I am Rwandan: I know how Rwanda went from zero to recovery. I grew up in the revolution. AMA

[Galool]

It's commonly said a lot of Rwanda's progress it shows to the world, is paid PR & propaganda just to increase the prestige and rating of the country.

I hear also Kagame cares more about appearances than actually helping people. Like destroying ugly/poor buildings, and arresting poor shabby looking people in the city center.

Also when Kagame is gone, how will Rwanda remain on its course & vision. The gov't isn't democratic and authoritarian rule is now deeply entrenched. How will Rwanda be able to change that & not end up like other African countries with corrupt dictators?

 

[Intore]

Which country do you think has more potential Somalia or Rwanda

Let me just say, if we had your coastline and your numbers, we'd be a middle income country by now. And if you had our discipline and determination, you'd be a middle income country as well.

So, it's all relative.

You can't control a Somali. They are nomadic and unruly. Somalis are too primitive for nationalism and their temperament is not suitable for civilisation.

You know, I know a Somali who was embedded with the RPF during the genocide. This person said to me, "You know why you guys aren't related to us? If the RPF had been Somali, they'd have slaughtered all the Hutus on their way to Kigali."

As someone who has lived all over the region, I'll say this: all nomads are the similar. Somalis, Maasai, Bahima, etc.,....they are unruly and have clannish tendencies. But they are also freaking smart - never mind that 68 BS - and with the right motivation and right incentives could really prosper.

I agree though about the Somali temper. That is something else. Generally Rwandans are a calm and measured people who follow orders.

How can we get rid of the 68 ?

I loled. It's a lie. Every Somali I know is super smart. Just because Somalis refuse to conform to western standards of civilisation doesn't mean they aren't smart. You have to be smart to survive life in the desert. That said, innate intelligence means nothing if you can't organise yourselves and get your shit together. And that's what Somalis could learn from Rwandans I think.

PS. Somalis are some of the greatest poets. You can't be that creative and also be a 68er.

Interesting sxb, Ive flown to Kigali, partied heavily in Butare and hiked trekked near Cyangugu hills last year and still am fascinated by their rapid development, the terrains of this magnificent land of thousand hills are scenery , their infrastructure are top notch wlahi not even a single trash on site , warm friendly people and top quality beers
I'll drink Primus and Mongozo any day !
kubuzima bwacu
hell yeah the gals sound hella sexy when they speak Kinyarwanda

Mwiriwe
umunsi mwiza

I am so glad you loved your visit! PM me the next time you're in Kigali and I'll host you. Primus and Mutzig .

To get to your guys’ level we have to wait for the oldies to die off, anyone over the age of 60 is a threat to Somalia. Also the uneducated young ones who come from poisonous families will have to be dealt with

I actually agree with this. I'll tell you a story.

When the RPF was liberating the country, a lot of Tutsi soldiers found their families massacred. But PK and the army leadership has set very strict rules: no retaliation and no revenge killings allowed. Of course, some of the soldiers lost their minds and committed revenge killings.

The RPF executed these soldiers in the stadium. Can you imagine how hard this was? But the command believed in the good of the of the collective over the good of the individual and if they had to lose their own to prove it, then that was that.

In fact, Kagame decided not to become president but to make Bizimungu (the guy standing next to him in the first video), who was of the majority the President, as an example of unity.

It's commonly said a lot of Rwanda's progress it shows to the world, is paid PR & propaganda just to increase the prestige and rating of the country.

I hear also Kagame cares more about appearances than actually helping people. Like destroying ugly/poor buildings, and arresting poor shabby looking people in the city center.

Also when Kagame is gone, how will Rwanda remain on its course & vision. The gov't isn't democratic and authoritarian rule is now deeply entrenched. How will Rwanda be able to change that & not end up like other African countries with corrupt dictators?

It is commonly said by whom? Any time you read such things, please try to trace their origin. I guarantee you'll find that they are almost always said by anti-RPF people who are largely genocidaires and paid for by the French government, which is trying to erase its complicity in the genocide.

It is not PR that Rwanda has the best healthcare system on the continent considering our meagre resources.
It is not PR that we have drastically lowered the maternal mortality rate to next to nothing. This is one of the best indicators of progress.
It is not PR that our entire country is clean. Not just Kigali.
It is not PR that Rwanda is the 9th safest country in the WORLD. Consider for a moment what it takes to get that ranking after a genocide.
It's not PR that our life expectancy is 68, up from something crazy like 30 in 94.

