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  • Upcoming Rwandan artists speak about their future

    Rwanda’s music industry continues to flourish with more youngsters joining the stage to take the industry to a higher level. IGIHE.com’s Dianah Mutimura spoke to some upcoming local artists about their dream, the music industry, and challenges it faces. Below are the excerpts.

    Joliss Peace
    He is a 20-year old singer currently in senior six at Don Bosco, a high school in Eastern Province. His stage name is Joliss Peace but his fans call him ‘Peace’. Joliss wants to be famous and he is determined to take the local music industry to the next level. As a student, he says his main challenge is to combine studying and singing but he loves both.

    His love for music dates back in his childhood. He says when he was young ; he used to attend concerts with his mother, something that increased his interests for music.

    In primary six, Joliss started writing songs and he named his first song ‘Mpamagara’ meaning ‘call me. The song was released last year and became a hit. Tigo, a mobile company is now using it a caller tune. Joliss believes that the local media industry has a role to promote
    the music industry. This could be done by playing local songs on the
    radio stations.

    Life
    Life is a new group, which emerged early this year. It is composed of two young male singers Serge Gatsinzi and Audace Willy Mucyo. Serge is known for his song ‘Mbwire iki umukunzi, and Amapingo y’Urukundo. Local radio stations play these songs often.

    Before forming the group, Gatsinzi and Mucyo were friends and created the group ‘life’ after realizing that they shared passion for music.

    They have so far recorded their first single ‘Ndibaza’ and they are currently working on their second song expected to be released next month.

    Unlike Mucyo, Gatsinzi plays guitar. He says he has played guitar for the past 12 years. “I’m so in love with the guitar”.

    On the other hand, Mucyo is a songwriter and a dancer. He says he is currently on a level where he can teach dancing. He sings in hip-hop style. The group has worked with Producer Nicolas, the owner of Bridge Record, based in Kigali and is currently working with Lick Lick, the leading producer in Rwanda who owns Unlimited Record.

    Life believes that the local music industry should be valued like other sectors and this could help develop it.

  • Government to put up cultural centre

    The government has announced plans to build a national cultural centre in Gahanga sector, Kicukiro district with construction works scheduled to start next year.

    The national cultural centre will be equipped with a library, stage performing theatre, movie theatre and exhibition stalls to display cultural products among others.

    “This will not only be a national theatre but a one stop cultural centre since it will be equipped with different cultural materials,” Jean Pierre Karabaranga, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Sports revealed.

    “At a moment, we cannot tell how long this process will take because the study is not yet done,” the Permanent Secretary explained, adding that once the construction process starts, it would not take long to be accomplished since it has been one of the major projects earmarked on the ministry’s seven year plan.

    The ministry observed that it was imperative to have such cultural centrers hence the plan to have at least one well equipped centre. He added that this was the first time the proposal featured in the ministry’s action plan.

    “We were not taking it as a big issue because we thought people would use other centres but we have now found it is necessary,” Karabaranga said.

    For many stage performers, it has been challenging since they had no special place to execute their activities which forced them to hire halls in private institution’s halls, which at times would either be too small, booked for other functions or too expensive to rent.

    “Most of the time, our performances are commissioned by other institutions and this is not because, we cannot have self-sponsored performances and deliver good and interesting messages to the people, but it’s because we have no facility specifically for such performances and this hinders our popularity and development,” Hope Azeda, Mashirika’s founder and Artistic Director told IGIHE.com in an interview.

    With the acting and the theatre scene still embryonic, few professional groups have managed to survive and this has led to slow progress of performing arts in the country.

    The Managing Director, Urunana Development Community, George Gahenda reiterated that lack of a cultural centre was a big hindrance towards their development, though they had tried to rectify the problem by moving to the local communities to deliver their message besides conducting radio shows. 

  • Job market in need of vocational skills

    A rush for white-collar jobs has led many to be unemployed simply because they believe its fancy and well paying yet vocational skills are in high demand perhaps due to the robust economic growth in the country.

    Even though there are few vocational institutions presently, there is still low interest in the sector among the majority. It seems people have not grasped the advantages. Similar skills are associated with illiterate people, which is rather a misnomer.

    It is due to this wrong mindset that the youth who are the most affected by lack of employment ; need to be encouraged on vocational skills while still in college. In neighbouring countries like Kenya and Uganda, this concept has attracted people to vocational training institutions as a lucrative option after high school, rather than institutions of high school failures.

    This also goes hand in hand with career guidance which should be provided at early stages of a students learning with general emphasis on the market demand for vocational skills and knowledge thus enabling students to determine and make better career choices. 

