As a global communications professional, I have been privileged to work and travel to many different parts of the world — Europe, Middle East, Latin America, North America, Asia-Pacific and Africa. I know for a fact that the world holds gloriously unique and wondrous treasures. But did you know that one of the most unique treasures in the world is the country of Rwanda? As I share with you my thoughts and my feelings regarding the incredible country of Rwanda, I think you will agree with me. I am Floyd Nelson, an American, an African-American and I invite you to see Rwanda, a true treasure, in a way that you might not have ever imagined **************************************************************************************************** “Africa ...In the Beginning” “In the beginning God created heaven and the earth.” These words represent what I first think about whenever I board a plane to fly somewhere. Maybe it’s out of fear or maybe it’s out of wonderment based on the fact that something weighing 400,000 pounds or 181,400 kilogrammes is actually moving through the air and I am in it. These were my ongoing thoughts as my KLM flight was flying more than 880kph (500mph) from the East Coast of the United States to what some consider to be “the heart” of Europe. Looking out of my window, flying over the vast Atlantic Ocean, I continued to have thoughts about how life and how everything came to be — people, places and things. A bit of turbulence jolted me out of my deep thoughts and I found myself thinking about what time it was really and how far we had traveled since leaving the U.S. As I looked at the distance flight tracker on my in-flight TV screen on the back of the seat in front of me, I suddenly found myself thinking about one thing, one word — Africa. Africa — it was my destination, but not my ultimate destination. “Pangea Africa” Africa, a continent that is more than three times the size of the U.S, is the second largest continent in the world. But did you ever wonder how it came into existence? Did you ever wonder how it came to be? It is a well-known geological fact that a giant landmass, or “supercontinent,” was the first land formation. This occurred about 300-200 million years ago, and it was called Pangea or “All Lands.” Then, around 165 million years ago, Pangea began to split apart. It was from this volcanic-induced split that “Africa” was born. With approximately 30.37 square million kilometres or 11.7 million square miles of land mass, “Pangea Africa,” if you will, was contiguous with North America, South America and Europe. Gradually, more of Earth’s eruptions broke things further apart. The different continents we have all come to know were formed. Africa was formed. In the beginning, Africa was created. I thought about these things as I boarded my next flight at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the capital and most populous city in the Netherlands. I was almost there, almost at the end of my journey from America, but I still had a few miles (kilometers) to go. “Expand” By the time the plane left Amsterdam, I had already traveled 3,864 miles (6,223 km). I had 4,034 miles (6,493km) to go before I reached my ultimate destination. It seemed far, but it did not feel far. I don’t know why it didn’t because as I said Africa is huge. We flew over the Equator, and resting just 138.19 miles (222.39km) south of it one could see, or at least detect, some of the hilliest land and some of the most breathtaking beauty in all of Africa and, perhaps, the world. It was Rwanda. Near the Great Lakes, and part of the Great Rift Valley, this land-locked, East-central African country is slightly smaller than the state of Maryland, comparable in size to Massachusetts (think of the size of the country of Haiti.) Now, with all of that in mind, you can imagine a bit of this incredible country. The word Rwanda comes from the ancient word “anda”, which means “to expand.” Incredible, not just for its sheer beauty, but for the people as well. After all, it is the people who make the country. The country does not make the people. I have traveled throughout Africa, and I have worked with practically every African nation, so believe me when I say: “I have never met African people like the people of Rwanda.” “We Are All African” We know that Africa was the beginning of all human life as we know it on Earth. In fact, American geneticist, anthropologist, author and entrepreneur, Dr Spencer Wells, who led the Genographic Project from 2005-2015, as an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, summarised Africa’s as “the birth home of humanity” this way: “The DNA tells a story that's very clear. Within the last 200,000 years, we all share an ancestor – a single person, mitochondrial Eve; you might have heard about her – in Africa. An African woman who gave rise to all the mitochondrial diversity in the world today. But what's even more amazing is that if you look at the Y-chromosome side, the male side of the story, the Y-chromosome Adam only lived around 60,000 years ago. That's only about 2,000 human generations – the blink of an eye in an evolutionary sense. That tells us we were all still living in Africa at that time. This was an African man who gave rise to all the Y-chromosome diversity around the world. It's only within the last 60,000 years that we have started to generate this incredible diversity we see around the world. Such an amazing story. We're all effectively part of an extended African family. We are all Africans under the skin.” When I got off the plane at Kigali International Airport and began to look into the faces of Rwandan men, women, and children, I could “see,” the many parts of the world I have been privileged to travel -- Europe, Middle East, Latin America, North America, Asia, and, Africa. Looking beyond the complexion of the skin, I could see uncanny resemblances, the bone structure, the eyes, the noses, and the lips of Asians, Europeans, and those from the Americas. Dr Wells’ words played in my head over and over and over again: “We're all effectively part of an extended African family. We are all Africans under the skin.” Floyd Nelson is an American communications professional who has travelled or worked in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, the Caribbean, The Middle East and Africa. In Rwanda, he worked for the U.S. government and its Rwanda partners to further development goals and objectives in economic development, health, education, agriculture and more.