Yes, some buildings were destroyed to get people to move. But these people were compensated. And that particular incident you're talking about was of people living in a swamp area. Guess what? A few weeks later, we had one of the worst flash floods and the swamps filled up. Those people would have died if they hadn't been moved.


We are still a developing nation so of course we still have poverty. We are not pretending that that is not the case. I don't understand the thinking behind showing the things we still have to work on as "proof" that what we've managed to do so far is PR.

On the subject of transition: of course no one can predict how that will happen. What we are hoping for is that by the time we let him retire, our economy will have grown, our children will be better educated and not as easy to manipulate, and finally, that the people will be used to peace and everyone will have gotten somewhere in building the kind of life they don't want to lose so it will be harder for detractors to convince them to throw it away.

More realistically, the RPF is a well oiled machine. If PK leaves, someone else will take over until the country is old enough to handle democracy.

What Kigali looked like when the RPF took over: dry, dusty, empty, bullet riddled.



This one is in french but it shows how disciplined the RPF was even in the beginning and you can see the trust the people had in them from the very beginning.


What it looks like now. And no, I don't agree, our transport system is not the best but it is definitely organised.

 

[firefox]

Why did you start lurking on an Somali forum?

 

[Abdillahi]

You know, I know a Somali who was embedded with the RPF during the genocide. This person said to me, "You know why you guys aren't related to us? If the RPF had been Somali, they'd have slaughtered all the ****s on their way to Kigali."

As someone who has lived all over the region, I'll say this: all nomads are the similar. Somalis, Maasai, Bahima, etc.,....they are unruly and have clannish tendencies. But they are also freaking smart - never mind that 68 BS - and with the right motivation and right incentives could really prosper.

I agree though about the Somali temper. That is something else. Generally Rwandans are a calm and measured people who follow orders.

Look brothers from the same mother cannot get along with each other in a place called Somalia. Only when they come to the west do they stand a chance (But 90% of families end up broken). But otherwise they eventually have a falling out (stop talking to each other) and end up broken. Somalis are doomed to the dustbin of history. Doesn't matter what positive face they show you, Somalis are a deeply unhappy people with little compassion. Its all me me me. For this reason Somaliland will have a civil war within 10 years mark my words.

 

[Intore]

Why did you start lurking on an Somali forum?

People and cultures interest me. I can't live in all countries but I can lurk all the ones I am interested in: somalispot is one of a few. I have a significant number of Somalis in my life so I lurk your forums.

Look brothers from the same mother cannot get along with each other in a place called Somalia. Only when they come to the west do they stand a chance (But 90% of families end up broken). But otherwise they eventually have a falling out (stop talking to each other) and end up broken. Somalis are doomed to the dustbin of history. Doesn't matter what positive face they show you, Somalis are a deeply unhappy people with little compassion. Its all me me me. For this reason Somaliland will have a civil war within 10 years mark my words.

If this is true, then it is the saddest thing I've read on here. And there is a lot of pathetic stuff on this site.

I want Somalis to prosper. I hope you're wrong.

 

[Abdillahi]

People and cultures interest me. I can't live in all countries but I can lurk all the ones I am interested in: somalispot is one of a few. I have a significant number of Somalis in my life so I lurk your forums.



If this is true, then it is the saddest thing I've read on here. And there is a lot of pathetic stuff on this site.

I want Somalis to prosper. I hope you're wrong.

The truth is ugly and Somalia is an ugly truth. I am not wrong because I have seen it.

 

[Intore]

The truth is ugly and Somalia is an ugly truth. I am not wrong because I have seen it.

You can't give up like this. It's unacceptable. To use a cliche, "It's not over until it's freaking over."

If Rwanda went through the kind of horror where mothers killed their children because they had Tutsi fathers and friends, neighbours, lovers, betrayed each other and still survived, you can too. Don't lose hope.

We spent 50 years in exile and we still persevered. You don't need every Somali to believe in a positive future, you only need a few committed Somalis willing to risk everything. Lee Kwan Yew famously said all he needed to turn Singapore around was a Boeing 737: about 300 dedicated people.

There were more Rwandans who didn't believe than who did in the beginning, but today, I'd say there are more who believe than don't.

 

[Abdillahi]

You can't give up like this. It's unacceptable. To use a cliche, "It's not over until it's freaking over."

