This April, two different nations once written off as risks, and with reputations for one single thing – heartbreaking, lawbreaking acts to ones own – marked two decades of progress, unity and hope in a way that can only be described by one word: ‘heroic‘.
April 07th, 2014 – RWANDA: 20 years since the beginning of the most horrific time in the nation’s lifetime, costing the lives of over 800,000 Rwandans. Millions of Rwandans were left homeless with shattered spirits as the world stood shamed for inaction. Today, 20 years on, the nation pauses to remember, to forgive, to learn, to move on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOGWikDkjjQ&feature=youtu.be
April 27th, 2014 – SOUTH AFRICA: 20 years since the day all South Africans were able to stand together in voting lines, choosing for the first time their first black President, taking the first steps as a rainbow nation colourblind to face and race. Two decades on, the nation sees and feels the vividness and value of its rainbow bands of colour. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSKZMRg9dXA
While different occasions days apart, they shared one powerful force: pride. Pride in progress. Pride in possibility. Pride in unified commitment to keep moving forward, never ever going back. Pride in new identity.
In a world suffering from bruising of balance sheets, belief in leadership, short-range vision and lethargy of citizen participation, these two nations stand tall as active, tireless examples of nationals working for their better tomorrow, feeling able to feel the benefits of their playing their part.
Have there been challenges, upsets, disappointments, frustrations? Of course. But these have been part of the work in progress journey, collectively, with shared focus on what can be, not what was, or is.
The 20 years of days now passed are not reflected upon with fleeting, passing thought.
Instead words on the milestone dates reflect pauses of heart, tearful eyes remember life changing moments in their peak of emotion. On one hand, lines of panicked refugees fleeing horrors and loss, unable to think of a future. On the other, lines of patient voters waiting to have their finger dipped in ink as they have their say, unable to think of anything but the future.
Today, two decades on these two nations, once broken and now often referred to as ‘miracles‘, are two remarkable representations of nation rebuilding through activation of a nation’s richest resource: the spirit of hope within its people.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2014