These Start-up Exile Nations

After comparing the Holocaust and Rwanda’s Genocide commemoration, another powerful parallel emerges: the role of refugees. Today, you’d never know that less than twenty years ago, nearly 40% of Rwandans had been refugees or the children of refugees. Between 1959-1994, seven hundred and fifty thousand Tutsis were chased across Rwanda’s borders by government-sponsored pogroms. Immediately following the 1994 genocide, two MILLION Hutus fled to neighboring Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) for fear of Tutsi retaliation. But by 1998, almost all refugees, Tutsi and Hutu alike, had returned to the land of their forefathers.

United Nations map of Rwandan Refugee Population Centers, circa December 1994.

Nothing about Rwanda seems like a nation of strangers. On the contrary, Jamie and I have been struck by how ubiquitous the combination of altruism and patriotism is here and the sincerity with which so many Rwandans seek meaning through building Rwanda. And the quantum leap this country has made over the last twenty years is a personal point of pride of every Rwandan we meet. Rwanda in 1994 showed the horror of what a mob can commit, Rwanda in 2016 shows the potential of what a community can accomplish.

Jews who know their history understand the transformation from exile to prosperity. David’s Kingdom and Solomon’s Temple were built on 440 years of slaves and wanderers’ dreams. In the 20th Century, millions of Jews made homeless and nationless by the Holocaust and freshly minted Arab autocracies came to Israel to build a home that would be everything their last residences were not. History will ultimately judge their success, but there is much to celebrate.

Jewish refugees from Arab countries prepare for life in the new State of Israel, courtesy of the Henry Jackson Society.

There are myriad reasons why Israel quickly ascended from nascent state to a military, educational, technological and cultural force and there are as many reasons that Rwanda is in the midst of an historic trajectory towards a 21^st century African success. But their success’ secret sauce may be how both countries’ allowed their refugees to catalyze progress.

How does a gathering of refugees, the supposed wretched of the Earth, spark success? From conversations I have had with Rwandan and Israeli friends, co-workers and educators who were refugees or well studied on refugees, I have very unscientifically observed three indicative adaptations many (certainly not all) refugees use towards self-preservation: striving, community facing, and self-supporting.

Refugees are made to feel less than their neighbors, who are citizen while they are aliens. Citizens feel shame or pride for their country, but refugees cannot feel either, deprived of the dignity of belonging. Instead they inherit a humiliating sense of inferiority that only subsides after a life of proving one’s worth.

A standard modus operandi for governments hosting refugees includes neglecting to provide basic services and to actively block refugees from educational and employment advancement opportunities. Therefore, most refugees learn quickly that all they have is each other. This heavy interdependence breeds deep fidelity to the community and builds a dense network of connectivity. In other words, networking is not a professional tactic; it’s a survival strategy.

Even counting on the strength of their community normally does not give refugees much control their own destiny. They cannot get a legitimate job, grow food, or dig a well since the country’s opportunities and natural resources are not meant for them. They are forced to subsist on the charity of others, which quickly metastasizes into a culture of dependence, which changes charity into poison. Consequently, once they reclaim self-reliance, refugees are loath to ever concede it again.

Inauguration of the Center of Excellence for Horticultural Development in Rwanda, courtesy the Foreign Ministry of Israel.

The constant striving to prove self-worth, the thick connectivity among community members, and the deep desire for true autonomy drove forward Israel and Rwanda. There is something distinctively familiar floating in the air here in Rwanda, a “chalutzic” gust that blows through both the Judean hills and this “Land of a Thousand Hills.” The chalutzim were early Jewish pioneers who toiled to build Israel’s foundations, reinvigorating local agriculture, founding the first modern Hebrew city, Tel Aviv, and even resurrecting the spoken language of Hebrew. They placed their lives in service of rebuilding their country from almost nothing.They would fit in very well in Rwanda.

The government is remarkably focused on lifting Rwanda out of poverty. Shopkeepers, cab drivers, entrepreneurs and high school students all have an opinion on how to reduce Rwanda’s dependency on foreign aid. Teens profess their dreams, not to be millionaires, but to start businesses that create jobs. On the first Saturday of every month, all Rwandans are expected to join members of their neighborhood or village to do public works, from planting trees to sweeping the streets. I have spent the last two weeks working with local women to help to launch the Akilah Women’s Institute Alumnae Association. The young women I speak to are nearly unanimous that the association’s goal should not be focused on helping alumnae, but on organizing alumnae to serve Rwandan women at large.

An ancient motif is that great leaders must go forth into the wilderness before leading their people. Moses sojourned to Midian before taking Israel out of Egypt. Jesus fasted in the desert before his final passion. Mahatma Gandhi practiced law in South Africa before taking up the banner of Indian independence. Nelson Mandela sat like Buddha in a prison cell for twenty-seven years before ending Apartheid.

But what about when a people, not a person, treks through the wilderness? Today’s zeitgeist dictates that they become a smoldering oven of hatred and violence. In Jordan, Serbia, Pakistan, Chad, etc. we have seen refugee centers turned into petri dishes of extremism. But Israel and Rwanda bare witness to what can be accomplished through ingathering the dispersed. These start-up exile nations are instructive to dealing with a swelling global refugee crisis. All in highly different circumstances, these three countries show how to unleash people’s drive, creativity and compassion by giving them the opportunity to work towards success. In doing so, the nationless of today can be the remedy to, not a source of, global woes. Someone ought to remind Donald Trump that America’s success and vitality comes from a similar recipe.