A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE IN RWANDA
Rwanda is a tiny landlocked country in Central Africa with a turbulent history, famous for
its mountain gorillas and known as ”the land of a thousand hills”, with five volcanoes and
23 lakes. The Germans first colonised Rwanda in 1899 , but after the First World War they
lost all their colonies as a punishment. The Belgians took over and in 1933 introduced race
identity cards, increasing longstanding rivalry between two main tribes - Hutus and Tutsis.
The taller, slim built Tutsis owned land, cattle and held positions of power, including the
monarchy, while the much larger Hutu tribe worked on the land. Most Rwandans are
Roman Catholics, speak Kinyarwandan and many are of mixed heritage. However, Belgium
further exacerbated tribal friction in 1962 when they granted Rwanda independence, giving
political power to the majority Hutu tribe. Immediately Hutus started killing thousands of
Tutsis, leading to a mass exodus of nearly two million refugees to neighbouring countries.
For years Hutu Power extremists brainwashed the Hutus in daily radio broadcasts with
hysterical Nazi style anti Tutsi propaganda, describing Tutsis as 'cockroaches' and blaming
them for every problem. This led to the devastating 1994 Genocide, when 800,000 people
were slaughtered in just 100 days in a population of seven million. The aim was to wipe out
the entire Tutsi civilian population and all moderate Hutu opponents. The killing frenzy
caused Hutus in one small village to murder their only doctor who happened to be a Tutsi.
There were some appalling massacres of thousands of Tutsis who sought shelter in public
buildings and churches, only to be betrayed by Hutu Mayors and Bishops, and the buildings
were set on fire - truly shocking in a supposedly Christian country. The outside world
seemed indifferent to the frenzied mass slaughter, which only ceased when the Rwandan
Patriotic Front finally defeated the Hutu Army in July 1994.
The Commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front was Major General Paul Kagame, a former
Ugandan Army officer and Rwandan Tutsi whose family fled to Uganda when he was three.
He was elected President of Rwanda in 1994 and 2010. After losing one million citizens, the
task of healing a traumatised nation was monumental, but millions of exiles returned home.
The words 'Hutu' and 'Tutsi' were banned to enable Rwanda to rebuild a shattered nation.
Belgium and France had supported the murderous Hutu Government before and during the
1994 Genocide, so the new Rwandan Government distanced itself from Francophone
influence. Instead a new partnership was formed with the British Government, which
provides financial aid, mainly for teaching the English language, which is fast replacing
French as one of Rwanda's official languages. In 2009 Rwanda also joined the British
Commonwealth.
One legacy of the Genocide is that Rwanda has the highest proportion of orphans in the
world and thousands of traumatised Genocide survivors and widows live in extreme
poverty in a country with few natural resources. The average life expectancy in 1994 was
43.5 years but better healthcare has now improved this to 58 years. The population has
grown rapidly to 12 million and literacy levels have risen from 58% to 71% since 1994.
50% of Rwandan MPs are now women and there are several women ministers.
Our Prime Minister, David Cameron, believes that we have a responsibility to help the
poorest people in the world. Therefore in 2007 he started Project Umubano, a unique
Social Action Project, to help Rwandans rebuild their economy, by sending teams of
volunteers to work on health, education and business projects every summer.
In 2011 I was one of 100 volunteers, including doctors, teachers, lawyers, MPs and football
coaches, who spent two weeks in Rwanda. My Business Team taught key business skills,
including marketing, finance and communication skills to 90 Genocide widows who run
handicraft businesses and cooperatives in Kigali, capital of Rwanda and outside. The two
courses were financed by the Rwandan Ministry of Commerce as a reward for the
businesswomen who had entered and won a National Handicraft Competition.
We stayed in a simple Christian boarding house, visiting Gisimba Orphanage, home to 150
Genocide orphans and Kigali Memorial Museum, where the bones of 250,000 Genocide
victims are buried. We also heard some moving testimonies from Genocide victims. One
woman witnessed the killing of her husband and five children, but somehow she survived.
We were invited to the official opening by President Kigame of Girubuntu School, financed
and built by British volunteers to replace a derelict school in Kigali and were enchanted by
immaculately dressed school children enthusiastically singing patriotic songs in English.
In spite of their traumatic history our Rwandan students were cheerful, friendly and keen to
grow their businesses. They produced daily samples of exquisite handicrafts – jewellery,
basket ware, handbags and leather ware. I bought many items and became a one woman
mission to boost the Rwandan economy. Most Rwandans speak Kinyarwandan and French
only, but we used local interpreters and developed warm friendships.
One of my students was so grateful for my support and friendship that she gave me a
beautiful handmade green dress (no fittings!) with a matching bag, necklace and ear rings “because I like you”. She was 1st Prize Winner in the National Handicraft Competition so I
wore my dress proudly to the Ministry of Commerce Award Ceremony, where it was much
admired by the Permanent Secretary who presented students with their Certificates.
Our lunches were stodgy if substantial, and provided a day's food for impoverished students
travelling long distances to our courses. Every afternoon in the gruelling heat we visited our
students' businesses, for example a small leather factory and a cooperative for Genocide
survivors and Aids victims. 11% of the population is HIV positive and Tutsi women were
systematically and deliberately raped during the Genocide by HIV positive Hutu soldiers.
One day I visited an Action Aid Project in Giseni and met Esperance, aged 34 years, a
Genocide survivor with three children and President of a Cooperative of 70 women.
Financed by Action Aid, they had bought maize seed and a milling machine and now
produce flour, vegetables and basket ware for their local community. In less than two years
the women had progressed from extreme poverty to having $120 in the bank, food for their
children, clothes - and beds! With the help of a generous grant from a Jersey charity they
were also building a Child Development Centre for pre-school children by themselves.
Esperance is a born entrepreneur who demonstrated clearly that with some financial
help, Rwandan women can overcome poverty, feed their families and run successful
businesses.
The Rwandan heat was utterly exhausting, especially when we had to do physical work in
blazing sunshine on Umuganda Day, the monthly day when all Rwandans work on public
projects. However my Rwandan experience was life changing, humbling and worthwhile.