TIU Day 3: "We are all Rwandans"

June 23, 2012

Grave at the Kigali Memorial Centre

Over the years, I have read many powerful, moving books about Rwanda such as Romeo Dallaire’s Shake Hands with the Devil and Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow we Will Die with our Families and more. Despite its long, rich history and vibrant culture, it was much harder to find books on Amazon.com about anything besides the genocide and the rebuilding and reconciliation processes that have followed when preparing for this trip.

Walking around in the warm sunshine and soft breeze on the streets of Kigali then, it is difficult to not think about these stories of the genocide and the scars it must have left on this society and these people. This afternoon we visited the Kigali Memorial Center, one of nine national sites memorializing the genocide and the final resting place of 250,000 Rwandans. The whole thing remains difficult to comprehend, and despite our group discussions and lessons, it is hard to find the words to explain.

Names of genocide victims at the Memorial 

Yet at the same time, one of the most amazing things about our first few days here is the feeling of national solidarity and pride we have heard expressed repeatedly in the phrase, “We are all Rwandans.” It is moving and powerful and dare I say incredible. As we have talked about culture with our group and with the local young people we have met, this hopeful, optimistic sense of national identity is inspiring.

Entrepreneurship has come up over and over again in these conversations as one way to continue to rebuild and strengthen Rwanda, and the people here seems determined to not only find jobs but to create them. To the extent that our work with our communities this summer contributes to that growing entrepreneurial movement, I can’t wait to get started in earnest this week. While I still feel like I have more questions than answers, rather than focusing on the sadness of the past, I’m looking around and instead getting excited for the future of this beautiful Land of a Thousand Hills. 

View of Kigali City