Reaping the fruits of liberation

Yesterday Rwandans celebrated Liberation Day in Rweru Sector of Bugesera District. This is the second time the national day is marked upcountry, away from Kigali. The first was last year when national celebrations were held in Rubaya, Gicumbi District. Each of these choices to host Liberation Day festivities has its own significance. Rubaya has an important place in the early history of the liberation struggle. Bugesera represented all the negative policies of pre-liberation governments and some of the reasons the liberation struggle was waged: division, discrimination, denial of rights for a section of citizens, and being the stage for a rehearsal of the genocide against the Tutsi. Rweru of today has added significance. In many ways it shows how lives of citizens are being transformed and is, in this sense, proof that what was fought for is being realized. Future venues will have their own significance, but will no doubt reflect where Rwanda has reached on the journey of liberation. It is, of course, important that all Rwandans, not just the residents of the capital, participate in national events. Liberation is about them all. It involved them at different stages and in various ways, and is meant to benefit them all. There has been another departure from the past these past two years. In previous celebrations, we used to get oral testimony of the gains we have made. Now, in addition, we are getting physical evidence of how far we have come. And so it was with Rweru yesterday. The events of the day included a visit to a model village that was built to resettle Rwandans who have been leading precarious lives on islets in Lake Rweru. They were exposed to the elements, most times cut off from the mainland, and their children unable to get full benefits of educational opportunities. If nothing had been done, the islanders would have been condemned to a life of misery and early death. In this sense the government is not just protecting lives, it is saving them. The resettlement ensures that they will have decent lives and enjoy the opportunities other Rwandans have. That was the promise of liberation. It was not always like this in Rweru, or indeed the rest of Bugesera. In the past, people were sent there to die – from the harsh environment and neglect. It was our Siberia. But they refused to die. Somehow they survived and even tried to thrive. Their resilience enraged those who had condemned them to death. When it became evident that Rwandans were going to liberate themselves, including those that had been condemned, the killer governments sent in people to settle among them so that when the signal for extermination was given, they would do what nature had failed to do and execute the “final solution”. That indeed happened, but luckily the final solution was not allowed to be final. Some people were saved. Victims of bad governance and ultimately of the genocide against the Tutsi were saved as were the perpetrators, including those who had been bused into Bugesera to execute the diabolical plans of the authors of the genocide. Salvation, the word usually associated with religion and insurance of a place in heaven, is also a key word in the liberation history of this country and has a distinctly secular ring to it. It means restoring to people the ability to lead normal lives and aspire for things normal societies aspire to. That is the other significance of Rweru. The events marking this year’s liberation anniversary included a visit to a school. Unreachable places like Rweru never dreamt that one day they would have a secondary school. That, of course was in the past. There are no remote places in Rwanda any more – what with the roads, internet, mobile phones and all other modern methods of communication. The liberation struggle was waged to link and unite people, not to isolate and divide them as had been the policy before. And so Rweru has a school that goes up to Form Six as do every administrative sector in the country. Everywhere you look, there is a 9-Year or 12-Year school. If one spoke of a quiet revolution in education, it would not be an exaggeration. In a few years graduates from these schools will change the face of Rwanda. They will be fulfilling the promise of liberation. Of course, we can lament the quality of education, but at least there is something to grumble about. That is another departure from the past when education was for the privileged and you could do nothing about it, not even grumble. But like all other steps this country has taken, it will not be long before these complaints become a thing of the past. At every national event, President Paul Kagame exhorts Rwandans to maintain their dignity and unity, work hard, strive for self- reliance and prosperity, protect the gains they have made, and safeguard the right to choose their own path. He reminds them that these are not given but earned through hard word. Even as the fruits of liberation were in evidence yesterday at Rweru, the reminder that liberation is a continuous struggle was necessary.

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Reaping the fruits of liberation