This is my testimony. It is the story of a Rwandan family caught up in the larger, tumultuous, and often tragic story of Rwanda. Though the history of Rwanda as a nation spans centuries, this testimony casts a glance at the two violent revolutions (1959, 1990) and their catastrophic consequences that have affected every Rwandan and Rwanda's neighbors in the Great Lakes region of central Africa. Each revolution began with a promise, only to betray it. We repeatedly have become a nation of "losers and winners", of "perpetrators and victims", with individuals, families, communities and ethnic groups (Hutu and Tutsi) changing positions in a race beset with death and destruction. Rwanda is broken and hurting. All Rwandans, eleven million of them, are dying, alienated, exiled, fearful, traumatized, urgently and desperately in need of healing. In this drama, now in the sixth decade of my life, I have witnessed two profound and disruptive conversions: first to Marxism, and then to Christianity. The first was about conquering enemies and capturing state power, where the ends justified the means. In the second, I have become part of a third, peaceful revolution, now in its infancy among us Rwandans, to become a nation in which we are all winners. Determined to build a free, united and prosperous Rwanda, at peace within and with her neighbors, all Rwandans need to think and act in freedom, truth, forgiveness, and justice, seeing each other through the prism of love so as to overcome their material and spiritual poverty.
About the Author: Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa is a medical doctor by profession and a former diplomat who served in senior leadership positions in Rwanda, including as Ambassador to the United States, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. Dr. Rudasingwa has also represented Rwanda at the United Nations, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the African Union. His experience spans work with governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, academia, and business. He is currently President, CEO and Founder of Haradali.org, a social enterprise whose mission is to promote the health, livelihoods, and wellness of women and children, promoting small and medium enterprises, and developing the leadership and managerial capacity in Africa. As one of the leaders of the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), he is currently involved in working with all Rwandans to embrace truth telling, forgiveness and reconciliation as a pathway to healing and peaceful reforms in Rwanda. As a co-founder of the USA-based Institute for Democracy and Peace in Africa (IDPA), he promotes Africa's peaceful and democratic development, especially in the Great Lakes region of central Africa. Dr. Rudasingwa has a medical degree from Makerere University, in Uganda, a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, in the USA, and an honorary PhD from Trinity College of Vermont, Vermont, USA