I am here to tell

A short 2-day visit to Rwanda changed the way I see life.

Where is Rwanda? It is a small country in East Africa, the beautiful mountainous lush green land of the silverback mountain gorillas. This land of eternal spring has also seen the worst of humanity. I am here to tell what I saw and felt.

It was Sunday, and we landed in Kigali, the capital city. ‘Anirban, tomorrow is a busy day with the customer. Now we take you around’. I nodded a yes as my colleagues shared the plan. I had seen the movie Hotel Rwanda, so I was aware of the terrible genocide that rocked the country three decades ago. I was intrigued!

As I set foot inside the genocide museum, they played a video. It chronicled why and how the genocide took place. Along the walkway, we got a blow-by-blow narration of the events. The last straw was a hall filled with a pile of human bones and skulls; I could take no more. In the spring of 1994, one million Tutsis were brutally exterminated. 1 in every 5 Rwandans were killed in a bloody civil war. I could see my colleague’s eyes glisten up as he winced; I felt shaken to the core. I was too choked up myself to comfort him. As we stepped out, we walked in silence.?

During the Holocaust in Europe, didn’t we say? ‘Never Again!’. How did we allow another genocide to happen??

Let’s go back 150 years when the European powers were scrambling for Africa; Rwanda wasn’t spared. The Belgian rule introduced a segregation of the Rwandan population along racial lines—Hutus and Tutsis were barred from mingling. In the initial years, the Tutsi held positions of power, leaving the Hutu disenfranchised. In the 1960s, Rwanda gained independence, and a Hutu emancipation movement led to an exodus of Tutsis leaving the country. The animosity never subsided, as Europeans continued to meddle. In April of 1994, the president of Rwanda, a Hutu chief, died in a plane crash, and all hell broke loose. As the darkest 100 days befell Rwanda, every Tutsi—man or woman, old or young—were hacked to death in a bid for ethnic cleansing, while the world looked away. The Holocaust came to an end as the refugee Tutsis living in neighboring countries stormed in to stop the massacre.?

As we drove back to the hotel, I had already warmed up to Louis, our driver, a fine, friendly man. Like a dimwit, I blurted out what I should have never asked, 'Louis, which tribe are you?’ I could see the smile fade away, and there was silence. I wanted to bury my face, turn back time, and erase my question, but I couldn’t.

‘I am a Rwandan,’ Louis replied after a long pause. I will never forget his answer in this lifetime.?

I wanted to know more of what really happened, so I read the book ‘Left to Tell’, the autobiography of Immaculee Ilibagiza. She was among the handful of Tutsi’s who managed to survive the Holocaust. In her early 20s at the time, she and seven other Tutsi women survived, as a kindhearted and brave Hutu man sheltered them inside a 70-square-foot bathroom for three months. While out on the streets, everyone in her family was hacked to death by those who were her neighbors and friends, by those she knew and loved. The vicious, bloodcurdling experiences she endured left me overwhelmed. It was a miracle that she survived and was ‘left to tell’.

Immaculee knew who killed her father, mother, and brothers and how! After she escaped from her hideout, she took asylum with the French army. In the chaos of the ongoing civil war, an army officer offered to eliminate those who killed her family.

Filled with vengeance and grief, Immaculee wanted to avenge her family. This was her chance.

She remembered what her father had taught her: ‘For this hatred to end, we must break this cycle of hatred.' The values she will carry with her forever. She turned down the offer!

Deeply engrossed in her character, it shook me from within and changed the way I see life.

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After the genocide was over, nothing was left of the country. Rwanda limped back towards nation-building while still licking its wounds. The nation has now moved on from its past; now everyone is Rwandan.

The Rwanda I saw left me in awe. I was told Kigali is modeled around Singapore—that’s a tall comparison for a city in Africa. I had to see to believe it. The streets were well lit and had no potholes; there were no power cuts, and it was safe to go everywhere. It was told the country has the best healthcare and education in the region and corruption has been wiped out.?

They told me, ‘Everything was destroyed; everything you see has been built recently.' Now Kigali even has a skyline to boast of. Our customer was exhibiting at the trade fair, so we went there. We stood in queue to enter; everyone was orderly. The fair was crowded; there was bustle but no commotion; everyone was respectful. The memory of the genocide is still palpable, especially with the elder generation. Rwanda, a small nation of 14 million people, has come a long way but remains a poor country and still has a long way to go.

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PS. In the movie Hotel Rwanda, Paul, the hotel manager, struggled alone to protect the Tutsi refugees in the face of the escalating violence to save them from certain death. We visited Hotel des Mille Collines, where the events shown in the movie had unfolded.

• In the picture, here is me standing in front of the pool, which was their lifeline to drink from.
• This year marks 30 years of the genocide—not a milestone to celebrate but to never forget.
• With lots of construction happening all around, the skyline is gathering pace.