MY NEW Rwandan friend shows me a hauntingly gorgeous vista of mountains that rise around his ancestral land. The Nyabarongo River, sinuous and silvery, glistens in the valley far below.
It is pure pleasure to linger on the little highland farm, where Johnson Rutayisire is an absentee executive farmer with a few goats and an exotic mushroom shed. In his day job, he is a workforce expert.
That day, sun, wind and isolation combine to produce a moment of perfection. So I am unprepared when he points to the beautiful river and says bodies were thrown there during the genocide.
To chance upon an emblem of extreme violence on a serene Sunday afternoon is a real shock.
Photo Source: Joycelyn Lim
Rwanda, truly, is a place of beauty and death.
People live with pain, yet nurture an utopian passion for a new Rwanda that can be safe, unified and prosperous. These are great paradoxes that make the mind reel and the heart sing.
In 1994, the country ceased to exist during the genocide that killed about a million people in 100 days. But Rwanda chose to defy its destiny as a failed state and instead has chased audacious goals: Middle-income country by 2020, a laptop for every child, a lively private sector.
Photo Source: Joycelyn Lim
Indeed, it aspires to be the Singapore of Africa - another improbably feisty little nation that strategises its way out of the garbage heap of history.
In this journey, Singapore clearly matters to Rwanda. We inspire foreign nations as the tiny country that triumphed over dire historical odds. In reverse, should Rwanda matter to Singapore?
When I spent eight days in Rwanda recently, I was struck by official Singapore’s belief in Rwanda.
Singapore sees a like-minded country that is driven to govern uprightly. The pragmatic spirit is similar. So is the desire to develop fast – while deepening security and social cohesion - after great upheaval.
Equally, I was struck by the stories of recovery after trauma. During the genocide there and the Japanese Occupation here, survivors hid in bushes to escape relentless enemies who delivered death by machete and bayonet.
The memory of that wartime era is still vivid for older Singaporeans. It lives on as one facet of our national narrative of survival. To look at Rwanda is to be reminded of our common destiny and humanity. It is a country that dispels any Singapore-centric view of the universe.
More than that, we wonder about Rwandans. We learn from their passion.
Three encounters come to mind.
Over drinks in a cool garden, Dr Jean Paul Kimonyo elegantly constructs a political narrative for this visitor. Rwanda is an old country, the political scientist and presidential advisor begins. In this light, citizens feel “intimate” with the state, even those who spent most of their lives in exile like him. Born in Burundi, he was educated in Canada and returned after the genocide.
ST Source: Lee Siew Hua
“Rwandans, even when they are outside, internalise Rwanda,’’ he says. “They love the country and it is directly linked to their own identity. It's almost like a religion.”
That makes it very easy for the state to mobilise people - for genocide and for good. “So it is a very strong card that we have in hand but also a very dangerous one,’’ he remarks.
Today, President Paul Kagame is mobilising Rwandans to uplift the nation. I have not met him, but I find that he is liberally cited by Rwandans. Yet I sense the austere soldier is revered for his moral leadership, not because any cult of personality has sprung up.
Mr Deogratias Harorimana, a senior official whom I met in Singapore and Rwanda, paraphrases the President: “If you can deliver yourself from genocide, if you have come to reconciliation, can't you move an extra mile and conquer poverty? Give yourself dignity by stopping aid, just give yourself aid. The mindset of working hard comes from there.”
These are fighting words from a country that fell so hard, and is arising again. And no handouts, please, just hard work.
I also met entrepreneurs like Gerard Sina. He is an experimental farmer who plays music to his pigs. Music apparently soothes and turns them into high-yield hogs. He has little education, but has built schools and roads - and much purpose - in his highland farm communities. His agri-business empire has an international span, and the world traveller peddles anything from passion-fruit juices to resorts. I especially love the buttery orange pepper sauce he bottles.
ST source: Lee Siew Hua
No genocide can crush the human spirit. Mr Sina’s imagination and business verve assure me of that.
ST Source: Lee Siew Hua
On my first day in Rwanda, I visited the genocide memorial. I saw mass graves, and I also saw schoolchildren. When they visit, they are drawn into workshops where they are asked to imagine the future.
So there is darkness, and also marvellous light in Rwanda. Little Rwanda lights the path for the nations on earth.
Inevitably, countries will fall into crisis. But they can live with vigour again, like Rwanda.
Read The Saturday Special Report here