COVER N. 410 -  RWANDA

Postmark: Kigaly Rwanda 02.02.2024

Posted on the 2nd February; Received on the 21st February 2024

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As I said in the previous entry, this has been a great week in what concerns additions to the countries list, here on the blog.

This time, another African country gets represented, thanks to the generosity and care of Roland, who is also one of those kind souls that always try to surprise me with something out of the ordinary. I can't say how much I love and appreciate to open my letterbox and seeing there's something from Roland inside, for a great many times, this means another tick in the "not to be expected" list. Un très grand merci, Roland, pour tous les plis fantastiques qui m'ont été parvenus d'origines vraiment inhabituels!

Rwanda... echoes of one of the most horrendous genocide in later years, when,  hundreds of thousands of  Tutsi  some sources say in excess of half a million, were systematically murdered by their fellow Hutu countrymen 1994, during a 100 day period, in the course of a civil war between the two ethnic groups that had began in 1990, while the world stood by watching, mostly...

Today Rwanda is at peace, but ruled  quite autocratically as a rapid consultation to the Human Rights Watch site allows us to confirm. The scars of the hell people went through 25 years ago must also be hard to totally heal, although efforts have been made to promote reconciliation, these having included an interesting form of traditional community courts, called Gacaca, through which local elected judges trialled suspects of crimes not including the planning of genocide. According to a report from the UN, dated of March 2012,  these had by then trialled 1.2 million cases since 2005, having decidedly contributed to the promotion of reconciliation through the opportunity they represented to offenders to be again reintegrated into the community.

Peace is a key factor for development, and the latest available figures for  GDP growth in Rwanda indicate a 8.2% increase in 2022, following a 10.9 jump in the previous year, tourism being probably the main  driver of this growth. It should also be noted that Gorilla watching is the most important factor in tourism growth, what says a lot regarding the importance of peace, conservationism and sustainability.

Stamps, Left to right:

- The two stamps on the left side of the envelope are part of a five stamp set (34; 300; 500; 600; 1000 Rwandan Francs) issued on 15NOV2010, dedicated to Rwandan arts and culture. Basket weaving and traditional dancing were the themes chosen to illustrate them.

- I've already mentioned the importance that the Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) has for tourism catchment for Rwanda, so it comes as no surprise that they should equally be featured on a set of four stamps (30; 40; 2000; 5000 RWF), also issued on 15NOV2010.

It seems that 1989 was declared as  the Year of Rural Organization in Rwanda, this having led to Rwanda's Postal Administration issuing a set of four stamps (10; 70; 90; 200 RWF) dedicated to the theme, the 90 Franc stamp having been used on this cover.

- Norman Rockwell (1894 - 1978) is a well known American painter and illustrator, famous for his illustrations of the everyday life of common people.

On 11MAY1981, the Rwanda Postal services issued an eight stamp set ( 20; 30; 50 cents; 1; 8; 20; 50; 70 RWF) reproducing several of the artist's illustrations.  "The clown" is the title of that on the stamp on  the cover which, like many of Rockwell's works, was used on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, in this particular case on the cover of the 26 May,1923 issue.

The Postmark indicates that the cover was mailed from the capital, Kigali.