The cats and dogs have forgiven each other what is wrong with you
 
2008-03-02 09:33:37
By Rose Mwalongo

I recently went to visit some of the refugees` camps and came across some of the most horrific tales one could imagine. So horrific were the tales that I felt the need to remind all how harmful hatred can be.

Story had it that a brother and sister from the Tutsi in Burundi fled to the country and stayed with their host.

While in the country, another guy from that same country fled and took shelter in that same house. This time, the guy was a Hutu.

Life seemed to go on with the three tolerating each other until one day something happened which shocked the lady of the house, and has shocked me, not to mention that it will shock all of those reading this story.

The Hutu guy fell in love with the Tutsi lady and the opposite was true. Things got so serious that the two decided to get married.

One thing remained unclear though, that is the Hutu guy had to talk to their host to break the good news.

The host however said she could not comment anything but called the brother instead to witness as the two declared the love for each other.

You should have been there to hear what the Tutsi brother said. I will try to use the quote for I have no choice.

``I may be a refugee but my status is still the same, I am Tutsi. I would rather marry my sister myself than allow this d** to marry her.`` Sadly that was what he told the guy who would have been his brother-in-law.

The strong message of hatred bothered the lady of the house so much that the following morning she ordered the two Tutsis to leave the house. She could not understand how on earth someone would be so abusive and prejudiced towards the other.

Dear readers I recently went to visit refugees camps in Ngara, Kibondo and Kasulu and what I heard there made me wonder how much hatred some people have for each other.

For instance most of the Burundian refugees were afraid to go back home simply because someone hated them so much that they promised to kill them whenever they see them around.

I have also come across stories involving the Luos and Kikuyus in Kenya and they all have a story to tell that is hatred. The problems always arise from one tribe feeling superior to the other and the other refusing to accept inferiority.

At the end of the day the other one tends to declare that enough is enough and when that does happen, what we see is ethnic clashes and slaying each other.

I am an ardent advocate of human rights and I believe in the divine power. From my understanding tribes are only part of the human beliefs but in God\'s eyes we all are human from a single tribe.

That being the case how can you hate another human being with the excuse that they come from another tribe? What is in the tribe really?

What`s love got to do with it? It never ceases to amaze me whenever I come across parents or relatives denying their daughters or sons to marry someone they are in love with simply because they are from a certain tribe.

The cats and dogs have forgiven each other what is wrong with us? So sang the late Lucky Dube and he meant well indeed.

I call upon all those who look at others with the tribal eye to change it once and for all.

Those of you feeling that a certain tribe is superior to the other should stop because at the end of the day, no tribe is superior to God as we are all inferior in front of our maker. Let love and peace prevail in Burundi and Kenya.

• SOURCE: Sunday Observer