A True Rwandan Experience?

Thursday was a holiday, which meant no work—it was Rwanda’s Independence Day, marking their freedom from colonial rule by Belgium in 1962.  I enjoyed the chance to relax and later went out with a friend to a place called The Manor—a rather upscale establishment that just opened their bar and grill and will soon be home to various ethnic cuisines and a hotel. My friend, who is Rwandan, pointed out to me that so many visitors think that coming to a place like this isn’t “a true Rwandan experience”, when in fact, it is, because how could it not be? This is Rwanda. This restaurant is in Rwanda and Rwandans go here.

But he had an interesting point—something that my class on Globalization had discussed in depth last semester—that when we go to foreign countries, and especially developing countries, we have a preconceived notion of what is “true” or indigenous to that country. Experiences that seem “Western” we consider “a home away from home” (or a cultural cop-out) for us Western-world visitors and yet another example of infringement of Western culture on local values and experiences. And yes, to a certain extent you can see how some experiences might be similar to the experiences I would have in the US, and thus not really a “new” experience, per se, so I might not be so inclined to do that in this foreign country. But that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t still be an authentic experience. But the case is the same if I were to go to England or France or Germany. Maybe the lesson here is that Rwanda isn’t all that different from any of those countries. I mean, it is different, without a doubt, but, in the city (at least, but also elsewhere), it’s not as much as you’d think.  I still couldn’t have had that experience anywhere else, though, because I was with my Rwandan friend, who comes from the background of being a Rwandan—which is unique from my own, but still relatable. But it definitely brings up interesting questions about the mzungu’s (outsider’s) notion of Africa.

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Today was back to work, but just for a half day (every Friday is half-day). I found out that on Tuesday I am going to be going to an area called Rusizi, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to do some research/analysis for FHI. I’m excited to see a new part of the country, and I’ve been told it’s very, very beautiful there.

After work I went to visit a man who works for the gacaca courts here in Rwanda. Gacaca is a community-level court justice system that originated as a traditional form of dispute resolution. After the genocide, though, it was modified and “modernized” as a nation-wide network of courts in order to try accused criminals  from the genocide. Only the “less heinous” crimes—committed by those who looted and raped and murdered, but were not involved in planning the genocide—were tried in gacaca. Leaders in communities all over the country who were deemed fair and unbiased were trained to lead these gacaca courts. Alleged criminals were identified and evidence gathered over the course of a few years. In the trials, community members would come forward and testify about crimes they saw or verify someone’s innocence. In the end, many criminals were found guilty, and many others were acquitted. However, in most cases, these individuals, who had been rounded up in the months and years following the end of the genocide, had been held in jail for so long (often about 9 years already) that their sentence had already been served prior to their guilty verdict. So most of these criminals have already returned to their communities. You can see why talk about forgiveness and reconciliation is such a huge and sensitive topic here. People who lost their families are literally living right next door to the people who committed their murders. Justice has been served. Or has it? What is really justice in a situation like this? And does justice bring forgiveness? These are questions I have yet to find the answers for, but I’m looking.