{"id":24627,"date":"2016-04-15T03:15:32","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T03:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/in-honour-of-our-remarkable-rwandan-women\/"},"modified":"2016-04-17T03:13:40","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T03:13:40","slug":"in-honour-of-our-remarkable-rwandan-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/in-honour-of-our-remarkable-rwandan-women\/","title":{"rendered":"In honour of our remarkable Rwandan women"},"content":{"rendered":"

{{Dignified Rwandan woman,}}<\/p>\n

It has been more than half a century, yet we remember you vividly.
\nThe many who were taken away from us, and the last few, who in our darkest times,
\nBeautifully drew from the deepest roots of our culture,
\nTo keep their families together, and to nurture an abiding love and patriotism for our nation.<\/p>\n

You inspired us to aim for more, to do more, to never lose hope.
\nYou kept a candle lit in our darkest times, your star never dimmed in the starkest night.
\nHistory will always praise the sacrifices you consented for your communities,
\nYour selflessness was not in vain.
\nThe generation of sons and daughters you bore and raised, made the ultimate sacrifice,
\nAnd shouldered the task of building a new and dignified nation.
\nWe shall never forget the high price that was paid, to be who we are today.<\/p>\n

Investing in the future of your children became the purpose of your lives.
\nWe are forever indebted to you.
\nWe will forever be grateful and rejoice in your achievements.
\nWe will draw pride and lessons from every obstacle you overcame.
\nThis land will see the peace, respect, and dignity all her sons and daughters deserve.<\/p>\n

{{Remarkable Rwandan woman,
\n}}<\/p>\n

You are truly remarkable, Rwandan woman!
\nYour essence is made of strength and courage is what defines you.
\nFor our history is filled with brave women of all ages
\nWho refused to be complicit in tearing apart our country,
\nThey were not bystanders to injustice and violence.
\nInstead they made the difficult, but right choice.<\/p>\n

From the Nyange school girls who paid the ultimate price with their lives,
\nRefusing to be separated along ethnic lines,
\nTo the wives who stood up against their husbands,
\nAnd refused to stay silent in the face of the crimes they committed.
\nWomen like Rose, who for years believed in sectarian ideology
\nBut ultimately freed herself from divisive politics.
\nOr the women raised by those who carefully planned, and executed the genocide,
\nWho finally broke the cycle of perpetual hatred from one generation to another,
\nTo all of those who now call themselves, proud daughters of Rwanda.
\nPowerful woman, we honour you.<\/p>\n

{{Beloved Rwandan woman,}}<\/p>\n

We honour you,
\nThe widows, who despite your aching hearts,
\nFormed new families and cherished the genocide orphans
\nWho longed for your warm motherly love,
\nEarning the endearing name, \u201cLes Mamans Affection,\u201d
\nFor finding in yourselves the courage to give some more,
\nAfter so much had been taken away from you.
\nYou are much more than a mother, wife, sister, and daughter.<\/p>\n

{{Dignified, remarkable, beloved Rwandan woman,}}<\/p>\n

You are the matriarch, pioneer, leader, descended from greatness,
\nWho holds up high the torch that lights the way for others to follow.
\nYou pave the way and weave the thread to those who need to hear your stories,
\nSo they too, will know that within them, lie the tools to resilience.<\/p>\n

Through your passion, you engaged us
\nThrough your words, you educated us
\nThrough your actions, you empowered us<\/p>\n

I speak from the heart, when I say that we are proud of you.
\nYou are the rock upon which we have built our foundation.
\nYou have now reclaimed your rightful place among the leaders of our country.
\nUnwavering and firm, you lift up your song in synchrony
\nWith that of your brothers\u2019 chorus, which for too long
\nHad been missing your soft yet, powerful voice.<\/p>\n

Never does the word NO stop you from pushing onto new frontiers
\nFor without your determination, who would the younger ones look up to?
\nFor through you, future generations will know that a woman\u2019s worth is equal to any man\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Now and always, we pay tribute to you.<\/p>\n

{{ {Her Excellency Mrs Jeannette Kagame is the First Lady of the Republic of Rwanda.<\/p>\n

This tribute to the remarkable Rwandan women was first published in the April\/May 2016 edition of Forbes Woman Magazine.} }}<\/p>\n

\"Jeannette<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{{Dignified Rwandan woman,}} It has been more than half a century, yet we remember you vividly. The many who were taken away from us, and the last few, who in our darkest times, Beautifully drew from the deepest roots of our culture, To keep their families together, and to nurture an abiding love and patriotism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[519],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-24627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-jeannette-kagame"],"bylines":[{"id":519,"name":"Jeannette Kagame","slug":"jeannette-kagame","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":519,"name":"Jeannette Kagame","slug":"jeannette-kagame","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24627"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=24627"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=24627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}