    Applied skills including carpentry and joinery, building, brick making, computer repair, auto mechanics, biogas construction, electrical installation, plumbing, creative art and crafts, etc are on high demand in the Rwandan market currently experiencing a construction boom including complementary services.

     However, the country’s youth have not realised the unequalled demand for vocational skills since most of them and their parents prefer direct entry into university after high school to pursue degrees despite their usefulness in the market thereafter.

    It also due to the wrong mindset that guardians continue to privately sponsor their children to study for expensive but spurious university degrees leaving their children unemployable in the competitive job market.

    Although the government has recently been encouraging the youth to join vocational institutions, the idea is not attractive to them. Acquiring a university degree is more appealing to both the youth and their parents.

    However, with a few vocational institutions like Kavumu Technical College and Eto Muhima, there is still a challenge on learning equipment hence the need for more modern facilities and harmonisation of training standards with those in the region while encouraging accreditation and exchange programs with international institutions.

    Cultural attitudes on the other hand are a huge impediment towards encouraging female youths to take up training in specific traditionally male biased vocation schools including carpentry, construction, electrical installation, para-veterinary, auto mechanics among others.

     Certainly, more female students should be encouraged to join vocational institutions to help improve their employability thus increase their self-reliance and standards of living. This would also discourage demeaning female dominated vocations including prostitution.

    Meanwhile, the privatisation era has overhauled operations in the entire market systems and required basic knowledge and skills. This calls for addition of new modules and subjects in the college and university syllabus to ensure production of graduates with skills compliant with the market demands. 

    Specific subjects including mathematics, environmental management, entrepreneurship and research and principle vocational subjects such as carpentry, plumbing, technical drawing, cookery, agribusiness, among others should be included into mainstream college syllabus.

    High school graduates with the above knowledge and skills will be more productive especially in applying such highly needed skills and knowledge in the undeveloped countryside market. Their ability to create jobs is so high thus could help in quick social economic transformation of the society unlike university graduates that are mostly job seekers.

    The country’s industrialisation program should be quickly implemented to encourage attractiveness of skills training at vocational institutions .building a rice factory for instance in a particular village, the accruing demand for services including accommodation, restaurants, shops, transport, welding, building, hair salons among others, will be handy and thus encourage the youth to acquire relevant vocational skills.

    Equipping the youth with vocational skills would easily curb rural-urban migration challenges. Youth with such skills can easily operate from their rural areas, achieve more financial independence and reduce on poverty related problems experienced in the rural areas.

    However, the government needs to create a more conducive environment that promotes small and medium enterprises common in markets with abundant vocational skills. The laws on starting business and taxes on such businesses need to be carefully considered to encourage entrepreneurship.

    Supportive infrastructure especially electricity, roads and water should be expanded to the deeper countryside to encourage projects established by youths with such skills. The current unattractiveness of vocational institutions is largely due to inadequate infrastructure in the rural countryside.

    The few youths with vocational skills find it challenging to establish projects and businesses in the countryside largely lacking electricity, roads and other support infrastructure. This situation forces them to migrate to urban centres where such infrastructure is available and dependable. 

    Finally, if Rwanda heeds to the proper development and expansion of vocational institutions, a large percentage of the country’s youth would improve their innovativeness, increase financial independence, reduce unemployment and thus boost the private sector. There should be an overhaul of the country’s education system through emphasising vocational skills training and making it appealing to the youth while at high school and establishing supportive infrastructure. 

  • Culture, a nation’s identity

    Culture is one of the indices that signify personal and natural identity. I could not think of a better description of the word ‘culture’ than those of Walter Rodney, a prominent Guyanese historian and political activist who said,“Culture is a total way of life, it embraces what people ate and what they wore, the way they walked and the way they talked, the manner in which they treated death and the way they greeted newborns”.

    I concur with Walter Rodney as I am sure many of you do too. But the question has risen on the minds of many of the youth today, as to how our cultural values and morals can coincide with today’s constant changing economic, political but mostly social status. We all agree that Rwanda was a very different country ten years ago and will be even more so in next ten years. The futuristic destination of our country is quite the same as the rest of our neighboring nations (maybe even a little more) both at home in Africa, as well as, abroad in developing countries, but the cultures and traditional values remain the same.

    Let us look at examples such as India, a former British colony, which is now has one of the biggest movie industries in the world after the U.S, producing over 1000 movies per year. Today, the movie industry has helped India’s economy grow by 50 percent to 60 percent. The film industry in India though, still has a clear understanding and respect of its moral obligation in respecting and keeping the country’s cultural values alive. If you have ever watched a Hindu movie, you can clearly see their cultural and moral beliefs portrayed all over the screen ; there is no nudity, no kissing. The portrayal of a true and virtuous Indian woman is captured showing a man attempting to woo a woman but she will not be screened with him alone without a chaperon, until the day she is married. 

