We were astonished, excited, proud and sad all at the same time.
We marvelled at the roads driving up into the hills.
We looked for potholes along the route, but we couldn’t find any.
We were up in the hills, 700 metres (1640 feet) above sea level AND we had 4G internet.
We were a home-grown bunch and citizens of ‘first world’ nations.
It was January 2020, I fell in love with Rwanda and with ‘PK’. British and US-born Nigerians, a Dutch Citizen, world travelled, educated, middle – well off class adults, all gobsmacked from the minute we landed (free airport wifi) to the minute we departed.
Imagine being so good that your neighbours envy you, only because you make them look so very bad. Imagine having to dream up ‘bad belle’ excuses for why an African country is efficient?
It is because they are a small nation.
It’s true, with about 12.6million population, living on 26,338 sq km (10,169 sq miles) of land, Rwanda is
said to be the most densely populated mainland African country. To give some perspective, Lagos population is about 20million.
It is because they are landlocked.
It is. Surrounded by (i) Democratic Republic of Congo (GDP $800, 89 times bigger than Rwanda, 100million population), (ii) Burundi (GDP $700, about 6% bigger, 13 million population), (iii) Uganda (GDP$2,400, 9 times bigger, 42 million population) and (iv) Tanzania (GDP $3,200 about 36 times bigger, 58million population). For completeness Nigeria (GDP $5300, 35 times bigger, 210 million population)
It is because they don’t have minerals
Given all the ills that tend to afflict countries blessed with minerals, I am inclined to believe this may be true. But God always blesses us with something, right? Yes, they are blessed with Gorillas. Humongous human like silverback Gorillas. Big tourist attraction.
It is because they survived a genocide.
Alas! Also true. The “Rwandan Holocaust” – forever etched as a scar in the heart and minds of the people of Rwanda.
About a million lives lost over a 100 day period in April 1994. US President, Bill Clinton, Former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright and the UN have all apologised for doing nothing to prevent the
genocide in Rwanda.
It changed the psyche of the nation. It touched every family and every home. It shaped the man – PK, it championed the rebirth of a nation, from within, with no help from outsiders.
I have never really envied another nation. But I love and admire Rwanda. The hilly landscape, the temperate weather, the clean air, the orderliness, the quiet efficiency, the grilled meat, and oh, the lack of crime.
I spent about four months last year in Rwanda, developing a project. I drove to a lunch meeting, parked in an outside car park and went upstairs to my meeting. Yours truly forgot to lock the Mercedes Benz 200, with my laptop bag on the back seat. I only remembered on my way down. I figured the laptop was loooong gone. What a pleasant surprise it was to find the car undisturbed and the laptop bag intact. It makes sense right, to have no-low crime given that Tourism is the country’s main revenue earner.
Tourists need to feel safe. And they do.
I envy Rwanda, just the one thing – their President, Paul Kagame “PK”. He truly cares for the nation and its people. He wants the betterment of his people and that is why when PK tells Rwandans to jump, they ask him, how high. He takes the time to carry the nation along with his plans.
During his tenure as African Union President, he commissioned the audit that unearthed corruption, nepotism, unverified qualifications, recruitment, contract anomalies, and misuse /mismanagement at the African Union Commission.
His representation of Rwanda and indeed of Africa makes me proud to be African.
As I write this article, we are reviewing Chapter 7 of ‘Hosting the Presence’ by Bill Johnson, and PK seems to be like a latter day David. I don’t know his religion or if he believes in God. I would meet him later this year, and I will be sure to ask him. The words “sometimes we don’t know what we have in us until its required of us to serve” reminds me of PK.
I watched a clip of him last week at the swearing-in of new Ministers, he said “We work for Rwandans,
the end goal being to develop our country and the wellbeing of our citizens, to transform their lives for
the better. We do not work for our personal gain”. What a servant heart, the heart of a leader!
His vision of a National Airline, because, ‘if we don’t bring people to Rwanda, who will fly them here’? The Kigali Convention Centre? It hosts millions of delegates yearly, and earns the country substantial
revenue.
Of course, no one is perfect. Which leader is perfect? Even King David was not perfect, but, he was so loved. I envy Rwanda, for its President. I hope they appreciate him. I hope Africa appreciates him. I long and pray for a leader like PK, for Nigeria, for more leaders like PK, for Africa.
What a servant heart, the heart of a leader!