The limits of Human Influence
I grew up with Dasa.
With Dasa, Ishaya, and their siblings.
In our family home in the north of Nigeria, they were our neighbors, but more accurately an extension of family.
When my mum would have her legendary fiery outbursts of discipline, sometimes resulting in sending any of my siblings out of the inner courtyard, Dasa’s Mum would come to the rescue. She would tell their Nanny to call whoever it was for a hot meal and a comfortable resting place until my Dad came home to broker a truce.
We played often with Dasa and her siblings. We also shared birthday gifts, Christmas meals, children’s pranks .. everything.
I remember this as I recently visited Kigali and had to check off the customary visit to the Genocide Memorial. See, I’ve tried to avoid everything related to this story; the movies — Hotel Rwanda and co. I’m a descendant of Parents who had witnessed the Biafran war. I had been inundated with the stories of war and the after-effects and was not ready to deal with anything related.
As I slowly navigated the halls, I just couldn’t, still can’t fathom taking your neighbor’s life.
Dasa’s ...or any of her siblings. Like how? Why!
I’m sure the people who belonged to the assailing tribe might have felt like this previously — like no one could turn them so viciously against their loved neighbors. So what changed? How did it change?
I continued exploring those halls of horror, trying to understand what could have brought about this degree of carnage. It struck me that the initial instigators were insufficient and incapable of unleashing that kind of horror.
They hit jackpot when they were able to convince a large number of ‘normal’ people to join them. I’m not sure they were threatened or coerced. I read the 10 commandments they issued; one of the effective tools they used. So I’m asking — what is the limit of human influence? Is there one? Are there things another human can’t convince us to do?
I think that visit hit the Nigerians in my cohort the most. Our Nation has often romanced with and tethered on the brink of something similar. Maybe we have experienced it already but it was not well-documented like the Rwandan version.
Whatever the case, humans owe it to themselves to limit the influence another human has on them to do irreparable damage. The Kagame-led government deserves all the accolades for the immense progress they’ve made to restore normalcy.
It’s, it’s just a lot to take in.