    Many of these traditions are still being practised today, even though the way they dress is more modern and their ideas towards educating women has dramatically changed over the last decade. Many of their thousand years old cultural values and traditions have remained, the most commonly known in India is arranged marriages. The same goes to China where a thousand year old traditions are still being practised everywhere and every day. They uphold their culture starting from their amazing calligraphy that cannot be imitated anywhere else in the world. When tourists go to China, they go there hoping to see the Great Wall of China among other different cultural attractions. I doubt people go all the way across the globe to experience the latest Nokia phone.

    I decided to start with these examples to explain to our youth that despite living in the 21th century, we ought to keep our old traditions and cultural values alive while still being very much a part of today’s society.

    From the earliest inhabitants of Rwanda, who were hunters and gatherers, ouor rich culture plays a major role in our tourism sector today. Many of the tourists, who visit Rwanda every year always remember the ‘intore’ dancers since that is what they want to see the most. The dance touches on different aspects like keeping our culture alive, teaching us how our ancestors would prepare for hunting or prepare for battle among others. It also depicts the story of their bravery and excellent skills. In our culture, traditional gatherers would gather cow dung to build their hut. This culture has not died either. In fact, when you walk into various arts and craft shops, restaurants, cafes and homes, you will notice that paintings made from cow dung are sold not only in Rwanda, but across the globe.

    The same goes for the weaving of baskets which has now become a great source of revenue for Rwandan women who were victims of the genocide. These baskets come with new meaning and importance without losing its old cultural meaning. Rwandans called them ‘Agaseke’ and they still carry the name today. The only difference is that since the genocide, they have come to be known as ‘Baskets of Peace’ because women of various ethnic backgrounds can come together and weave baskets together as one people.

    I believe that every time tourists arrive in Rwanda and experience all the above, they have not only experienced a new and improved Rwanda, which is currently up to speed with all of society’s latest trends and futuristic dreams.

    Beyond this, they also leave with a clear, beautiful and realistic image of where Rwanda is truly from, what it is about, how we live, our beliefs and traditions, our moral integrity and most importantly our cultural history.

  • Inkotanyi’s role in the genocide rescue activities, part 1

    Though the RPF soldiers (Inkotanyi) might not have saved everyone on time during the Tutsi genocide, those who were saved narrate the heroism exerted by the peace-aimed soldiers led by President Paul Kagame. Igihe.com brings you an insight of some of the rescue operations conducted in the city.

    Chantal Mukanyandwi, 35, is one of the survivors who were rescued by RPF soldiers at Saint Famille church located in the city’s main roundabout. She and her family run for refuge at the church hoping the militias would spare them as was the case in the 1959 war where militias spared Tutsis who hid in religious centers.

    Venant Ntabwomvura, 80, a doctor at the Butare University Hospital noted that the reason why many saw churches as safe heavens was because the majority respected religious institutions and associated them to holly grounds thats why militias in the first war feared to attack those who camped in churches.

    The lady further explains that some of her neighbors also took refuge in the church’s enclosed premises where priests and nuns lived. They thought militias would still refrain from the known holly grounds but on contrary the evil minded killers didn’t care at all instead they took advantage of the Tutsi gatherings in the church to pursue mass murder on them.

    Mukanyandwi adds that, “at the beginning of April militias came daily to pick people who we suspect were killed since no one ever came back. Whenever we asked their whereabouts they told us that they were taken for questioning which sounded suspicious,” she remarks.

    In addition to mystery, city leaders were often accompanied by militias in taking away some of the Tutsis who were hiding in the church. Among the prominent leader who was seen in the operations was Tharcisse Renzaho who was the mayor, Odette Nyirabagenzi a councilor from Nyarugenge sector was also among the local leaders in the clique.

    To make matters worse, the leaders would on several occasions trick them that the situation was controlled, but too bad some believed in their mere lies which made them loose their lives when they left the church on 16 June 1994. The mayor had faked that peace had prevailed and that everyone should go back to their respective homes. Due to this trap Mukanyadwi claims to have lost the majority of her family members.

    On the following day the blood-thirst militias broke into the church and killed a good number of people, she was lucky since she hid herself with wounded bodies, “my God the church was full of corpses,” she recalled.

    The militias break-in was no surprise since the catholic priest Wenceslas Munyenshaka used to organize masses as a way of inviting militias who would indentify those to kill next. It is also known that the priests made sure that those hiding were present during the preaching sessions.

    To make matters worse, the priest also ordered a good number of huge pits to be dug at the church’s backyard and since it was done in secrecy, no journalist nor UN peace keeping soldiers were allowed to see what was going on, when asked the priest would simply lie that the pits were to be used as toilets. But literally the pits served as graves.