If Rwanda went through the kind of horror where mothers killed their children because they had Tutsi fathers and friends, neighbours, lovers, betrayed each other and still survived, you can too. Don't lose hope.

We spent 50 years in exile and we still persevered. You don't need every Somali to believe in a positive future, you only need a few committed Somalis willing to risk everything. Lee Kwan Yew famously said all he needed to turn Singapore around was a Boeing 737: about 300 dedicated people.

There were more Rwandans who didn't believe than who did in the beginning, but today, I'd say there are more who believe than don't.

 

[Nomadite]

You can't give up like this. It's unacceptable. To use a cliche, "It's not over until it's freaking over."

If Rwanda went through the kind of horror where mothers killed their children because they had Tutsi fathers and friends, neighbours, lovers, betrayed each other and still survived, you can too. Don't lose hope.

We spent 50 years in exile and we still persevered. You don't need every Somali to believe in a positive future, you only need a few committed Somalis willing to risk everything. Lee Kwan Yew famously said all he needed to turn Singapore around was a Boeing 737: about 300 dedicated people.

There were more Rwandans who didn't believe than who did in the beginning, but today, I'd say there are more who believe than don't.

mothers/fathers would kill their own children because of the tutsi parent? jesus this is barbaric

 

[Intore]

mothers/fathers would kill their own children because of the tutsi parent? jesus this is barbaric

Yes. The genocidaires had this saying: we want a Rwanda where our children will ask, "what did the Tutsis look like?"

I used to work in genocide prosecution; I have heard and seen things you wouldn't believe. Even 26 years later, just when I think I couldn't possibly be shocked, I hear something that does.

Recently, I heard of this one case where the father was forced to kill his Tutsi wife in front of the kids, and then shortly after the RPF took over, a Tutsi relative killed the father in front of the kids as vengeance for killing his cousin. Imagine the trauma those kids live with.

When I was in undergrad, this genocide orphan used to follow me around because I looked like someone he knew. He told me he survived only because the militia forgot to check under the bed the bed where he was he hiding when they came to kill his family. They killed his family with machetes while he hid under the bed. His older sister's body fell not to far from where he was hiding - he was 5 - and after a few days, he got so thirsty, he started licking the dried blood.

It's horrific and still, not even the worst.

One story that honestly, is just normal in Rwanda.


The point being, if we can come back from this...you can.

 

[Nomadite]

Yes. The genocidaires had this saying: we want a Rwanda where our children will ask, "what did the Tutsis look like?"

I used to work in genocide prosecution; I have heard and seen things you wouldn't believe. Even 26 years later, just when I think I couldn't possibly be shocked, I hear something that does.

Recently, I heard of this one case where the father was forced to kill his Tutsi wife in front of the kids, and then shortly after the RPF took over, a Tutsi relative killed the father in front of the kids as vengeance for killing his cousin. Imagine the trauma those kids live with.

When I was in undergrad, this genocide orphan used to follow me around because I looked like someone he knew. He told me he survived only because the militia forgot to check under the bed the bed where he was he hiding when they came to kill his family. They killed his family with machetes while he hid under the bed. His older sister's body fell not to far from where he was hiding - he was 5 - and after a few days, he got so thirsty, he started licking the dried blood.

It's horrific and still, not even the worst.

One story that honestly, is just normal in Rwanda.


The point being, if we can come back from this...you can.

U killed your wife for tribalism? Jesus, ive heard the genocide affected the great lakes region as a whole, ive heard horror stories from Burundian friends, and Congolese...haunting trauma that no human should have to face

 

[Caaro]

U killed your wife for tribalism? Jesus, ive heard the genocide affected the great lakes region as a whole, ive heard horror stories from Burundian friends, and Congolese...haunting trauma that no human should have to face

Relatively speaking Somalis did worse. We're outcasting people because they married a Somali who hails from a different father.

They're being racist to a completely different ethnicity. If somalis go as far as having enmity towards their own people just because of their patrilineage. What would happen if they had a grudge with a completely different ethnicity?

 

[Abdillahi]

Relatively speaking Somalis did worse. We're outcasting people because they married a Somali who hails from a different father.

They're being racist to a completely different ethnicity. If somalis go as far as having enmity towards their own people just because of their patrilineage. What would happen if they had a grudge with a completely different ethnicity?

Somalis are scum best leave them to their own fate. They don't have a future and are doomed to the dustbin of history. Facts.