Liberation was just the start

I remember reading the story of Edmond Hillary and Sherpa Tensing, the first men to climb Mount Everest. They described climbing ledge after ledge, and every time they would find another ledge, because the top of the mountain was shrouded in mist, snow, and rain. They got to a ledge and there was nowhere left to climb, they realized they had got to the top but instead of celebrating they took a commemorative photo and relaxed for 5 minutes. Then the bigger problem occurred to them – how would they get off the mountain, the climb down was more dangerous than going up. The same kind of story is told by soldiers who liberated our country in 1994, there were no celebrations on July 4th 1994 because the carnage all around was harrowing. One soldier I spoke to spent 4th of July digging bodies out of a pit-latrine and giving them a proper burial. He dug the graves while a young Brother from the seminary did the last rites and benediction. He buried some 55 people that day, each was picked from the rotting depths, it is the most horrible and noble experience of his life. On a national level the task was even bigger, the treasury was looted, every building was damaged, every Rwandan was traumatized in some way and the enormity of the mountain facing Rwanda became apparent. The reasons why Rwanda had turned on itself and attempted national suicide had to be tackled, Genocide ideology was a symptom of a deeper malaise. Genocide ideology stems from Ignorance, Poverty, Hatred, Disunity and a distortion of History. In order to avoid this happening in future the new government would have to educate Rwandans, to improve their social welfare, teach them tolerance and love for each other, give them a sense of national unity and focus them on the future. Winning on the battlefield was just the beginning of another war, a war that will take decades to win, a war that will be fought by our children and grandchildren. A war on what we would call “ubutindi” in Kinyarwanda, this word doesn’t have a direct translation but means “a poverty mindset”, a mindset that stems from ignorance and poverty. This mindset meant that Rwanda didn’t develop in any meaningful way from 1962 till 1994, this mindset is what gave birth to genocide ideology. It made neighbour suspicious of neighbour and hateful of neighbour, therefore it made it easier to kill them, to rape them and rob them. That edifice of Ubutindi is being destroyed one brick at a time. With every school built, with every child learning, with every health centre, with every road laid, and with every job created we are building a new Rwanda. To change this mindset is harder than changing DNA because it is your mental DNA. Rwanda has taken massive strides since 1994, and will continue to do so especially now as Rwandans are taking the lead in defining their own development. The cow was dragged to the river, now let it drink. Ends