    Killings went on and militias would often commit atrocities in the church, “I remember one day they came and shot people randomly, the anger was a result of a successfully rescue operation conducted by RPF soldiers,” Mukanyandwi comments.

    Igihe.com further talked to some of the Inkotanyi soldiers who are now serving in the Rwanda Defense Forces about some of the rescue activities in the city. Major Gerald Nyirimanzi in charge of Military History Department was together with Major Emanuel Rusakara at a rescue operation at Saint Famille. He noted that among the reasons why they started the war was to rescue and remove an oppressive regime which carried out the genocide. In an interview with igihe.com they told us how they conducted the rescue process.

    Major Nyirimanzi noted that they immediately rescued Tutsis who were hiding at Saint Famille after receiving intelligence reports that there were plans to kill them. RPF mission was to rescue and restore peace in the country, Tutsis who were in the country during the war at least they had heard about the Inkotanyi’s initiatives through Radio Muhabura which was used by the rebels to communicate their plans about Rwanda’s development.

    The small team of soldiers had to find all means to rescue the Saint Famille victims despite the large presence of militias surrounding the church. Of course penetrating through the militias required some skills and among the tricks they used concentrated on corrupting the enemy’s radio communication system. Nyirimanzi noted for instance they tricked that the RPF soldiers were about to attack the presidents house, the aim was to disorganize the large number of militias at the church with the majority rushing to the presidents house, the trick worked and the Inkotanyis fought their way into the church. 

    Major Nyirimanzi disclosed that the rescue operation was a challenge since the victims hesitated to open the door even after explaining to they came in peace , it seems they didn’t trust them given that in the past militias have used a similar statement. Inkotanyis didn’t spend much time on the doors since they were working on a deadline hence they proceeded to rescue those who were hiding in neighboring Sainte Paul premises, here the rescue process was fair since they broke windows and saved those who were inside including the ones hiding in nearby bushes.

    Rescuing those in the city centre also required more military coverage in other suburbs. In this respect a group of soldiers attacked from Gisozi sector were later on supported by a battalion known as Bravo from H Coy three platoons. The first platoon was in charge of taking the lead while the second platoon was assigned to rescue people at Saint Paul premises which is close to Saint Famille Catholic Church and the third took the back cover and also assisted soldiers and civilians who were affected in several cross-fires with the militias. The soldiers rescued more than 500 people who were taken from Gisozi to Kabuye for treatment.

    The major added that ”saving everyone wasn’t easy because they were some who wanted to carry their property along which delayed the rescue process elsewhere . It is due to this delay that some military police from the militia side started shooting at the RPF soldiers in various parts of the city. The crossfire led to injuries of some of the rescued people which made even some to halt their movement due to serious injuries. Those who were left in the swamps were rescued the previous night..

    The rescue process from the city’s Catholic Church and Saint Paul wasn’t the only operations in the city. Details about other hiding spots and how the saving process was conducted will be disclosed in our second part of the story. The second series will highlight rescue activities at Stade Amahoro, Sainte Andre in Nyamirambo and Rebero.

  • An Eternal Burning Memory: The story of a genocide survivor

    It was the 7th of April, when the radio announced the breaking news of the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana. It was the beginning of the last precious moments for millions of Rwandan Tutsi’s, it was the beginning of a journey of survival for a young genocide survivor, who would forever have to live with the engraved memory of the unimaginable scenes she now sees every time she sleeps. From the darkness she passed through, today she lives among us to tell her story, to remind us when we forget her soul wrenching story.

    A young woman small in stature, Francine Uwera, 27, moves with graceful small steps. Her dark skin is in contrast to the whiteness of her teeth. From afar, she seems as ordinary as any other young female Rwandan ; beautiful, graceful and timid. But Uwera is all those things and so much more, she is full of despair and hope combined, she smiles yet her eyes are sad, she holds herself up with dignity yet she is full of resignation, she is the past combined with the future. As she sits fidgeting with her fingers, she seems anxious, yet when she opens her mouth, her voice comes out strong and confident, in her words you can hear, anger, sorrow, confusion but most of all conviction. This is her story, this is her memory. 

    “It was the 7th of April when my mother and I were at home waiting for my father to arrive to have our supper, my mother was ill at the time and instead of going to school, I stayed home in order to care for her. That was when we heard the news on the radio, the president’s plane had been shot down, and that was when the hour of death arrived at my door. In that instant by seeing my mother’s face, I knew that something terrible had happened, but I was young and didn’t understand the real impact of what this meant.

     My father came home shortly after, and without pause or explanation told us to leave the house and start running, he started shoving me out through the back door telling me, “Run, run Francine……… and don’t stop until I tell you, don’t stop for anyone else”.

