Travelogue: A Passage To Rwanda
By Wale Okediran
Breakfast at the Soko Restaurant of the Marriott Hotel in
the Nyarugenge District of Kigali on that June morning was a feast. Apart from
the vibrant and airy environment of the atrium style Restaurant, the large array
of African and Continental dishes on display was a gastronomic delight.
Having missed dinner the previous night due to my late arrival in Kigali from
Lagos, I was terribly famished and was rearing to do justice to the buffet
style breakfast.
And as I tucked into the Pancake,
Bacon and Omelette breakfast, I noticed that the Restaurant was filled with a
large assembly of guests of different nationalities who judging from the
Identity tags on their necks, had come to attend different conferences.
It was remarkable that Rwanda had now become a hub for international
conferences and decision making meetings 25 years after its horrendous past.
Apart from playing host to many important Conferences and Meetings, I was
also informed that Rwanda has successfully put behind her ugly past of genocide
to become an international Tourism destination. From the little, clean and cozy
capital city of Kigali to its thousand lush green rolling hills and the
accompanying rattling plains teeming with abundance wildlife mostly
mountain gorillas, the country is now a sought after tourism and cultural
haven.
For many people, Rwanda is
synonymous with the horrors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, a horrific
event that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Thankfully today, Rwanda has a new story to tell about a country of hope
offering one of the best investment climates in Africa, beautiful place for tourists
to visit and most importantly, exciting prospects and new opportunities for its
people.
I had come to Rwanda – The Land of a
Thousand Hills- to attend the African Union/NEPAD Agency Training Workshop on
African Union Model Law on Medical Products Regulation. The three day
Workshop which was designed to leverage the roles of Parliamentarians, Civil
Society Organisations and the Media on Medical Products Regulation in the
continent involved 40 participants drawn from the 5 African Union Regions of
West, East, Central, North and Southern Africa. In addition to the highly
cerebral and educative workshop, I also took the opportunity of my visit to
learn about contemporary Rwanda and its famous ‘come back’ story.
As the story went, on 6 April 1994,
a plane carrying President Juvénal
Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down. Following that incident, the
genocide began. Hutu extremists belonging to the Interahamwe militia
launched plans to destroy the entire Tutsi civilian population. Tutsi and people
suspected of being Tutsi were killed in their homes and as they tried to flee
the country. It is estimated that 500,000–1,000,000 Tutsi and politically
moderate Hutu were killed in well-planned attacks on the orders of the interim
government. After a long war of attrition, normalcy was finally restored
on 4 July, a date now commemorated as the Liberation Day national holiday.
Twilight was setting in Kigali from
the encircling Kigali mountain when I joined some of the other workshop
delegates on a visit to the Kimironko market in the Kigali neighbourhood of
Remera one sunny day. Having been cloistered in the hotel for the duration of
the workshop, the delegates who wanted to purchase some souvenirs before going
back home the following day poured into the bustling and claustrophobic market
with its narrow alleys and eye popping colourful overhanging merchandise. And
so, for the next hour or so, various types of colourful and well produced
Rwandan handicrafts and clothing were purchased as currencies changed hands. (
The local currency is the Rwandan Franc with an exchange rate to the United
States Dollar of RWF 905.00 to US$ 1.00). So intense was the Kimironko visit
that long after leaving the market, the cheerful din of the traders and
haggling buyers continued to ring in my ears.
I thought that the best way to learn
about Rwanda’s story was to interact more with the people and also visit some
historical sites and museums in the country. Therefore, while most of the other
conference delegates returned to their various destinations, I decided to stay
back in Kigali for some sightseeing.
Even though Kigali’s public
transport included buses (Matatus) as well as white and orange painted
taxis, I was more fascinated by the colourful and solid looking commercial
motorbikes (taxi moto) with their helmeted riders. The motorbike thereafter
became my favourite form of transportation for the rest of my stay. Perched on
a ‘taxi moto’ gliding across Kigali’s undulating and well swept roads, the wind
on my face and the cheerful din of auto horns in my ears, I felt free and happy
like a butterfly!
My first port of call was the
Nigerian High Commission at 56, KG 13 Avenue, Nyarutarame, Gasabo
District where I was warmly received by the High Commissioner, His
Excellency Adamu Onoze Shuaibu and the Deputy Head of Mission, Mr Sunday Edem.
