Independence Day #2

Today I celebrated America’s Independence Day (a day early) at the US Embassy! It was pretty interesting—I’d never been to an American Embassy before. There was good ol’ American food there—burgers, hot dogs, French fries, cole slaw, potato salad, soda, beer, cookies, and cake—oh and a pie-baking contest too! They played American music—a country song was blaring when I arrived…and they played a lot of Beatles songs, as well—just proof , I suppose, that being “American” isn’t exclusive and isn’t about birthplace (The British Invasion! Music from the country we took our independence from??) or political affiliation (John Lennon the Communist, right?), but just about creating a spot for yourself once you get here. The Charge d’Affaires, who is under the ambassador, gave a speech, as the ambassador was apparently out of the country. It was a pretty good speech about American being great, not for her power or economic strength, but for the goodwill of her citizens and their efforts all over the world.

I left early to go meet the mother-in-law of an American friend I have. Her name is Mama Maria and is Rwandan. She lives not too far from where I’m staying right now. I enjoyed her company and she showed me the beautiful dresses and paper-bead necklaces that she hand-makes. She even gave me one of the necklaces as a gift. 

An important thing to know, here, is that it is illegal to ask someone their tribe—a law put in force after the genocide. One of the things that was so confounding about the genocide was that tribal lines were not clear-cut. There are general physical features that define Hutu and Tutsi and Twa, but years of intermarriage have blurred those lines immensely.  (Twa is probably the easiest, as they are pygmies, and much shorter than other Rwandans. Hutus are shorter, more stout, and tend to have broader noses. Tutsis are tall, lean, and much more “Ethiopian-looking”—hence their favor from the Belgians, who argued that they must be related to the superior Biblical race from which Europeans claim to trace their ancestry. Belgians actually went around measuring people’s noses within millimeters when they were handing out identity cards in the early twentieth century… But like I said, the lines were blurred… A complicated history, indeed.)

But there are still other clues to figure it out. Many people I have met have told me that they moved back to Rwanda from some neighboring country sometime between 1994 and more recent years—that’s usually a sign that their family was Tutsi and had fled the country in years past (some as far back as 1959) to escape extremists’ violence against their tribe. Another clue is in the language—all Rwandans speak Kinyarwanda, and many speak Kiswahili, but they usually know another language, too. Rwanda was a Belgian colony, so French became one of the official languages. So most Rwandans—especially Hutus—know French. Most Tutsis who are in the country now, however, had been refugees in neighboring countries, which, with the exception of Congo and teeny tiny Burundi, are all English-speaking. So most Tutsis actually speak English much better than French. (Under the RPF and President Kagame, Rwanda is actually in transition from being francophone to being Anglophone in order to improve economic relations with its east African neighbors.)

Mama Maria is most likely a Tutsi. She lost several family members during the genocide, and has lived in Tanzania since her family fled during violence in 1962, when she was only 10 years old. She told met that she forgives the people who killed her family because either way it won’t bring back the ones she lost. She speaks English, but is taking additional English lessons to improve. She was very sweet, and I’m going to go back to see her tomorrow, which is