    My mother gave me her wrapper and told me to carry it to shield me from the rain. In the rush and confusion, I couldn’t possibly comprehend that they were not really following behind me, so I ran. When I got as far as the bushes at the end of the road, a sudden and terrible fear came over me. I could hear thousands of people screaming from what seemed like miles away from every corner, voices of crying women, men, and children. Even dogs were barking incessantly. I was terrified and hid crouched in the bushes.

    I was not going to continue without my parents, so I decided to wait. I waited for what seemed like forever, then I saw them, the men who marched into my home and killed my parents. I could hear them say “we should kill them, kill them all.” I will never forget the sound of the cows crying as they were being slaughtered, and since then never have I been able to eat any kind of meat.

    I knew I couldn’t stay there for they were sure to find me. I gathered all the courage I had and started running, all the while, mentally reciting all the prayers I knew. I ran till I could not run any more. But there was nowhere to go, and no one whom I knew. I did what many Rwandans were doing during the 100 days of massacre ; I lay down with the bodies of the dead and pretended what at that time I only wish were true.

     It would be impossible to tell you all the things I saw because most of the time, my face was buried in the ground, laying down next to the corpses, waiting for the militia to find and kill me. While praying to God, I started to doubt whether he even existed to save me.

    All I can tell you is that Rwanda had become a real living hell ; the beautiful hills you see now were all on fire. Screams of thousands of people all in pain and agony rent the air, leaving your mind to imagine the horrible things these people were going through and what might happen to you too. If you want a clear picture of what the hell in the bible is described like, any genocide survivor can tell you.

    I cannot explain to you why I had the will to continue or let alone live but I got up and continued walking half running, my feet were swollen and I thought I would die of thirst before the Hutus found me. As I was trying to evade the main roads the militia were driving through erected with roadblocks, a Hutu woman whom by the grace of God seemed to take pity on me located me. She hid me in the pit latrine in her house ; she would tie a long rope around my waist and throw some unripe banana leaves down. As I sat there for days in faeces, I asked the Lord over and over again, why he would allow this to happen. I wondered if we had committed a sin so great that God wanted to wipe out everybody as he did in the bible. But there is one question that I don’t think I can ever find the answer to. “Why did God spare me ? Why did a Hutu woman become my saviour.”

    The days and nights had become one to me. I had become immune to the smell that had made me wrench a few days ago. Then one day, I heard men’s voices above me. As I sat in the latrine waiting, I looked up but could not see clearly. I waited for a grenade to be thrown down. I knew the final hour had come but then a man threw down a rope, telling me that they were ‘Inkotanyi. They had to coax me until the old woman, came and told me it was safe.

    I climbed up wondering what they meant by “safe”. Had the killings stopped or were these men simply going to help me escape. I reached the disembarked from the pit and finally breathed fresh air.Have you every known what it is like not to remember what breathing clean air feels like ? No I believe you haven’t.

     I will never forget seeing the RPF soldier who stood in front of me as he pulled me out of the darkness into light. Of all the horrible things I saw and heard, of all the memories and sounds that still haunt me till today, the one I don’t ever want to forget. The memory I will always keep through that whole ordeal is the voice of the soldier and the way in which he told me : “Humura” , I was so overwhelmed that I collapsed. I sobbed uncontrollably. I yelled out. I felt my heart could take no more. I cried so hard I was left with no energy to even stand up.

    All this time, the soldier was holding me gently repeating to me those words that have become a balm to my wounded heart. Since then, I have taken it a step at a time, with the help of the government and various organisations. I have been able to go to school and find work. After 17 years, I am beginning to let go of the pain. I have begun to believe that our country can recover and from testimonies such as mine. No survivor out there should ever feel alone as we did, and this, the world should know. 

  • 100 days and nights of remembrance and forgiveness

    Humankind is the most complex creature that God could have ever created, a creature so complex that every day is a new discovery into the minds and souls of man. The lengths they will go to to survive, the evil they are capable of, the things they will do in the name of love, but the most astonishing and beautiful act I have ever seen in mankind is the capability to forgive.

     We have all done wrong, and been wronged once in our life, and yet forgiveness doesn’t come easy. The story of the genocide in Rwanda is but one of the perfect example’s of the evil man is capable of, how man can turn on his neighbour, kill and hack both parents and infants that have been sharing the same air, roof and food with them without any remorse.

     Over 1 million Tutsi’s were mercilessly massacred, raped, and burnt alive and left for the dogs (and this I mean literally). The same goes to the attempt to exterminate the entire race of Jews by the Nazi’s, thousands of Jews were gathered and put into gas chambers, and left to die by Hitler and his henchmen. There are thousands of stories with similar cases around the world proving once again mankind is evil. There is only one story in the world though that can be told of a nation overcoming evil and finding peace and prosperity after such atrocities and teach the world the true meaning of forgiveness. That story is the story of Rwanda.

