What Can Rwanda Teach Us?

YouTube Link: Healing Hearts: Rwanda 20 Years Later by World Vision

Historical Overview

•Belgium and German Colonialists favored the Tutsi Tribe over the Hutu Tribe. In turn this set up Tribal tension in the country.

•The Hutu revolution in 1959 forced over 300,000 Tutsi’s to flee. This would open the door for the Hutu’s to gain power by 1973 by means of a military coup which opened the door for a Hutu Leader.

•Racial and Tribal tensions only escalated. April 6, 1994 after the Hutu Leaders plane was shot down leaving no survivors, the Rwanda Genocide began.

•6 Men, Women, and Children were being killed every 10 minutes ending in close to one million killed in 100 days.

OBSERVATIONS

•The history of Rwanda leading up the fateful day of April 6, 1994 was filled with numerous warning signs. Tribal hatred was becoming part of the everyday dialogue and rhythm of life.

•At one point in this building hatred the length of one’s nose was used to determine whether you were a Tutsi of Hutu and if you had 10 head of cattle.

•Surrounding governments and agencies from Rwanda were fully aware of the growing hatred and tension, yet never expressed concerns.

•What is the pathway for healing and restoration for such a nation? Forgiveness is the only true pathway to rebuild after nearly one million people were killed.

•The John Maxwell Company has been invited into Rwanda to work with all levels of authority by establishing Servant Leadership, a message of openness, forgiveness, care, and adding value to other human beings.

•It is now required of graduating children to participate in a summer program of working with other Tribes to see their humanity, listen to their ideas and work together for solutions before you will be allowed higher education or career. Never allow hatred of the past to rob our future!

If we do not learn from history, we are destined to repeat it again. The question for modern day leaders in the non-profit, corporate, and civil arenas is, What areas in our organizations allows for  indiscriminate prejudice to be tolerated? As Leaders, we have a responsibility to call our misguided notion of uniformity and allow diversity on our Teams. This is to include not only ethnic diversity but diversity of thought and strategy to move your organizations vision forward.

LINKS

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