Dancing ghosts

Rwanda is a fascinating and beautiful country full of ghosts. I happened to be at the Mille Collines Hotel (aka Hotel Rwanda) the other day for a meeting and an Irish lament came over the speakers. My superstitious soul shivered in response as I thought of all the people that died around this hotel. I'm astounded on a daily basis by how these people have survived and thrived after the trauma they experienced 16 years ago. It came to my mind after visiting one of the genocide sights earlier in the week that in order to rebuild a society that was in effect totally destroyed by the 1994 genocide you need a very structured and organized response and this has been the case since Paul Kagame came into power. For example, the last Saturday of the month is called umuganda when everyone, from the president down to the elder in the village, is required under law to clean their community. The entire country is spotless, and to say this is in stark contrast to the rest of the African countries that I've worked in would be the understatement of the century. You can't eat out in public except if you are sitting in your car or in a restaurant. There is a total absence of fast food stalls which are ubiquitous to the rest of Africa. The same mentality applies to government structure and accountability. I wonder though how this is going to play out as the years pass and a new generation of post-genocide Rwandans come of age. You need a social "space" for dissent and expression even as you glue a society back together.