First Lady Jeannette Kagame's full speech during the 25th National Prayer Breakfast

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Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:02 Senior government officials,

00:07 executive director of the World Food Programme,

00:10 a friend of Rwanda,

00:13 chairman of the Rwandan Leadership Fellowship,

00:16 I mean, Rwanda Leaders Fellowship,

00:20 distinguished representatives of civil society,

00:23 the private sector and faith-based organisations,

00:27 esteemed friends of Rwanda,

00:30 ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

00:33 [Applause]

00:38 Please allow me to extend the greetings from the President,

00:42 who would have wished to be with you this morning,

00:45 but for reasons beyond his control, he wasn't able to make it.

00:51 Let me begin by wishing you all

00:56 a happy and blessed New Year 2020.

01:01 [Applause]

01:05 I wish an especially warm welcome to those of you

01:08 visiting Rwanda for the first time, the many times.

01:11 Please accept our thanks.

01:14 I'm honoured to be joining you today for the 25th National Prayer Breakfast,

01:19 as we gather in fellowship to renew our hope

01:23 and refuel our love for our nation, its people and our God.

01:30 This year's National Prayer Breakfast is primarily one of thanksgiving,

01:36 to look back and appreciate the journey we have been on,

01:40 reflecting on the aftermath of what we've been through as a nation,

01:44 to harness a culture of gratitude,

01:49 first and foremost to God, and then to those he has used to revive our nation,

01:56 to model best practices and internalise the godly values

02:02 that have brought us this far, and then to pass them on to the next generation.

02:08 [Applause]

02:13 As I was reflecting upon the theme of this prayer breakfast,

02:17 appreciating today while shaping tomorrow,

02:21 I recalled the words of the psalmist recorded in the Bible,

02:26 in the book of Psalms, chapter 40, verse 5.

02:32 "O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.

02:37 Your plans for us are too numerous to list.

02:40 You have no equal.

02:43 If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them."

02:50 Every time we give thanks or show gratitude,

02:55 we are lifted to a higher form of self,

02:58 and we attract even more blessings than we had before.

03:03 Giving thanks to God for who he is, for what he has done,

03:10 and for what he represents in our lives, is intrinsically linked with praising him.

03:17 And praising him is the highest form of worship.

03:21 Our destinies are shaped for the future by our thanksgiving and praise today.

03:27 In fact, it's written that God inhabits our praises.

03:33 But we as writers cannot overemphasize the importance of saying thank you and showing gratitude.

03:41 The sheer magic of uttering that simple phrase,

03:44 thank you to a family member, a colleague, a friend, a stranger,

03:51 this does not cost a cent, but its value is worth millions.

03:58 If you cannot demonstrate gratitude to man, it's rare that you will be able to demonstrate gratitude to God.

04:07 Indeed, as we pause to reflect upon our own journey as Rwandans, we are forever grateful.

04:15 First and foremost, to God for thus far he has brought us,

04:21 and we are thankful to the men and women who God used to liberate our country.

04:30 [applause]

04:35 We challenge the next generation to sustain these gains

04:38 and carry forward the achievement of the last two decades.

04:44 We remind them most solemnly to wear gratitude as a badge of honor,

04:50 for without it, life is void and meaningless.

04:56 Looking back at our history over the past two decades,

04:59 we must also acknowledge the importance of keeping hope alive.

05:04 This four-letter word was always at the tip of our tongues.

05:08 It's passed us on and gave us reason to fight for a better future.

05:13 Living without hope is living without gratitude.

05:21 It's almost synonymous with denying the ability of God to lift us out of our present situations.

05:30 Indeed, in 1994, the world wrote us off as a failed state.

05:38 At the time, very few believed that one day, let alone 26 years later,

05:44 Rwanda would become a high-end tourist destination.

05:49 [applause]

05:54 I can see RDB very happy about that.

05:59 Rwanda would become a high-end tourist destination,

06:01 and that would attract the kind of investment and partnership we see today

06:06 among so many other positive milestones.

06:10 26 years after the genocide against the Tutsi,

06:13 we continue, by the grace of God, to rebuild our nation,

06:17 stone by stone, while creating bridges with valuable friends of Rwanda,

06:23 such as yourselves, who believe, then continue to believe today in us

06:28 and in the transformative leadership with which we have been blessed.

