LEARNING FROM THE 1994 GENOCIDE AGAINST THE TUTSI IN RWANDA

Rwenzori information centers network (RIC-NET) was represented at the 16^th edition of the Peace Building Institute(PBI) in Kigali Rwanda by Ms Kenyana Evelyn .The insitute is implemented by Never Again Rwanda (NAR) which is a social justice and peace building organization in Rwanda.The theme for this year's PBI was" creating a network of global peace ambassadors" .The institute received over 30 university students and young professionals from 11 countries across Africa which included : Uganda ,Rwanda ,Kenya, Tanzania,Nigeria , Cameroon, Burundi ,Sudan , Democratic republic of Congo (DRC)south Sudan and Zimbabwe

Participants during a visit to he king's palace museum in Nyanza 

The two weeks peace building institute kicked off on 26^th Feb 2018 at the Great season’s hotel in Kigali Rwanda. During the two weeks participants were exposed to presentations about transitional justice, reconciliation, the role of youth , women and faith based organizations in peace building, conflict analysis and management and visits to different sites including museums and genocide memorial sites across Rwanda which gave a real feel of what the Rwanda genocide of 1994 against the Tutsi meant among other topics discussed  .

RIC-NET staff 2nd left sharing her views during one of the group discussions

Key notes from the institute:

I have learnt that we should forgive people for all they do, if the people of Rwanda forgave each other for all the atrocities then there is nothing hard to forgive. Unifying against a common problem is the best way to solve problems “it’s us against the world “the people of Rwanda came together as Abanyarwanda not Tutsi, Hutu or Twa to fight against genocide and its effects.

I have also learnt that we as young people and  community members need to find solutions to our own challenges (home based solutions) like the Gacaca system of justice  used in Rwanda after genocide was less costly and handled a lot of cases in a short period of time .I have also learnt that we as citizens of our countries have a role to pay in the development of our countries basing on the example of Umuganda (community work) in Rwanda where community members played a big role in the construction of schools, roads and other public institutions .I also learnt that critical thinking is an important tool in conflict prevention and peace building as people who analyse issues first cannot easily be manipulated since they think about consequences of their actions and this enables them to make better decisions  and this helps to avoid manipulation from leaders or other people that may have bad intentions. 

RIC-NET staff (extreme left )with some of the  participants during the visit  at the presidential palace museum 

The 2 weeks institute was reported in the new vision Uganda on 1st march 2018.Follow urlhttps://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1472260/kigali-conference-african-youth-urged-critical-thinkers