A FEW DAYS AGO, I reflected on a story that I had read on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning website about how the Government of Rwanda had successfully raised US$ 620 million through the issuance of a 10-year Eurobond. You don't have to be old to understand how vital and significant this move is to a country like Rwanda.
Breathe in with me, and let me take you on a journey. When I was young, I would hear and see people in the neighbourhood going to a place they called 'Gacaca'. To be sincere, I had no clue. I had many questions in my mind like any other person who's clueless about Rwanda's story. In 2016 I was lucky enough to join a project by the USC Shoah Foundation. I got a chance to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Gisozi, where 250,000 victims have been buried. It was a significant but heartbreaking moment for me. It was a time to connect with the voices in videos and the pictures of orphans and other people who innocently lost their lives.
After the visit, the mystery then was how the government succeeded in turning hopeless people into hands, rapidly rebuilding this nation to be a model for the rest of the continent in many aspects, including the security that had been an immense problem over two decades ago?
A few years later, the mystery was answered in President Kagame's conversation with Humans of New York. "There was a huge puzzle after the Genocide. How do you pursue justice when the crime is so great? You can't lose one million people in one hundred days without an equal number of perpetrators. But we also can't imprison an entire nation. So forgiveness was the only path forward."
This is leadership; seeing forgiveness as the path forward was wisdom in motion. Reflecting on this, I remembered that forgiveness is always a choice. There's an old saying that unforgiveness towards someone is like drinking poison and waiting for them to die. When we hold on to old wounds or grudges, we are, in essence, choosing to keep a wound that prohibits us from being fully healthy. If we embrace anger, resentment, and bitterness, we will never be able to truly heal.
When I visited Rweru, a model village and home to 110 families in Bugesera district, Eastern Province, I took the time to listen to stories about how survivors and perpetrators are living together in harmony. They told me that initially, they were also confused, but through sound leadership, they later understood it was for their sanity to forgive, and perpetrators to ask for forgiveness. They genuinely believe that "only by choosing to forgive can they begin the healing process."
We are so lucky that our government understood that forgiveness was the key to our greatness, to see that Rwanda's future is more important than human-induced justice. According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda's economic growth averaged 7.8% over the last two decades. The economy is expected to grow by 5.1% this year (2021), with prospects of returning to the pre-COVID-19 high growth path by 2023. The World Bank currently ranks Rwanda as the 38th most accessible place to do business globally and 2nd easiest in Africa.
Today when we see the advancements, we need to treasure that they are all results of decisions that seemed to be agony then, but vital to our resilient growth today—like requesting survivors to forgive and forget, abolishing the death penalty, releasing hundreds of thousands of perpetrators back in our communities and many more. Rwanda today is a result of forgiveness. President Kagame believes that truly "forgiveness can heal this nation. The burden rests with the survivors because they are the only ones with something to give."
Today, for those who see forgiveness as a challenging exercise, let's evaluate ourselves and forgive others. Have the decency to ask forgiveness. By strengthening and closing the loopholes in this process, we build the Rwanda we want on the solid rock—the foundation will be firm. Let's be sure also to record the lessons we have learnt from our past mistakes—trust the leadership to guide us through this path as we move forward. From experience, Rwanda's success story clearly illustrates how broken hearts can gain hope, work together and later transform into development agents in the blink of an eye.
Imihigo Irakomeye kandi Irakomeje!
The writer is an entrepreneurship student at the African Leadership University, passionate about turning ideas/problems into projects/solutions that bring resilient and sustainable impact to the community.
The views expressed in this article are of the author