    Rwanda recently marked the 17th commemoration of the genocide that was committed on the Tutsi’s in 1994. Every year, we remember those we lost, and every year it never gets easier. The first commemoration I ever attended was on the opening of the genocide memorial at Gisozi and I will never forget what I saw. Seeing and hearing the testimonies of the survivors, seeing a room full of children’s pictures with their names, hobbies and future dreams that will never come true and then reading how they were murdered was heartrending. I will not lie that when I left that place I was not sad nor disturbed, I was enraged. I had evil feelings and thought of the ways I would exert revenge on those that did this. I could have sworn that if I was one of the survivors, I would never, and I mean, never forgive the perpetrators, until I witnessed the story of two genocide survivors named Chantal and Rosaria and my evil thoughts and angered heart was silenced for good. During the memorial, they made us watch a documentary called ‘as we forgive’. It is a documentary about two women, who learnt not only to forgive those who murdered their families, but work and reconstruct their lives together.

      Rosaria lost her husband and four kids in the genocide. She remains with one child whom she calls ‘kadogo’. She says she so named her child because she is the last of her children. Rosaria is a practicing Christian but she says that after the genocide, she didn’t know if she would ever be able to talk about God’s graciousness and goodness after what she had experienced.

     The same goes for Chantal, a mother of one who lost her husband and is now fending for herself and her child. Moreover, she has no relative’s left alive. Chantal says she would never step into a church again. Even then, she wonders how God could have allowed this to happen. In the documentary, we witness the struggle, pain and suffering these two women have endured over the years after the genocide.

    We watch Rosaria as she tries to begin her life all over again and we see her reading the bible, some captured scenes of her smiling. We then meet a man called Saveri, the man who butchered her family. He lives in the same neighbourhood and when asked if she would be able to forgive Saveri, she says she would do so. She reveals that the man even let him help to construct the house she now lives in. Later, we see them working and walking the streets together as though nothing ever occurred.

     Chantal, however, views things differently. When she was asked to forgive the man who killed her family, she could not even fathom the idea. As time passes by, my heart is full of questions as to whether I would be able to do what they were asking Chantal to do. I am in awe when several years later, we see pictures of Chantal and the perpetrator laughing and genuinely chatting.

     There is no other nation in the world that can claim to have ever recovered from genocide where perpetrators and victims actually shake hands, sit down and calmly chat as one asks for forgiveness and the other pardons.

     They say God travels by day and comes home to sleep in the hills of Rwanda by night. Otherwise, how else could you explain how a person can mourn their lost loved ones by day, and forgive those who took them away by night ?

  • Our future leaders looking to have no future?

    Today in every paper across our nation, you read about Kayumba et al, about Rwandans support to Somalia, about the East African Community, yet there seems to be little concern about the dilemma that is happening to our university students.

     Last year, Rwanda’s government approved the decision to cancel bursary loans used by government supported students. The Education Minister Dr Charles Murigande also announced that in the 2011 academic year, they will be no more merit scholarships for university students based on excellent secondary school results. SFAR,( Student Financing Agency) which covers students’ accommodation and living expenses, would loan 250,000 Rwandan francs to students, who would then reimburse the money once they find employment but now all that is being taken away.

    This has now become a great source of concern for the students who depend on government’s financial support. Many students were planning to request an appointment with the President Paul Kagame to discuss their plight, saying they are worried about their future, some are saying that this was a hasty decision and they believe the government should have considered the impact that this will have on the levels of education, as well as the impact it shall have on the number of students, who claim they will be forced to drop out of university, because without the financial support, they have no support at all.

    Minister of Education, Dr Charles Murigande, said that the government will continue to support students financially and the money which was supposed to be used for student loans is simply being reduced not abolished. He says that in future, students will be expected to carry their own weight, and pay for their own university costs. . The student population, believe there will be no students left in university in the future, except for the students who have private funding.

    “The education budget has been shortened and the government decided that students, from next year, must accommodate on their own. The money they were given by SFAR must develop newly implemented education policies like Nine Years Basic Education and technical education training, to give a chance to those who did not attend university,” said the minister.

    Rwanda now has free primary education up to the third year of secondary school, amounting to nine years of free education. This has made Rwanda’s primary school enrollment the highest in the region.
    Rwanda one the few African countries that has considerably contributed to developing higher education, will at the same time help in the development of information, communication, technology, and Internet infrastructure in the country. Yet there is still the expressed concern from students and parents about the latest developments, especially the fears of university costs, and the worries of how students will survive without the Government’s financial support.