Ambassador Shuaibu informed me that the Embassy was only opened in 2013. Before
then, Nigeria was represented in Rwanda by the Ugandan Embassy. In view of the
relatively young age of the Nigerian Embassy in Kigali, the offices and
residential quarters are all rented while the office is run on a shoe string
budget. I was also made to understand that Nigerians are very few in Rwanda.
Apart from teachers who are on the Technical Assistance Corp project on the
request of the Rwandan government, other Nigerians are students and visitors.
In addition, some rich Nigerians also come to Kigali for ‘destination birthday
parties and weddings’ which usually last all week long.
From the Nigerian Embassy, my ‘taxi
moto’ groaned up the sharp incline of the Nyarugene Hill and took me to
the central
business district (CBD) of Kigali where several of Rwanda’s
highest buildings, including the 20-storey Kigali City Tower as
well as the headquarters of the country’s largest banks and businesses are
located. The CBD, am told was sited towards the eastern edge of Kigali
since the terrain in that part of the city was more suitable for expansion than
the high slopes of Mount Kigali to the west.
Nyarugene Hill was also the site of the
original city founded by Richard Kandt in 1907. Richard Kandt was the first
colonial governor of Rwanda, on behalf of Germany, until the early
1900s. I decided to visit the house that Kandt lived in which is now a
museum. The Kandt House Museum is one of the eight museums that make up the
Institute of National Museums of Rwanda.
After paying an entry fee of 6,000
RWF, I was taken round the museum by Irembo, the tour guide assigned to me. I
was well educated about Rwandan history through pictures, relics and monographs
at the Kandt House Museum which was divided into three main parts. The first
part presented Rwandan life in all its aspects – social, economic, and
political – before the colonial period while the second part traced the
experience of the Rwandan people during the colonial period. Following the
Berlin Conference in 1884, the Germans ruled Rwanda until 1916, when the
Belgians took over under the League of Nations Mandate after World War I.
Richard Kandt’s life and deeds in Rwanda were covered here. The third part
covered the history of Kigali, before, during and after the colonial era.
From my vantage position at the
Kandt House Museum, I had a panoramic view of Kigali City as Irembo pointed out
some important landmarks including the beautiful and towering Mount Kigali from
where the city took its name. ‘’Over there are other important places
such as the upmarket Serena, Marriott
Hotel, the Genocide Memorial, Mille
Collines hotels, the Kigali Convention Centre, the University
Teaching Hospital of Kigali and the National University’s College
of Science and Technology’’ Irembo said as I took my leave of the Museum.
Although I had been warned by
friends who had previously visited Kigali to be emotionally prepared for my
visit to the famous Kigali Genocide Memorial, I still had to fight back tears
as I went through the heart rending and horrific sights at the Memorial.
Located on KG 14 Avenue in Gisozi, the Memorial which commemorates the
1994 Rwandan
genocide was opened in 1999 and is home to the remains of over 250,000
victims of the horrific event.
The remains of the victims of the
genocide I was informed were brought to the Memorial from all over the capital
after they had been left in the street or thrown in the river. They are buried
together in lots of 100,000. Apart from being a permanent memorial to those who
fell victim to the genocide, the centre also serves as a place in which the
bereaved could bury their family and friends. The Kigali Genocide Memorial
includes three permanent exhibitions, the largest of which documents the 1994
Genocide against the Tutsi. The Education Centre, Gardens, and Genocide Archive
of Rwanda form part of a meaningful tribute to those who perished, and provide
a powerful educational tool for visitors and an exhibition on the history of
genocide violence around the world.
The real tear jerker for me was the
children’s memorial section where photographs of the victims, ranging from 2
months to 5 years were displayed. While some of the victims were butchered in
their mother’s wombs, others had their heads smashed against the wall or were
shot or decapitated with machete or clubbed to death.
On the day of my visit, I chanced on
groups of visitors who had come to pay homage to their departed ones. As one of
the survivors of the genocide, Theoneste Karenzi observed; ‘’The Kigali
Genocide Memorial is like home. It is where I go to be with my relatives. You
feel happy being close to your loved ones. But then it becomes a place of grief
because they are gone. I go home after visiting the memorial and leave them
there.’’
As I laid in bed that evening in my
hotel room, my mind kept going back to the pictures, sounds and scenes of the
genocide that had been played to me during my visit to the Memorial. And as the
distant voices of the victims of the genocide came to me, my mind went back to
my country, Nigeria. I recalled the poignant ‘WhatsApp’ message sent to me by
my friend, Chris Ekong, a Professor of Geography at the University Of Uyo just
before my arrival in Rwanda a few days earlier.
