandan society together for centuries were branded pagan and sinful and were broken down. People were indoctrinated with Christian values which were cunningly crafted to brainwash and at the same time harden people’s hearts. This way, people could easily give up their wealth in form of raw-materials. It would also loosen the grip on their precious values which had united them for long and which were an obstacle in their scheming ways. This would serve as a double edged sword since it would later harden people’s hearts against each and cause discord which they saw as a fertile ground for their cynical plots. This saw an absurd status-quo where all the values and social contracts that used to mean a lot to them slowly by slowly lost meaning. That’s where the saying in Kinyarwanda of “Keriziya yasimbuye kirazira” came from; literally meaning the church replaced their divine old beliefs. In the period of the first killings against the Tutsis in 1959, the Belgians and other colonial masters at the time were making what can be called a pilot project into their cynical plots of turning the Hutu’s against the Tutsis. During that time the Hutus were not yet fully engrossed into the dirty ideology and after those killings, some Hutus went to Tutsi families bursting with remorse and asking for forgiveness from them. The following times were pretty bad because the Belgians gained absolute control over our country and they strengthened their ideologies. What is more heartbreaking is the fact that during the time of Rwanda getting its independence, she was disunited up to the bedrock. The crafters of evil had left politics based on ethnicity and greed. During this time of most states getting independence, Uganda had Uganda People’s Congress, South Africa had African National Congress Tanzania had Tanganyika African National Union and u can imagine even Burundi had Democratic Party of Burundi, guess what Rwanda had at the time; Perpe-Hutu! A signal that that Rwanda was in a pathetic political position at the time which culminated into episodes that will haunt her forever. But hope is still alive. Although we lost over a million people in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi as a result of the seeds of bad politics, the current leadership has showed us beyond reasonable doubt we should stand steadfast in a hope of a better tomorrow. Though Genocide unspeakably defied all the social values that were characteristic of Rwanda, they have been rebuilt in a modern fashion. For instance the communal settlements have been brought back in form of modern estates and the communal participation in welfare of members has come back in the form of Mituelle de sante, among others. The children who were made vulnerable after being orphaned by the genocide are strongly picking up. Some have completed University and are even supporting vulnerable groups. An English man once wrote that “success is the perfect revenge” and this should be the driving motivation for all those who were hurt by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Together let’s stand up and say Never Again. Let’s fight the Genocide ideology. Let’s love and care for one another as we develop our country. Contact: gahimore@yahoo.com