Rebirth for Rwanda’s Dogs

By Katie Weiner

In the late 1990s, Rwanda felt empty. The Rwandan genocide had left approximately one million dead and many more displaced; reminders of death and loss were everywhere. The violence was brutal, and the human toll was unimaginable — decentralized killing squads used everyday tools like machetes as well as military weapons like grenades to injure and kill innocent civilians. And as the targeted Tutsi population fled, these militias turned to a particularly disturbing weapon: dogs. After genocidal militias trained them to hunt down Tutsis hiding in the bush, Rwanda’s canines developed a taste for human flesh. When the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the army led by now-President Paul Kagame, liberated the country, it found dogs eating bodies as they decomposed in the streets. Dogs had never quite been seen as pets in Rwanda, but now they had become a public health threat. The RPF, as well as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, decided dogs would be shot on sight. And for years after, Rwanda was a country almost without dogs. This absence allowed Rwandans’ memories of dogs as bloodthirsty and dangerous to fester, and the fear felt by traumatized genocide survivors began to spread throughout Rwandan culture, creating a widespread aversion to dogs that had not existed before. Indeed, in the wake of the genocide, dogs became symbols of trauma and violence in Rwanda. This reaction is largely understandable — few would condemn these survivors and their communities for developing an aversion to the creatures who had served as instruments of their trauma. But unfortunately, as dogs did begin to reappear, they were subjected to neglect, abuse, and torture — often by young children who had not been raised to appreciate the animals as sentient, feeling beings.

Today, though, the status of dogs — like so much else in Rwanda — is beginning to transform, at least in Rwanda’s capital. The government has undertaken ambitious development projects, revitalizing Rwanda’s infrastructure and turning Kigali into a modern city. Meanwhile, it has utilized courts, churches, and schools in order to foster a culture of peace and reconciliation and to dissolve the ethnic divisions which played such a central role during the genocide. And as Kigali has become a developed, safe city, it has attracted a growing community of American and European expats — many of whom are dog lovers. This expanding expat community is initiating a shift in Rwandan society, introducing dogs as companions for the first time. Now, just 25 years after the genocide, Kigali’s streets are filled with dogs out for walks with their owners — until recently, an almost unimaginable sight.

Learning to Love

Emmanuel Nshuti is a Rwandan college student and an intern at WAG, a nonprofit focused on finding homes for Kigali’s street dogs. He has one dog: “Her name is Lola — she’s a princess at home,” he said in an interview with the HPR. Nshuti, like most Rwandan kids, was not raised to see dogs as pets. But he loved animals, and when he watched American movies growing up, he saw dogs portrayed as companions and members of the family — not as the killers he had been warned about as a child. And as he has developed his own love for dogs, the effects have radiated out into his family and community.

“My parents initially didn’t like dogs, but once [Lola] got home, they started liking her, buying her things. Now she’s like a grandchild. That’s what my mom and dad call her, their granddaughter. Whenever my mom travels, she brings something back for the dog.” And his neighbors have fallen in love, too: “When people come to my home, they meet Lola … and the next time they call, they’re like, ‘I don’t care about you, how is Lola?’”

Nshuti welcomes this cultural shift, and hais been watching it spread throughout Kigali over the last few years. In his view, it is part of a broader process of post-genocide healing: Genocide survivors have “chosen to continue with life, and they’ve allowed themselves to change their attitude.” And this openness to healing is what makes it possible for them to stop viewing dogs as “this thing that is just the root of all evil, this thing that made the killers discover where they were.” The Rwandan government, with its emphasis on recovery and development, has challenged genocide survivors to forgive their attackers and to remember the past without letting it control the future. And this culture of reconciliation has certainly paved the way in providing survivors with the tools to offer a sort of collective forgiveness toward dogs as well as other humans.

But not everyone is convinced. Ndagiro Pacifique, another Rwandan who works with WAG, told the HPR about how Rwandans react when they hear about his job. Some people, he said, do not understand: “They just think, ‘Why do you care about the animals? Those are just things for people like Westerners, who just have everything, who have had the best life. Who has time for those kind of things?’”

