Rwandans, Sunday, July 4, celebrated Liberation Day for the 27th time. Like we are now used to, the highlight of the day was the unveiling of a multi-billion community project in Kinigi Sector, Musanze District, where 144 families were given fully furnished homes and many more goodies. The goodies include a health centre, a childhood development and family centre, domestic animals among others. The houses were built by Rwanda Defence Force as part of their philosophy of empowering communities, fight poverty and accelerate the country’s development, as directed to them by their Commander in Chief. This day is a reminder for Rwandans of the pit from where they had sunk in 1994 and where they are currently, and how we managed to get there is a story that many never tire to listen to, especially when it comes to tales of the four-year struggle and the young Rwandans who were part of it, rank and file. That beautiful story however comes with a burden. A burden that squarely falls on the shoulders of today’s young generation. These young Rwandans did forsake their aspirations and at worst their lives, in the case of the thousands who paid the ultimate sacrifice to not only liberate the country but most importantly stop the Genocide against the Tutsi. For the current younger generation, therefore, the task is simple yet quite heavy. They have to take on the mantle and make the country everything that the liberators aspired it to be. It is simply because a foundation is already in place, but also difficult because of the burden that they have to inherit from the liberators. Fortunately, the foundation is firm enough and a trajectory has been set for the new generation to follow. They also have all the necessary tools to be able to take the country where it aspires to get. These tools are in form of the quality education they have been privileged to get, some of them from world-class institutions, and they also have mentors in the form of the liberators, who continue to show them the way. The young generation should therefore be encouraged by the fact that those who fought the liberation war had minimal of these two key enablers and yet managed to give us a country that we have today.