    While the government expects the students to be able to support their own weight in paying for their university costs, the students are expecting the government to provide jobs so that students can study and make a living at the same time, but they say the only available jobs are those such as, waitressing, working in supermarkets, cleaning houses. They say that none of these jobs are in the least capable of financially helping a student pay for their school fees, their rent, let alone the monthly fee for food. The government must find a solution to this problem, before our nation finds itself with no leaders to govern our nation in the future.

  • Unforgettable Injustice

    The media in Rwanda is guilty of playing a major role as perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. However,we must honour and remember the innocent journalists who perished during the mass killings.

    The genocide of Rwanda has shattered the world’s perception on Rwanda’s media ethics because of the undeniable part they played in leading the country to destruction and virtual standstill. Today, as Rwanda commemorates the lives of the people we lost in 1994, we especially pay tribute to our fallen comrades, who were killed in just the same way as the other million Tutsi and moderate Hutu victims.

    We all have either heard, read or even experienced the atrocious acts of 1994 by the interahamwe extremists who rampaged the country savagely slaughtering and torturing Tutsis and their sympathisers. As the world remained silent, our nation was screaming out from both sides of the massacre, the screams of the people who were being killed, such as the 70 innocent Tutsi journalists, and those of the perpetrators who were screaming out for the blood of the Tutsis to be spilled.

    The media in Rwanda had not only incited the violence but encouraged it by sending hate messages over the radio and TV stations such as radio the Rwanda and Radio- Television Libre de Mille Collines, which would broadcast messages of accusation, demonisation and dehumanisation, becoming the main apparatus of the genocide, creating a false and unjust image that anyone affiliated with the media were involved and guilty.

    Today, the Media High Council which is an autonomous body regulating the press in Rwanda, has a whole new code of journalistic and media ethics, that aims at promoting and upholding a true and free flow of information. This is a promise that should lead any country towards true democracy and development. The first acts of such promise began with what seems to be the release of the names of the 70 Tutsis who were working as journalists at the time of the genocide. The release of the list has helped shed some truth that not ‘all’ persons who were working for the media then were Hutu, nor working for or towards the hate propaganda that was otherwise the media’s main occupation.

    Not only is the MHC busy cleaning up the image of the Rwandan media’s integrity in the eyes of the world but at home as well. One of these benevolent acts is honouring the victims as well as the families of the innocent journalists who were brutally killed in the genocide. Patrice Mulama, the Media’s High Council Executive secretary, said the MHC would help the families of these fallen journalists, which lies under the regulatory body’s social responsibility programme.

    Frances Ndoli a reporter for the New Times quoted Patrice Mulama in an article written on the 12 March, 2011 saying “”We want to come up with something in conjunction with other media organisations as we identify the families which are mostly in need of support, We will collaborate with the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide and IBUKA, to agree on what to provide ; it could be shelter or something else’.

    These journalists, whose honourable work has been besmirched by the ghosts of a terrible past, should be remembered as a beacon of truth. They area also a reminder that not all honour and proper journalistic code was lost during the genocide and write. On the behalf of our fallen comrades, whose names are written below, may their souls rest in eternal peace.

    Media houses and names of Journalists

    ORINFOR 1 RUBWIRIZA Tharcisse

    2 MWUMVANEZA Médard

    3 GASANA Cyprien

    4 KARAKE Claver

    5 KARAMBIZI Gracien

    6 KARINDA Viateur

    7 RUDAHANGARWA J. Baptiste

    8 SEBANANI André

    9 KALISA Callixte

    10 NSABIMANA Emmanuel

    11 BUCYANA Jean Bosco

    12 MBUNDA Felix

    13 MUNYARIGOGA Jean Claude

    14 NSHIMIYIRYO Eudes

    LE PARTISANT 15 HABINEZA Aphrodice (SIBO)

    LE TRIBUN DU PEUPLE 16 MUKAMA Eugène

    17 HATEGEKIMANA Wilson

    18 GAKWAYA Eugène

    19 RUGAJU Jean Claude

    LE FLAMBEAU 20 BAZIMAZIKI Obed

    21 KARINGANIRE Charles

    22 MUNANA Gilbert

    23 RAFIKI KAYIHURA Octave

    24 NTAGANZWA Alexis

    25 KINYAMATEKA NKUBIRI Sylvestre

    26 MUGANZA Clement

    27 KAYINAMURA M.Beduwa

    28 SERUVUMBA Anastase

    29 LE SOLEIL KAYIRANGA Marcelin

    30 MUKAMUSONI Jeanne d’Arc

    31 BURASA Prisca

    32 ISIBOMURERAMANZI Néhémie

    33 KANYARWANDA NKUNDIMANA Joel

    34 MUTESA Donat

    35KANGUKA RWABUKWISI Vincent (RAVI)