And Pacifique’s critics are not necessarily wrong: This reemerging dog culture has so far been led by expats, who bring with them Western cultural notions around dog ownership that can feel foreign to some Rwandans. It is not just the passage of time and emphasis on reconciliation that have allowed Rwanda’s dogs to make their comeback, but Kigali’s explosion as a hub for Americans and Europeans.

Culture Clash?

In fact, WAG, the organization Nshuti and Pacifqiue work for, was founded by a Canadian. “Although it’s changing more and more, right now our adoptions are probably about 60 to 70 percent foreigners, and the rest is Rwandans. And the Rwandans that are adopting are also agreeing to love their animals in a very Western sense where they’re companions, they’re part of the family, they’re not just animals,” WAG’s founder, Frances Klinck, told the HPR.

The growing presence of Western culture in Rwanda has played a crucial role in driving this shift: Young Rwandans like Nshuti watch American movies which celebrate dogs and see expats finding joy and companionship through pet ownership, and this messaging contradicts the negative stories they have been told about dogs. Shifting perceptions of dogs in Rwanda, then, reflect broader dynamics around Westernization and development in Rwanda. The “Singapore of Africa,” Rwanda is quickly modernizing, leaving behind its historical reputation as a poor, divided nation. And as the country’s socioeconomic status changes, inevitably so does its culture. Of course, part of the shift is economic: As Rwandans become wealthier, they can afford to keep pets for companionship in a way that may not have been financially viable. But more fundamentally, changing conditions in Rwanda seem to have paved the way for greater cultural exchange with the West, which is in turn driving this rise in dog ownership.

Particularly given the sensitive role dogs played in Rwanda’s history and the traumatic memories of dogs many Rwandans have, this dynamic can be challenging. Cultural “exchange” between Africa and the West too often takes the form of Western cultural imposition — colonial subjugation relied on and perpetuated a problematic and unfounded hierarchy which privileged Western cultures over African ones, and this dynamic continues to shape Western interactions with Africa today. Ultimately, navigating this tension requires historical perspective, as well as humility and empathy, from Kigali’s expats.

Asked whether he thought Rwandans resented this influx of dog-loving expats or the new cultural perspectives on dog ownership they brought, Nshuti responded that he did not. “It’s not that [Rwandans] in our culture hate hate dogs like in other places … if people do not take good care of their dogs, it’s just because they don’t see it as a pet, but if someone else wants to, it’s not a bad thing — I’d say that’s the attitude here.” Thus while expats are welcome to treat their own dogs as family members or companions — and while some Rwandans, like Nshuti, are adopting these practices too — it is crucial that Western visitors avoid ever judging or condemning Rwandans’ historical lack of pet culture, which is as peculiar and counterintuitive to many Rwandans as Rwandan norms might be to these Westerners. The key difference here is between cultural exchange and cultural imposition: Organizations like WAG create an avenue for Rwandans interested in Western-style pet ownership, but do not expect Rwanda’s culture to change to accommodate their values.

And this is why Rwandan dog lovers like Nshuti and Pacifique have such an important role to play. They not only act as a bridge between organizations like WAG and Rwandan communities, but challenge the notion that something as pure as love of animals can be unique to a particular culture. And in helping open up space for Rwandans to view dogs as pets — as Nshuti and Lola do with every visitor who comes by — they help create more widespread acceptance for the work WAG does and the values it represents. By relying on and supporting the Rwandans already working to rehabilitate dogs in the minds of their families and communities, WAG demonstrates its commitment to culturally sensitive approaches to animal welfare and dog adoption.

One Sunday in July, WAG hosted an adoption event at a coffee shop in Kigali. The coffee shop, Question, is part of a social enterprise aimed at supporting women coffee farmers; it is a favorite spot for many of Kigali’s residents and a stop on The New York Times’ 36 Hours in Kigali itinerary. That day, prospective adopters and dog owners, Rwandans and expats alike, chatted while rescue dogs played on the grass. Artisans sold homemade dog collars decorated with local kitenge fabrics. It was a relatively unremarkable afternoon, and yet it would have been unimaginable just 20 years ago, before Rwanda’s almost incomparable socioeconomic recovery began. And as Rwanda continues to change in the coming years, it will also continue to navigate the social and cultural questions raised by a growing expat population and a shifting economic situation — though it seems, for now, that the dogs are there to stay.

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