Lessons from a Visit to Rwanda
The author, Aaron Epps, posing with a mountain gorilla on a recent trip to Rwanda. Revenue from Rwanda’s ecotourism industry is invested in conservation efforts.
Today we are bringing you a different kind of update. In this newsletter we’ll peel back the curtain and hear directly from one of our staff members, Aaron Epps, as he reflects on a recent trip that he and his wife took to Rwanda.
Aaron is the Development Director for Sicangu Co, and works with teams across our ecosystem to find funding that aligns with their goals. His first connection with Sicangu Co came in 2018 when he did a summer fellowship. After that summer, he joined the organization as part of the team that launched the Wolakota Buffalo Range. Prior to working at Sicangu Co, he taught at Saint Francis Indian School on Rosebud. He now lives in Vermont and can usually be found running trails or in search of good coffee.
If you enjoy stories like this, please let us know and we will include more personal reflections in our weekly newsletter and blog.
Prior to visiting Rwanda earlier this year, I knew very little about the country’s history, aside from the fact that a horrible genocide occurred there in the 90’s. As I learned more and spent time with people there, I realized how much Rwanda has to teach us – and how many similarities there are between their rebuilding efforts, and the work that organizations like Sicangu Co do in Native communities in the US.
Honestly, I’m left with more questions than answers. But Rwanda’s successful reconciliation and rebuilding efforts give me hope that answers do exist and that people who are smarter and more powerful than me can put them into practice.
First, here is the very simplified historical summary that I gathered from conversations with Rwandans and some quick research. Prior to colonization, there were multiple ethnic groups living in Rwanda, however conflict was rare. In fact, people in the region organized themselves in clans, and the clans often included families from multiple ethnic groups. The ethnic groups spoke the same language and had a largely shared culture.
This reminded me of what I have been able to learn about the Oceti Sakowin (or Great Sioux Nation): an allied group of people from different tribes or communities with a largely shared language and culture.
Rwanda’s unity endured until the region was colonized by the Germans and later the Belgians, who divided people by ethnic groups. The unity that had existed since time immemorial was disrupted, leading to a stratified society and conflict that was manufactured by the colonizers.
Starting in the 1970s, violence between the groups escalated, eventually culminating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. The genocide decimated the country, with over 10% of the population killed, many bloodlines extinguished, and nearly the entire population directly affected. I won’t go too deep into the horrible stories that my wife and I heard from the survivors and historians, but a quote from one of our conversations sums it up: “Rwanda, as a country, simply didn’t exist for years after the genocide.”
Yet, despite these horrific events, Rwanda today is regarded as a jewel of Africa. It boasts a growing economy, one of the lowest crime rates, and an expanding public support system, including education, healthcare, and transportation. Rwanda is also among the least corrupt countries in Africa and has strong support for its president, Paul Kagame, who enjoys a 99% approval rating. (There are certainly valid criticisms of his leadership, but that discussion is outside the scope of this newsletter.)
Visiting Rwanda in 2024, you would have no idea the dark period the country went through just 30ish years ago. It is astonishing how Rwanda has rebounded from such awful events. My wife and I toured three genocide sites while we were there. At one memorial, our guide shared a deeply personal story. His family was murdered in the genocide, and the perpetrator was caught, imprisoned, and recently released. Our guide encountered this man on the street, and instead of harboring resentment, he confronted him and said something to the effect of, "We can't live like this. We need to move on. You need to live your life and I need to live mine. I forgive you."
To me, this level of forgiveness and trust is an essential part of Rwanda’s recovery. Our guide emphasized that forgiveness is not weakness; instead, it gives power to the victim by allowing them to take control of the dynamic in the relationship. Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting; it means recognizing that the past cannot be changed and that the only healthy path forward is to not let those acts define the future. That conversation, sitting at the site of a church where thousands were murdered, was one of the most powerful and profound of my life.
“Kwibuka” means “to remember” in Kinyarwandan. This photo was taken at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which is built at the site of a mass grave of 250,000. The powerful memorial’s mission is to educate to ensure that world never sees a genocide like what happened there in 1994.
One important step the government took in the years following the genocide was a massive investment in safety and security. The leaders needed to convince residents that nothing like that could ever happen again. Today, there is still a significant and visible military presence in the country, and Rwanda has low crime rates and my wife and I felt very safe throughout the country. I’m not advocating for a large military presence, but I do wonder what we can do in the US, and Native communities specifically, to rebuild trust – both on the macro and the micro level.
The wisdom of our guide reminded me of similar ideas I have heard from Lakota teachers. “Mitakuye Oyasin” – we are all related. Whatever happens to you, affects all of us. The energy and intention that you put out into the world is what you will receive in return. How can we spread that message to more people? How can we take these lessons of reconciliation and forgiveness from Rwanda and apply them to the US government’s genocide against Native people? What role does the perpetrator play in this healing process?
