But Rwanda has since turned the page and we can safely say it is in another league now. A visit to the tiny hilly African country reveals a very different story. Rwanda of today is safe, clean and developing so fast. The capital Kigali is so clean you can easily drop food on the road, pick it up and safely consume it without any fear of catching a bug or disease simply because the streets are unbelievably very clean you'd think for once you are in another world and not in Africa.
Sometimes last year I visited Kigali, the Rwandan capital city, locally known as the city of 100 mountains and I was really impressed by what I saw. I could not stop thinking back not many years ago when Rwanda, just like Somalia was bleeding. But now, there is plenty of peace, fresh milk, honey, fresh fruits and vegetables.
The questions that lingers in my head is how Rwanda managed to lift itself from the abyss of the 1994 hopelessness, fear, war and hunger while unfortunately countries like Somalia and Africa's youngest and most troublesome State, South Sudan, are both by far still bleeding and in perpetual self-destruction mode. The Rwanda that degenerated into genocide in 1994 is not the Rwanda of today which seems to have put its act together and started its journey to recovery and forgiveness up to where it is today, becoming a ray of hope for many war shuttered countries in Africa and around the world.
"Why can't we transform ourselves and turn around our problems into solutions that work for us like it worked for the Rwandese"? This has to be the hard question every sane Somalis and South Sudanese national ought to be asking themselves.
While in Rwanda, I visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum, which really shook me. I rarely cry in public but I must admit I was moved by the sad memories and testimonial's of victims of the 1994 Rwanda massacre in display and perfectly archived at genocide memorial centre. The horrifying tales by the survivors and witnesses will shake even the hardest of hearts and so I could barely stop the tears. The memorial is set a side to remind everyone who visits the city including its own inhabitants of the unimaginable killings that engulfed the city and country during the 1994 genocide.
For anyone who has never set foot in Rwanda or its hilly capital city Kigali the image they have of Rwanda I believe is that of war or blood, perhaps of machetes and those old horrific images that blurred our TV screens in 1994 during the massacre when neighbours, relatives and acquaintances turned against each other and within a 100 days tens of thousands of Rwandese mothers, boys, girls and even men from the Tutsi minority tribe were butchered to death in one of Africa's most gruesome violence known as the Rwanda genocide which unfortunately the rest of humanity simply sat and watched as close to a million if not more innocent souls were cold bloodedly murdered leaving behind a river of blood to flow like a normal river.
Thanks God now the Rwandese rivers are fresh and clean water devoid of blood or even dirt. Now, that is a transformation and a miracle, believe it or not. Leaving behind a captivating beauty of Kigali that will simply leave you mesmerized. The city, set on a picturesque range of green mountains is scintillatingly beautiful.
But what really caught my eyes is the development, the well prawned lawns across the smooth roads and the clean streets. You will never think you are in an African city when you are in Kigali. You might easily think you are in a European city!
"Kigali is the Switzerland of Africa," shouted my expatriate colleague.
Looks like Rwanda's quick turn around has even caught the eyes of other Africans too.
"You can never believe this city was littered with corpses in 1994 during the genocide. Now you have the cleanest, safest and most progressive city's in Africa. Rwanda has turned the page and is now a model country for many war tone countries including the likes of Somalia, South Sudan and other hot spots in Africa," said a Kenyan expatriate working in Rwanda who did not wish to be named.
As Somalis and South Sudanese continue to senselessly annihilate each other and destroy their lives and country, Rwanda is developing with state of the art buildings sprouting up in the hilly green town. Everywhere you go there is construction going up. At night the various parts of the city several dotted across mountain tops that together make up Kigali city makes you wonder why people there killed each other in 1994.
REWARD RWANDA
If I were the chairman of the African Union Commission, I would have rewarded the Rwandese people with the crown of being Africa's jewel capital city. Yes, we should consider moving the African Union headquarters in Kigali as our token to the people of Rwanda for their magnificent turn around and the hard work they have put in turning their country from a human butcher to a place where everyone would simply love to live.
Back to the not so cool genocide story, If you ever visit Kigali or Rwanda, you can never boost you have been to the country of gorillas without visiting the Kigali Genocide Museum, a simple and yet well planned historical site that acts as a remembrance, healing and educational centre as well as a mass burial site for a quarter a million victims of the massacre that remains to date in the memories of many people.
During my recent visit there, as I held back tears from the moving stories and the remains of the genocide, I gathered strength to speak to the head of the genocide memorial site focusing my discussion on Somalia rather than Rwanda.
"I believe Somalis have a lot to learn from Rwanda," I struggled to say in a low broken voice.
"Yes, you are absolutely right my brother," responded the Rwandese youthful head of the Kigali Genocide Museum.
"You need to bring those Somali boys and men who continue to kill their mothers, brothers and sisters here in Rwanda so that they see for themselves what kind of history they are now writing with the innocent blood of Somalis. If they have an ounce of mercy in them am sure they will be awakened by our dark bloody past. After coming back to normal and they see how Rwanda is fast developing they will go back to Somalia with a different mind-set and I am very certain if they have a normal human heart they will never hurt anyone again, even a fly," he said, choosing his words very carefully.I think we should do that. Round off all those brainwashed boys and their evil masters and take them to a healing trip in Kigali.
Sometimes I wonder why we fight and kill one another because when two Somalis meet, peace is part of their greetings. "ii waran?" - How are you? one owuld typically say, and the other person will respond by saying, "nabad" - Peace
Guess what? even in the Islamic greetings - Assalamu alaikum - the word peace is there too.
So where is all these violence coming from when if both our religion and culture advocates for peace?
Sober up my people and stop fighting. Make love instead and spread love and peace in the land of the poets - Somalia.
