Rwanda: Looking Forward, Not Back

* Note: this post is a serious one! It might be a good one to read with your parents so you can talk about it

My experience in Rwanda has been very positive. The country is extremely clean compared to Canada and otherparts of Africa that I've visited. Plastic bags are banned throughout the entire country, so you don't see garbage littering the streets. The roads are well paved and often lined with tall trees. The people are soft-spoken and friendly.

But if you mention Rwanda to your parents, they probably have a different image that springs to mind. For many years the people of Rwanda lived in harmony. Then they were taken over by Germany, then Belguim, and during that time the people from Belguim decided that there were two types of Rwandan people: Hutus and Tutsis. They described the two groups as looking different. One was taller, lankier, they had different shaped faces. And the people from Belguim decided that the Tutsis were the superior group of people. They put them in higher government positions and treated them better. The Belgians encouraged the Hutus to feel resentful towards the Tutsis.

In 1956, the white people left and went back to Belguim, leaving the Rwandans divided. Campaigns started where some Hutu people wanted to hurt the Tutsis, blaming them for their problems. They started spreading the message that Tutsis couldn't be trusted and were lesser people. They created a feeling of fear by telling the Hutus that they couldn't be friends with Tutsi people.

In 1994, the Hutu leaders said it was time to fight and they launched an attack on all Tutsi people or Hutu people who helped Tutsis. In the three months that followed, over 1 million people were killed. This is called a genocide. It's where one group of people wants to eliminate another group of people. Not a war where both sides are fighting about something and mainly soldiers get killed, but a planned attack on all men, women, and children of that group.

Eventually the Rwandan Patriotic Front army was able to push back the groups trying to commit genocide. They did so with little help from other countries.

Nowadays, the people of Rwanda stand together. They are not divided anymore into Hutu and Tutsi groups and it is very rude to ask someone which they are. There is peace in Rwanda and it is one of the safest countries in Africa.

So, one of the things I've been doing in Rwanda is visiting museums and memorials to learn about the genocide and pay my respects to the mass graves of people who were killed. I feel there is a lot to learn from a society where they are able to forgive and move forward and be happy together. It is also important to learn about the history of all the countries in the world so we can learn from our mistakes and not let things happen again.

Since the Rwandan genocide, the United Nations has made a plan for how to better act in the future if a group tries a similar crime. I hope we can all work to treat each other equally and respectfully.