Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Learning from Our History: Why in Rwanda and Not Yet in Namibia?

Home Archived Learning from Our History: Why in Rwanda and Not Yet in Namibia?

I recently returned from two weeks in Rwanda, where 13 years ago neighbour turned against neighbour in one of the 20th century’s worst genocides. In 100 Days of Terror, almost a million Rwandans were massacred. Post-genocide, Rwandans have had to learn how to live together in peace once more. This is a complex and multi-faceted process, involving both international tribunals (in Arusha, Tanzania) and local community Gacaca (literally, “judgments on the grass” – traditional Rwandan courts that have been adapted to try accused perpetrators). There are also many self-help organizations of survivors – mostly widows and orphans, many of whom are also infected with HIV. Still, there is no escaping the carnage. For many, the scars, physical and mental, are still fresh. But Rwanda’s leadership believes that their country’s future depends on confronting and learning from the past. Thus, memorials dot the roadside. I visited several – some contain little more than the names of those who were killed nearby. Others contain mass graves, with more remains added annually as new construction around the country continues to unearth additional bodies. In some of the most hard-hit sites however, the skulls and bones remain exposed for all to see – many are cracked and broken with metal pokes skill sticking out at odd angles. In Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, a museum and educational centre has been constructed, alongside a recently inaugurated memorial forest and 17 mass graves containing the remains of almost 260,000 people. What is remarkable for Namibians is that on the second floor of this centre, there is a permanent exhibit describing Genocide throughout the 20th Century – beginning with Namibia’s experience in 1904-1905 in the war against the Herero and Nama people. The exhibit goes on to highlight the Armenian Massacres, the European Holocaust during World War II, the killing fields of Cambodia and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. The exhibit is not about casting blame, but it is about confronting truth. Walking through this exhibit, you can’t help but realize: If we don’t understand and learn from our past, reconciliation will never happen. In Rwanda, the Kigali Memorial Centre was constructed with the help of the Government and an international NGO called the Aegis Trust (www.aegistrust.org ). Many local people participated in the design and construction of the Centre. Surely, we could find a way to do something similar. Twice I returned to the exhibit on Namibia. There are two long walls filled with our history, with photographs. How come this exists in Rwanda, and not in our own country? Don’t we also need to acknowledge our own past in Namibia, and teach these same lessons to our own children? School groups come daily to the Kigali Memorial Centre in order to learn about peace, non-violence, and mutual respect. We would do well to do the same in our country. This learning is needed by – and for – all of us. Lucy Y. Steinitz Windhoek e-mail lucy@steinitz.net