06:34 Brothers and sisters, borrowing from the language of Jesus,

06:40 we must not only show gratitude when things go our way.

06:46 We must also learn to thank God for the challenges we encounter.

06:50 We learn and grow from them every day.

06:55 As a country, we relate with where we were 25 years ago,

07:02 and we do not take for granted that it was very possible for us,

07:06 as a people and a nation, to get stuck in a cycle of conflict,

07:12 poverty, and self-destruction.

07:16 Similarly, on the global stage, there are daunting challenges.

07:21 To echo what the Executive Director of WFP said,

07:25 in the State of the World's Children 2019 report,

07:29 "Growing While in a Changing World,"

07:32 children, food, and nutrition by the UNICEF,

07:36 difficult questions were posed.

07:40 How is it that in the 21st century,

07:43 we still have 149 million children under five with stunting

07:50 and almost 50 million with wasting?

07:54 And why are healthy diets becoming more expensive?

07:58 Why unhealthy, non-nutritious diets are becoming cheaper?

08:04 Furthermore, according to the 2019 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World,

08:09 in the past three years, again, the ED of WFP said it,

08:15 the number of people who suffer from hunger has slowly increased,

08:19 with more than 820 million people in the world still hungry today.

08:25 Another disturbing fact is that about 2 billion people in the world

08:29 experience moderate or severe food insecurity.

08:34 The lack of regular access to nutritious and sufficient food

08:38 that these people experience puts them at greater risk of malnutrition and poor health.

08:45 In the Bible, Jesus calls us to feed everyone.

08:49 So how do we explain that we still witness such unbelievable disparities?

08:56 Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

08:58 I firmly believe that while remaining grateful,

09:01 we must build on the gains of the past years

09:05 and maintain the positive trajectory we have carved out over the years.

09:12 To the question of how did we do it,

09:16 a quick summary would be we set goals and projections,

09:22 placed our faith in God, and got to work.

09:28 Every year, we took a respite to say, "Thank you, God," as we are doing today,

09:34 and he blessed us the more, as I am sure he will continue to do.

09:40 [applause]

09:45 God would use visionary leaders of Rwanda to lead all its people back

09:51 to the land of milk and honey, as we call it here, as they once imagined it.

09:57 A land of unity and reconciliation, inclusive economic growth, peace, and security.

10:05 An unconventional democracy where there is power sharing,

10:09 and the winner does not take it all.

10:11 And most importantly, a land where the genocide ideology is tirelessly fought.

10:18 [applause]

10:22 Indeed, he empowered our leadership to achieve these goals

10:26 through wisdom, courage, and determination.

10:30 May we never cease to express our gratitude for all he has done for us.

10:37 To our distinguished audience, does this mean that tomorrow will be easy

10:42 and with fewer challenges? Not at all.

10:48 But by appreciating today, we are telling God that we trust him for tomorrow.

10:54 [applause]

10:58 That we know that he is with us, and that he will prepare a table before us,

11:05 in the presence of our enemies.

11:08 [applause]

11:14 We all know that setbacks in life are inevitable,

11:18 but because we have demonstrated appreciation for today,

11:21 we will find courage and faith to overcome the setbacks of tomorrow.

11:28 And as we pass the torch to our youth to light the path towards 2050,

11:35 let us remind them that our hopes and dreams for our nation

11:40 have never inclined to a stop line sign.

11:46 [applause]

11:49 The journey continues for them to be more selfless and to work hard

11:55 on achieving even bigger goals than we did for the benefit of our country

12:00 now more than ever before.

12:04 As the Kinyarwanda saying goes, "Uta menyiava na menya iyaja,"

12:11 which means, "Unless you know from where you have come,

12:18 you cannot know where you are going."

12:22 With a thankful heart, move with caution and remember

12:27 to look back and appreciate the journey you have made

12:30 and harness a culture of gratitude, not only to God,

12:34 but also to all those who have helped you along the way.

12:38 Model best practices and internalize the godly values

12:42 that have helped to bring you this far.

12:46 To God be all the glory and honor.

12:50 And with that, I now allow me to dedicate our beloved country, Rwanda.

12:55 [applause]

13:04 And as I end my prayer, please--this now is to David--

13:11 please thank our friends in the house for keeping us in prayers

13:16 and tell them that we love them.

13:20 Grateful for your kind attention and wish you God's blessing.

13:25 [applause]

13:28 [music playing]

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