As Chris put it; ‘’ Wale, as you
walk the streets of Kigali today, I remember the pains, death tolls, turmoil,
and conflagration these humble but courageous Africans went through occasioned
by the inducement of a small percentage of the population (greedy politicians,
ethnic jingoists, and religious bigots) who would use anything including God’s
name and the blood of fellow countrymen to gain power, which is just vanity. I
wish Nigerians can know this history or even the history of their civil war.
Today devilish politicians and religious leaders are using God’s name and
ethnic and religious interests to put the country on fire. The major groups are
being manipulated by the politicians to show their strength and damn the
consequence and cries of the minority. The minorities are being encouraged by
the same politicians to fight back even illegally with arms to establish their
existence. The religious leaders who have parked their private jets and waiting
to get out immediately the country is set on fire are urging on their members
to start confrontations. Nigeria must not go through the Rwanda genocide way:
the civil war experience must and should not be repeated’’
The emotion created by my visit to
the Genocide Memorial will remain indelible in my mind forever. I will
encourage those who have the chance to visit the Memorial to do so in order to
learn how deep hatred can lead to unpleasant events of horrendous dimensions if
not stemmed as early as possible. In addition, it is also important to see that
the beauty of Rwanda and the rapid economic and social progress that is was
made in the last 25 years since the Genocide was not by chance. It was driven
by the commitment of the Rwanda people and their government to eradicating
poverty.
For example, over the last 14 years,
Rwanda has had the 15th fastest growing economy in the world within
Africa. If we remove countries from the sample, Rwanda has been the
second fastest growing economy in Africa after Ethiopia. This is in spite
of being 1,500km from the ocean, lacking rich minerals or a highly skilled
population. Rwanda has expanded opportunities for education and health,
agricultural extension services and information technology to the farthest
reaches of the country. These facts are the conscious efforts of a people
committed to building a better society, and not just gifts of nature.
The following day, just before dawn,
I decided to go for a walk on African Union Avenue, the main artery of the
Kigali suburb where my new hotel, Hill View Hotel was located. As I walked
along the undulating street with its very steep incline and sharp sloping
grade, other keep fit buffs like me emerged from the early morning mist like
ghosts from a Shakespearean play while policemen in their dark fatigues could
be seen stationed at several sections of the road. Minutes later, I chanced
upon a young school teacher, Emmanuel Irankunda on his way to work.
Emmanuel informed that he had his elementary education in his village in the
Western District before going to the College Of Education in Kigali to study
Mathematics and Physics which he now taught in a secondary school in Kigali.
When I asked Emmanuel whether he is a Tutsi or Hutu, he replied that he is a
Rwandan because it is now illegal for any Rwandan citizen to see him or herself
as either a Tutsi or Hutu. Then lowering his voice he said; ‘’before now I was
a Hutu, but now, I am a Rwandan’’.
After breakfast, I visited another
historic Rwandan site, the Hotel des Mille Collines – The Hotel of a Thousand
Hills- which is the setting for the famous and award winning film, HOTEL RWANDA
which depicted some aspects of the Rwanda Genocide story. Since the hotel
was a stone throw to my own hotel, all I did was to walk up the very sharp
incline of the street behind my hotel, the Hill View Hotel and then trot down
another sharp depression to the gate of the Mille Collines Hotel.
At the hotel entrance was a memorial
flame in memory of some of the Hotel Staff who died during the inferno that
engulfed the hotel which has been refurbished since that incident. According to
the Hotel Manager, a new reception and an additional wing had been added to the
hotel.
I was soon back on my ‘moto taxi’ on
a visit to downtown Kigali where ‘matatus’ and private vehicles competed for
space along well paved and clean undulating streets against a background of a
hearty but orderly crowd of pedestrians.
On my last evening in Kigali, I had
a late dinner of barbecued chicken, rice, spinach and fresh mango juice.
It was a good meal. As I cracked the succulent chicken bones and licked the
remains of the well spiced and tangy spinach sauce, I watched the ‘Friday Night
Jam’’ on Rwandan Television where Nigerian musical superstar P Square and a
number of other African musicians were featured. Dinner over, I moved to the
hotel’s balcony and took a final look at the starry Kigali night.
