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“Her husband killed my husband [pointing to another member], he was in prison, but is out now, while I will never see my husband again. Our daughters have grown up together, they played together. I worked together with the lady, we live together as one. It was not easy to trust again, there was a lot of suspicion, however we attended the Gacaca (reconciliation meetings), we heard the man’s accounts of how he killed my husband, each thing he did to him. He cut him with a machete here [pointing to her arms] and here [pointing to her neck]. He asked for forgiveness from my family. He also beat my mum until she looked like she was dead, she survived.”

Set in the dying heat of equatorial Africa, the chartered bus drove through the winding hills deep into what in medieval times was called Buganda. We were moving from the Ugandan capital of Kampala, to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Four hours into a seven hour journey, I’d had enough of the movies. Played on a tiny screen in front of the bus I could hardly make out what was playing. On top of that it was dubbed in Swahili, the lingua franca for the East African region. I knew very little of the language my mother and father spoke. 

A lady tapped my shoulder. “Is it a good book?” Eighty percent of African people I meet speak English. Many speak three or four languages. It was good.” My reply was a bit short because I had only started reading it. The lady looked impressed, giving my mother an approving look. It is rare to see a seventeen year old reading an economics book.

Rwanda Inc was about the incredible rise of Rwanda from the 1994 genocide into one of the world’s fastest growing economies. All about the anti-corrupt, smart policies and great leadership of the government, the book is an optimistic take on an optimistic country.

After decades of violence, Rwanda exploded into complete terror after the bombing of then-President Habyarirama’s plane on April 6, 1994. Crashing not far from where our bus was located, the ensuing 100 days saw genocidaires kill 800,000 people. Based on tribal delineations, it was the majority Hutu killing mostly Tutsi peoples, as well as anyone caught helping them.

As someone from the diaspora, my experience of that time is second-hand. From festivals anddays of mourning, I’d come to idolize my maternal homeland. With every book I felt closer to my people, and also with every cup of coffee. I could feel the tangible hope of ‘the land of a thousand hills’.

COFFEE & COOPERATIVES

Winners of the prestigious Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award in 2018, Rwanda has been producing some of the finest coffee in the world. In a country of tea drinkers, it’s surprising that the small landlocked nation would pick coffee as an export. But it has been a huge success. According to the International Growth Centre, fully washed coffee exports have increased from 30% in 2010 to 60% of total coffee exports in 2019.

Numbers inspire very little in me. A more incredible turn is the change in image Rwanda went through. Growing up, mentioning Rwanda either came with blank stares or sad eyes. The average Westerner either did not know of Rwanda, or knew it only through its tragic history. But today, I can get caught up speaking about our coffee with local cafe staff. 

Do not misunderstand. Coffee is not rewriting a sad history, but part of the story arc of separation and colonialism. Formed around the 10th century, The Kingdom of Rwanda existed as interdependent communities, filled with all peoples. Changing politics and European invasion deformed that system. But now, a millenia later, the interdepedant forms of organisation are back!

In 2005, the Rwandan government implemented work on the legal framework necessary to allow cooperatives to flourish within the nation’s market economy. Not only smart economic planning, the imposition of cooperatives was meant to build reconciliation among a population scarred by trauma.  According to ILO documents, co-operatives in the post-genocide period flourished as many felt the need for protection and safety within the social grouping that co-operatives provide. Many of these co-operatives were owned and operated by women farmers. Together, with victims & perpetrators, they built a community on liquid gold.

COMMUNITY AND HEALING

When I arrived in Kigali, a few things stood out to me. For one, the city was cleaner than any other I had seen. People were regularly sweeping sidewalks with traditional-styled brooms. But also the country was filled with women.

Killed, exiled or jailed, men in Rwanda were in short supply. The government, acknlowdging the gendered effects of the genocide, decided to concentrate efforts on women. Empowering them became a necessity, so now Rwanda’s parliament is 70% women, many high-ranking authorities are run by women, and the best coffee growers are women.

Left beaten and alone in the immediate aftermath of the genocide, many women clung to each other for support. that is the story behind a popular roast at Starbucks: The Abakundakawa Co-operative is just one Rwandese coffee supplier at a Starbucks near you! Formed in 2004, it has over 200 members, all women and all exceptional. Forced by circumstance these women, and many others, have found the will to empower themselves and move forward.

“It is not easy and it does not happen quickly, but we have forgiven. What other choice did we have? Our daughters, we do not want them to experience the same things that we have. We have to forgive in order to make sure this does not happen again, that they are not brought up with hate in their hearts. We have to prevent everything that could lead to war.” 

 – Buranga Cooperative member ‘Cooperatives Europe’

Arthur Karuletwa, Starbucks Director of Global Coffee Traceability, was seventeen when the genocide started. Living in neighbouring Uganda at the time, his story is not special. His determination to renew his home is the story of every Rwandan. 

“I vowed to go back and play a role in whatever recovery or reconciliation that needed to happen,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that all the family and friends that I lost were not in vain.”

Proud of how far his country has come, it’s the women of co-operatives he thanks the most.

“They are my heroes… I’ve seen these women pick up the very icon, the very tool, which is an agricultural tool, and the irony around that is that this agricultural tool, the machete, was also the very tool that amputated people,” Karuletwa said.

Born in the West, my life is inundated by left vs right politics, denying history, downplaying it, misrepresenting it. In Rwanda, I find community and historical synthesis. Pre-colonial Rwandans believed history to be cyclical; What has happened will. Over 43% of Rwandans employed in cooperatives are reliving millenia-old ways, but with renewed purpose towards healing.

Expressing the tangible hope that flows out these hills is impossible. But on the last Saturday of the month the community, home or abroad, practices Umuganda, or community cleaning day. There are no cars, just people. Sweeping, stacking bricks, anything to help. At that moment we are all connected to each other.