WHAT CAN THE YOUTH  LEARN FROM RWANDAN LIBERATORS

After independence, tension started rising between Hutu and Tutsi, where the Hutu regime, which was on power after independence, started installing fear in the entire population, saying that the Tutsi are cockroaches and snakes and portraying them as murderers. It was meant to make the Hutu population feel fear of being ruled by the Tutsi and thus draw them in participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

 

People started putting matters into their own hands by acting in self-defense with a mindset of "To eliminate rather than be eliminated." It led to the Tutsis' oppression, which made them flee the country and live in exile, moving from place to place experiencing political, social, and economic embarrassments here and there in their countries of asylum. 

 

In July, 2020, H.E President Paul Kagame discussed with social media influencers on Rwanda's Liberation journey. He was asked by a journalist what he and many soldiers of the RPF had to sacrifice as they were young.

"To say that people are young, what we passed through is not what young people of today pass through. They have a country and they are not called refugees. In our time, we were refugees not because of our disagreement with the government but rather by force." he said.

 

Today Rwanda is different from Rwanda of the past; at the time, we were young, and most of us were refugees, and those who were not refugees outside the country were refugees inside the country. Everyone contributed to the liberation of this country, what they sacrificed, is that many of them had better things to do in their lives. Instead, they chose to put their lives on the battlefield with everything they had. Everyone who played a part in the liberation, including me, had a dream to be and have a free country where everyone has equal rights. 

When you take the path of liberating yourself, you have to follow a type of discipline for enforcing the values you fight for. For us, those values align with having a nation where everyone can live with one another despite their differences and with equal rights.

 

WHAT LESSON HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM OUR LIBERATORS AS A YOUNG PERSON?

My names are Rurangwa Kevin, a University student. For me, the liberation journey has a lot of meaning to me because people who liberated this country were young. They proved to us that patriotism comes first and that you should be ready to die for your country. I got so lucky to have a father who participated in our liberation (he was 20 years old) as it motivates me to participate in our country's development. Additionally, I feel like it's a legacy from my father. INKOTANYI gave us freedom and also a Country; after 26 years, our country is on the right path where all Rwandans have equal rights. They all participate in the development of our country, so as the youth of today, we have that responsibility to continue that path our elders paved for us, and we must protect it at all costs. Thank you. 

 

So as young people, everyone should sacrifice something for the development of his/her country. As the President said, everyone could do better with unity and sacrifice, which is what the young generation needs to hear. Working together and sharing a purpose can build an exemplary and prosperous country.