It is a classic African song in “The Lion King”, it goes,
Doctor, Colonel, Minister, Ambassador, Senator, Elder Karemera was a special man. If only, his numerous titles, ranks and accolades, just indicate that all he started; he finished; with excellence!
We owe our return from exile to special men of this caliber who offered their youth, their lives, so that what’s written be fulfilled, namely: the reunification of the banyarwanda people and the recreation of the Rwandan nation.
He was my friend, one of my mentors. He had been battling the disease for a long time, but even in hospital abroad, he called me often to recount the history of the struggle, to just argue with me and crack jokes. Like all refined Rwandan elders, he was a consummate comedian, happy to laugh about himself with such an explosive and contagious laugh. I’ll hold on to these fond memories of him…
Typically, our president doesn’t preach, he says less to mean more. Whenever that happened I turned to Dr. Karemera to break it down for me. He did more than that, he told me the back story, and presented a special side of President Kagame that most don’t know – the side that’s not in books; the youth side, the human side, and the war commander side.
When the President’s mother passed away, in the Mass to send her off the President recalled how in the middle of the campaign to stop the genocide, his late mother summoned him. “I was rather busy, the President recalls, but she insisted she wanted to see me” So he traveled through the night to meet her in Uganda, she told him: “I know the situation must be hard my son, but do not commit revenge, it is not in our culture. If you do, you will not survive, and that country you are fighting for will never know peace.”
After the mass, Dr. Karemera told me: uzanshake nkubwire ibyo President yavuze (Look for me to elaborate on what the president said). So I went to see him, and he said to me: “when HE came back from meeting his mother, he summoned all the seniors, and gave each one of us the task to follow up on commanders on the battlefield and make sure they do not kill civilians. He put me in charge of Ibingira (Rtd. Four Star General Fred Ibingira). So I told him: “Afande yavuze ngo niwica abasivili azakurasa” (Afande asked me to tell you that if you kill civilians he will shoot you).
I radioed him every hour:
- ‘Ibingira where are you?
- I am in this and this place..
- You remember what we talked about?
- Yes sir”
Afande called me every evening to verify if I had followed up on Ibingira. He did the same with every senior member to report on it. He did so until the genocide was stopped!” That and many backstories he told me, always ending with a laughter.
Chinua Achebe once wrote that anecdotes are the palm oil with which stories are consumed. Retired soldiers get restless sooner, yet they feel as though they need special clearance to write memoirs or make public lectures. So they become storytellers in confidence, fulfilling the african tradition of oral transmission. Doctor Karemera was undoubtedly one of the best griots, with priceless anecdotes, only interrupted by a burst of laughter.
Dr. Karemera is a history maker. He lived a meaningful life; one of service to his people and his country. He has passed on, but his legend will remain. It is well that he rests, after all, retirement doesn’t sit well with revolutionaries, for they are inhabited with a life duty to public service. Instead of slowing down with age, they want to go fast. Retired generals, for instance, complain of civilian drivers, who aren’t as sharp as soldiers…
My generation has had the privilege to live with our elders for thirty years thus far. One of the pleasures of being home, is to live historic times with the people who made history! They gave us a country, they gave us life. There is really no debt owed to us, they paid it in full, with interest; It is us who owe them! We are settled, in our homeland, we are thriving.
We will forever be grateful, and fulfill the promise. We will keep safe this nation entrusted to us, and preserve it on their behalf, so that when the time comes, we too will pass it on to those who come after us. We will speak of our elders gracefully and kindly.
I will miss him. There is a whole chapter in the Rwandan book that evanesced with Elder Karemera’s resting. We ought to be taking notes whenever we speak to these men, for we don’t know how much time we are left with them.
Go well Afande Karemera. It was fun, it was joyous, it was edifying, for the time that it lasted, I cherish every moment of it. I still needed you though, there are stories you didn’t finish…
Thank you for everything you and your comrades have done. Perhaps we do not tell you often how grateful we are, how proud we are. In this world, at this time, there are no people I know of, who live with heroes in their midst; we do, and that makes us special!
Go be with other heroes, greet the ancestors on our behalf. Until we meet again, Afande, tonight we’ll sing in your honor:
The Lion Sleeps tonight..