Another aspect of Rwandan culture that stood out to me was the ubiquity of the native language, Kinyarwanda, which fortunately survived colonial rule. It’s spoken by everyone—children, adults, and elders alike. I’m by no means an expert on the topic, but I believe that their common language has played a role in the reconciliation process. Sharing a language helped bridge the divide between perpetrators and victims.
There are obvious parallels to our Lakota immersion school and the multiple ways that language revitalization can provide healing and a shared identity.
The Rwandan people maintained their Native language through colonization and there are clear efforts to ensure that cultural traditions are sustained by future generations.
I was also impressed by the incredible work ethic of the Rwandan people, despite challenging circumstances. While Rwanda has made significant strides in economic development and improving the quality of life, much of the country still lives in conditions that would be considered nearly unthinkable by Western standards. Many people live in houses with dirt floors, without running water, and with unreliable electricity (let alone wifi). They are not limited by those conditions, and continue to work for a better future. Nowhere was their work ethic and ingenuity more on display than when it came to transporting goods by bicycle. Bikes were loaded with hundreds of pounds of potatoes, bananas stacked 5 feet tall, building materials, water tanks, mattresses. There was simply a sense of: Something needs to be done, so I will do it.
Taken from the wisdom of Lakota ancestors, one of our mottos at Sicangu Co is Nake Nula Waun. Be ready for anything, at any time. This mindset is empowering. We cannot wait for someone else to step in to create the change we want to see. We can and must do something today – no matter how simple that action may be.
Outside of the main city of Kigali, much of the country has to travel to a community well to get access to clean drinking water. Bikes are the most common method of transporting goods — everything from live chickens to bed frames.
This is a typical Rwandan home, build from handmade bricks, local eucalyptus wood, and finished with a homemade “cement.” Even within Kigali, a city of 1.7 million, most structures appeared to be built from local materials.
It was clear driving across the country and speaking with drivers, guides, and residents that there is a strong sense of community. While it would be completely understandable to maintain rivalries or engage in lateral oppression, there instead was a sense of cooperation. I don’t want to romanticize their living conditions, but the Rwandans' self-sufficiency and hyper-local economy was inspiring. Outside of the capital city, Kigali, nearly every home we saw was built using handmade bricks and mud from local materials. Roofs and other features were constructed from locally harvested eucalyptus trees (typically transported by bicycle).
Additionally, Rwanda’s food system is designed to support cooperation and local markets. From my conversations, I learned that nearly all farmland in the country is owned by cooperatives. Each farmer has their own parcel within a larger area, and they aggregate their products to sell through contracts to the government, which then distributes them locally, regionally, and even exports some products internationally. This model reduces risk for farmers and maintains a closer relationship between the people and the land, sustaining traditional lifeways.
How can we take this model of community-built homes made from local materials and apply it in the US? How can we create a food system that reduces the risk for small-scale producers and encourages more people to grow food and distribute it locally?
Rwanda has also embraced ecotourism as a strategy to grow its economy. Known as the land of a thousand hills, Rwanda boasts magnificent volcanic landscapes and rich biodiversity, from tropical rainforests to savannah ecosystems. Among the ecotourism offerings are gorilla treks in Volcanoes National Park, which was the primary reason my wife and I visited Rwanda. This is the only region in the world where mountain gorillas still exist, and Rwanda is the safest and most regulated country that offers the guided hikes to see these gorilla family units up close.
The tourism not only brings people to the country, but the fees are invested into conservation efforts, not only for the gorillas but for the broader ecosystem. Rwanda has also made significant investments in Akagera National Park, home to the Big Five, where you can see lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, giraffes, Cape buffalo, baboons, leopards, hippos, and crocodiles. In the southern part of the country, there are opportunities for chimpanzee and other primate trekking. This ecotourism leverages Rwandans' connection to their ancestral land and allows them to retain control over how outsiders access and experience their landscape.
Furthermore, I noticed that the emphasis on social enterprise and prioritizing the well-being of employees over profit closely mirrors the values upheld in Native businesses. The business operators we spoke with would intentionally choose "less efficient" processes if it meant they could employ more people, even at the cost of reducing their profit. Employees were treated like family members, rather than mere cogs in a machine.
How can we convince companies to prioritize people and planet over profit – and whose responsibility is it?
Reflecting on Rwanda's journey from devastation to renewal, we should all be inspired by their resilience, unity, and commitment to community well-being. I challenge each of us to think about how we can embrace these values in our work and lives. What can you do today to create a better world for future generations?
It’s a big challenge. But together with small, collective actions we can make a difference.
Nake nula waun.
If you’ve read all the way to the end, thank you! This reflection ended up being much longer than I anticipated, but there is so much to say about and learn from Rwanda! I also must state the obvious: I am not a historian or expert on any of the topics discussed above. I have spent a grand total of 10 days on the continent of Africa and my reflection is based on my own personal experience and may not be representative of others’. It also does not capture all of the realities of day to day life in Rwanda.
The author and his partner at an overlook of a tea plantation. Even these vast fields of tea are entirely planted and harvested by hand.
