THE COUNTRY OF 1000

HILLS
• “Rwanda” is a small landlocked country in
Great Lakes region of east-central Africa
bordered by Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania
and DRC. This country is also known as
“THE COUNTRY OF 1000 HILLS”
because it has so many hills.
• Home to almost 10.1 million people,
Rwanda supports the densest population
in continental Africa.
• Rwanda’s area is of 26 798km2.
• The official languages are Kinyarwanda,
English and French.
• Rwanda is also among the few countries
in Africa where one language is used as a
national language throughout the country.
• This is a very well known country.
• This country became well known because
of two main reasons.
• The first one is the 1994 genocide.
• The second is the new life which came
after the genocide.
 1)The 1994 genocide
• This genocide started many years ago.
• Since 1959, groups of people were being
killed.
• In 1963, groups of people were also being
killed.
• But in 1994 the true genocide started.
• In a very short period of 100 days around
1.000.000 people were killed.
• This shows and proves that this genocide
was very well prepared and shows that the
people who did it had a very long period to
prepare it.
• The main purpose of these people was to
eliminate all the “tutsi” people.
• But this purpose was not achieved.
• Rwandese who lived in other countries as
refugees joined together and made RPF
(Rwandan Patriotic Fond).
• These Rwandese came back to their
country and worked very hard to bring
back peace in the country.
• And finally the RPF achieved it’s purpose
by introducing a new life.
 2)The New Life
• After the genocide there was so much damage
in the whole country that to rebuild the country
was a very big challenge.
• The new government led by president Pasteur
Twagiramungu had a lot of work to do.
• The next president Paul Kagame, who was
elected in 2000 by the Parliament, is also doing
a lot of hard work.
• By law, at least a third of the Parliament
representation must be female. It is
believed that women will not allow the
mass killings of the past to be repeated. In
the parliamentary election of September
2008, 56% of seats were won by women.
• The current Rwandan government, led by His
Excellency Paul Kagame, has been praised by
many for establishing security and promoting
reconciliation and economic development.
• The country now has many international visitors
and is regarded as one of the safest places in
Africa for tourists, with only a single isolated
mortar attack in early 2007 around Volcanoes
National Park near Gisenyi.
• Rwanda's economy suffered heavily during the
1994 genocide, with widespread loss of life,
failure to maintain the infrastructure.
• The country's most popular tourist activity is the
tracking of the Mountain gorilla, which takes
place in the Volcanoes National Park. Other
attractions include Nyungwe Forest, home to
chimpanzees, Ruwenzori colobus and other
primates. The resorts of Akagera, - a small
savanna reserve in the east of the country- and
Lake Kivu in the west, are important tourist
attractions.
• Most Rwandans speak Kinyarwanda, one of the
country's three official languages, and in market
towns many people speak Swahili. Educated
Rwandans speak French and about 5% (as of
2008) speak English. In 2008 the Rwandan
government announced that English will become
the co-official language of the nation, alongside
Kinyarwanda and replacing French. They
switched the language of education from French
to English, and required government officials to
learn it.
 Conclusion
•Rwanda’s future depends on its youth.
•“That’s why we, the future rwandese
leaders, need to care and to be taught about
the past because the past will help us to
prepare for the future.”
•Lets get together and help the youth to
make tomorrow a better day.
-END-
By Ian MANZI