Wednesday, June 7th

Muraho! (Hello in Kinyarwanda). Our time thus far in Rwanda has been nothing short of amazing. The people, the culture and the landscape are beautiful beyond measure. Today was our last day in Butare at the Emmaus Hostel before we were set to head back to Kigali. Before we left, we were able to engage in a great discussion with seven college students attending the University of Rwanda (formally National University of Rwanda). The group was led by a young man named David who informed us that he was the Club President for the Unity and Reconciliation Student Group. David, who was a 4^th year Accounting major at the university, told us that the groups purpose was to unify the Rwandan people to prevent the atrocities that occurred during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. The group facilitates discussions with other students, they give speeches, and also submit an annual action plan to their government to access their needs. The other six students were: Jackson (Pharmacy), Anderson (Biology), Dan (Engineering), Lillian (Economics), Emmy (Political Science), and Fiona (Medicine). We would sit for an hour and fire questions at one another.

We were intrigued to hear how the other students felt about America as a whole. Some saw America as a partner of Rwanda and many other countries in Africa. Some spoke of their excitement to see Obama elected years ago. They all seemed confused on our feelings toward President Trump and why we elected someone we did not like very much. We poke on the criticism of the Rwandan government from the international community because their president’s long reign seemed undemocratic to many people. They all exclaimed that true democracy means that you let the people decide who leads them no matter what. The students talked extensively about supporting leaders and how we should support the people we place into power even if we do not agree with them. Lillian had a great analogy saying, if a head is damaged the remaining parts of the body can be used to help the head get better, and when the other parts do not help the head, then the entire body will die. She told us we should act as the arms and legs of our leadership and help the damaged sections get better rather than watch them struggle.

I was very interested in how the students felt about the role of colonialism leading into the genocide. The students, to my surprise, were very forgiving of the countries who colonized them. Many said they were unable to hold onto hate for those people and in order to reach the highest success possible, they must forgive them. They also noted that the majority of countries involved accepted responsibility for their role in the things that transpired. A few of the students reserved some comments for the French. They spoke on how disappointing it was that the French have never accepted responsibility for their role in the genocide and apologized to Rwandans. Fiona went as far as to assert that “France is invisible to us”.

After a few more closing questions and take home messages, we boarded our bus with 3 of the University of Rwanda students and headed back to Kigali. We all talked during the ride home, sharing our musical tastes, favorite foods, television interest, and engaged in a wealth of cultural exchange. We talked extensively about our love for Adele, Beyoncé, and Ed Sheeran. When we weren’t talking, we were awestruck at the beauty of the countryside. The hills and valleys of the landscape were dense with vegetation giving the area so much life. Children skipped up the street as they left school and almost everyone waved and screamed greetings as our bus of unfamiliar faces passed them by. We returned to Kigali and our hostel at Moucecore exhausted by travel after the three-hour journey. I along with everyone else cannot wait what tomorrow has in store for us!   

-Melvin Gregory