Moving forward in the new Rwanda: A personal essay

London Parker-McWhorter

With rolling green hills, rich red soil and a resilient and inviting people, Rwanda is an unspoiled gem in the mountains of east Africa. Much of what we in the West have heard centers on the genocide 12 years ago, which devastated the country and claimed one-eighth of the country’s population. But the country is much more than that disgraceful chapter in its history and the Rwandan people are ready to share their nation’s natural beauty with visitors.

Located along the edge of the Great Rift Valley, the country is nested in volcanic mountains, making for spectacular vistas and verdant valleys. The volcanic terrain produces fertile soil, evidenced by the terrace farming that blankets even the sharpest inclines. Local farmers take advantage of the equatorial sun, harvesting corn, wheat, bananas, sorghum, cabbage, potatoes, tea and coffee for themselves and for market.

Despite the country’s proximity to the equator (which is only 80 miles north), the temperature stays cool due to the high altitude, which ranges from 5,000 to about 15,000 ft. The country has two rainy seasons, the first lasting from March to May and the second, shorter one from October to December. On our trip in June, the weather was cool and breezy, usually overcast in the mornings, but clearing up by the afternoon.

The centerpiece of the Rwandan tourist industry is the gorilla tracking in Volcanoes National Park. Located in the country’s northwest corner, the park is surrounded by five dormant volcanoes which also straddle the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Within the national park, guides and trackers have worked with a small number of gorilla troops, acquainting them to human contact and visitors.

The trackers follow the gorillas through the dense vegetation and relay the information back to guides who then lead small groups of tourists into the bush to watch the gorillas. The gorillas may only be visited for an hour a day, so space is limited, but coming within a few feet of a 400 pound silverback in the wild is truly incredible. Armed guards accompany the groups on the treks, not because of any danger posed by the gorillas, but from the threat of poachers who are wont to sneak over the border from neighboring Congo.

Today, the Rwandan citizens who survived the horrific genocide that ripped the country apart in 1994 are one of the nation’s main attractions. To understand the conflict, one must look back to the influence of European colonists in the last century. Belgian colonists instituted a system of ethnic identification, which used the traditionally economic distinctions of Hutu and Tutsi. The Belgians favored the minority Tutsi population for education and leadership roles, declaring the Tutsi people an ethnically superior race.

When the Belgians ceded power in 1959, they abandoned the Tutsi people to a resentful and vengeful Hutu majority, forcing many Tutsis into exile. The divisions, fueled by military buildup and hate-speech radio, boiled over in April 1994 when the Hutu president’s plane was shot down. Almost immediately, roadblocks were set up and, using the same identification cards instituted by the Belgians, almost one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were singled out and killed over a three-month period.

The impact was devastating. One UNICEF survey estimates that 99.99 percent of the population witnessed acts of violence. Today, war criminals are still being brought to justice and some rural areas in the south of the country remain unsafe for traveling.

In the capital city of Kigali, the Genocide Memorial has made attempts to deal with the country’s far-reaching trauma. The memorial, which tells the story of the genocide and its lasting effects, also serves as the final resting site for many of the victims as 250,000 bodies are buried on the grounds in mass graves.

With this turbulence so fresh in their collective memory, it is inspiring to see the people of Rwanda persevere in the face of devastation and tragedy. If you venture to ask, almost everyone has their own very personal and graphic account of what they went through during the genocide — losing parents, brothers, sisters or friends. But the fact that the country continues to move forward in spite of this ruin is awe-inspiring and demands respect. The radiance of its population, in combination with its geographical magnificence, makes Rwanda truly beautiful.