![\"Reconcilation](\"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/files\/2009\/09\/rwanda-photos-105.jpg?w=300\")
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Last night, I showed\u00a0my host sister\u00a0my photos from the trip and asked if she would translate the signs for me, which she did:<\/p>\n
Welcome to the Rwaza district.\u00a0 You are welcome here.\u00a0 The people love you.\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0May you stop thinking the genocide ideology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n and<\/p>\n Be at home, be peaceful.\u00a0 May you stop thinking the genocide ideology.\u00a0 <\/em>Let\u2019s have peace and reconciliation.<\/em><\/p>\n I haven’t seen signs like this anywhere else in Rwanda so far.<\/p>\n The concept of dignity plays a major role in Rwandan society today.\u00a0 Dignity is everywhere– in speeches at the Liberation Day celebration, on signs and billboards, and\u00a0 in every conversation it seems.\u00a0 Respect for human dignity.\u00a0 It\u2019s reassuring that the government recognizes that human dignity had been lost, and has been working so hard to restore that.\u00a0 The main principles of human rights here are dignity, justice, and equality.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting way of framing things.\u00a0 From my conversations with the Rwandan delegates, when asked which human right most mattered to them, the answer was invariably, the right to life, and the right to education.\u00a0 Thse seem to be the rights which have most egregiously been ignored here.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting though, because the right to life here means something very different than the right to life in US dialog.\u00a0 Here it means the right to live and not be killed by your neighbor.\u00a0 In the US, the right to life is more of an abortion\/euthanasia concern.\u00a0 Aside from\u00a0some of the roughest urban areas, most people in the US don\u2019t have to wonder if they will survive the violence around them to see the next day.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other thing that I find really striking here is the emphasis on progress and moving forward.\u00a0 There is an enormous push to have\u00a0the latest technology.\u00a0 Most everyone– aside from the absolute poorest– has a cell phone (many people\u00a0have more than one)\u00a0and texting is the main form of communication.\u00a0\u00a0My friend Sarah’s\u00a0host family didn\u2019t have running water, but they did have an incredible entertainment system– television, stereo, laptop– and her host sister had seen every episode of Lost<\/em> and 24<\/em>.\u00a0 Which is more than I can say, having never watched either of those shows myself.\u00a0 The technology is here, but the basic infrastructure is not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" July 5, 2009 In Rwaza, there was a sign on the town hall.\u00a0 The only words I recognized were \u201cMurakoza Neza a Rwaza\u201d (Welcome to Rwaza) and jenoside, spelled in contrasting red letters.\u00a0 I took a photo of the sign, … Continue reading