    36 MBARAGA Wellars

    37 KIBERINKASHABAKAKA Vincent

    38 NYIMBUZI Aloys

    39 KAMANAYO Théotime

    RWANDA RUSHYA 40 KAMURASE Martin

    41 MUDATSIKIRA Joseph

    42 KAMEYA André

    43 L’OBSERVATEURMUNYAKAZI Bernard

    44 Free lancers MBUGUJE Sixbert

    45 MUKAMANA Winifred

    46 RUKUNDO Emmanuel

    47 RUTSINDURA Emmanuel

    48 RUTSINDURA Alphonse

    49 RWEMARIKA Claude

    50 TWAGIRAMUNGU Felix

  • Do you take Rwanda to be your lawfully wedded country?

    Rwanda, Rwanda, Rwanda, we should all be so proud. Over the past ten years, I have seen Rwanda grow before my eyes, but It feels like only yesterday when I came to this green hilly heaven that I then thought was the end of the world and my parents sent me here as punishment for not doing my homework. I arrived here in 1996 when the streets were still empty, the population consisted of mainly elders whom I believe were here for retirement, the President and his government and the few newborns that were wailing am sure after sensing that their youth was going to wasted on Sunday swimming lessons and football and mabigibigi.

    There really wasn’t anything going on except the re-construction of our nation,, for which I commend our president for not only redeeming our nation, but also the excellent work he has done and is still doing for our country. There was the occasional concert once a year, there were the few nightclubs but since I was too young, I will cross that out from the list. Ok maybe I am exaggerating a little, they may have been things one could do but am not exaggerating when I say, Rwanda was dead boring to me personally. I don’t know about you, I know my father loved it so much that a 45 minute drive to Muhazi was like taking a kid to Disney World (it was beautiful I admit).

    The living conditions were awful in some places. There was a lack of jobs for returnees and those struggling in school and work at the same time. There was internet, but it was uncommon and many didn’t know how to use the internet at that time. There were a million reasons why Rwanda was not a place I saw myself living in for long. But I think the most important reason would be that I behaved like any young teenager from abroad. I didn’t realise what my country could become. I wasn’t interested in being part of the rehabilitation but only inhabiting in it.I had no faith in believing that Rwanda would not only survive after the genocide but also be better than before( I bet that none of you saw this coming either).Today, I feel I am not only sure that I can live here but I am confident that this is where I will be buried (unless I die in a plane crash somewhere over the Atlantic ocean).

    I have heard many Rwandans who have returned proclaim such statements as ‘oh my God Rwanda has become so civilized’, like they were expecting to see men with spears and woman running bare-chested in the middle of the roads or what ? Caucasians might be ignorant about Africa but never an African. Most of my friends left because they felt they could not live on the meager salaries that they were making. You can imagine, that these same people have said that they now realise that earning our ‘so called’ meager salary here, is a hundred times better then working long hours, in Western capitals, while having to commute from one city to the next. They have credit limits, but still after paying off all their bills and tuition fees, they still are most of the time in debt. This obviously doesn’t mean that it is every one.

    But this is not just about how good our broadband connection is or how great our coffee is (though you do know how good our coffee is). No, this is about Rwandans and their immense dedication in proving, home is where the heart is. After what this country and its people have been through, I walk the streets and see all kinds of people and the kinds of work they do to survive everyday and yet most of them are happy. I was going home by bus the other day when curiosity got the better of me and I asked a construction worker how much he gets paid. He told me he earns “1500 francs per day. ” I asked him how he survived on such a meagre amount and he responded, “I can afford to buy food for my family have transport to go home, and buy myself a beer at the end of the day, why would I complain, I have everything I want and what I do is important, your ministers wouldn’t have where to work if it wasn’t for people like us. ”

    To that in French we say ‘chapeau’(hats off to you.) He continued that not only was it more than he expected to get paid but he feels proud when he walks past the buildings he has helped put up. But what I respected the most was the way in which he was more proud in having said he worked on the Parliament buildings, than being concerned with the amount of money anyone else would dismiss if told to do the same job this man does. Imagine if one lowly construction worker is that content in his life, imagine what it would be like if you had your dream job here in Rwanda ? Would you want to go ?

    In my opinion, hell no ! Just have to find my dream job first. Our country is not only physically beautiful but there is immense loyalty that one can’t help but feel it grow in you no matter how far you run. Well, I know that I have run my course and know that I do take Rwanda as my lawfully wedded country, through sickness and health, through economic, political, geographical ups and downs, till death do us part !