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by Xinhua writer Wu Zhiqiang

NAIROBI Raphael Guerreiro Portugal Camisola , June 19 (Xinhua) -- My journey to Rwanda began well before my arrival in the country, online.

I filed my application on the website of the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration (DGIE) on a Tuesday, and received almost immediate confirmation that it would be processed within three days.

By Friday evening, however, the tracking page still said the status of my application was pending.

I was forced to put off my flight scheduled for Saturday.

Meanwhile, I also sought help from the live-chat section on Irembo, the country's e-government portal. Irembo means "gateway" in the local Kinyarwanda language.

My helper online, called Neza Fabio Coentrao Portugal Camisola , told me to "kindly contact" the immigration authorities at the three email addresses listed on the DGIE website.

It was on the seventh day after my submission that a notice of approval was emailed to me.

My trip to Rwanda was off to a somewhat disappointing start, or at least not as smooth as initially expected.

After a full nine days in Rwanda, however, I have come to realize that my experience with the online visa application process was just a minor hiccup as the country is striving to leave behind its tragic past.

I have also come to appreciate the optimism and confidence in the country's future among many Rwandans and foreigners.

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Twenty-three years ago, Rwanda experienced one of the darkest chapters in human history. More than 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred within 100 days.

"Rwanda is a country of hills, mountains, forests, laughing children Luis Neto Portugal Camisola , markets of busy people, drummers, dancers, artisans and craftsman," reads a plaque at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center.

"We manage to squeeze thousands of hills and eight million people into our 26,338 square kilometers. Our land is rich and fertile, the climate pleasant.

"This has been our home for centuries. We are one people. We speak one language. We have one history.

"In recent times, though Pepe Portugal Camisola , genocide has cast a dark shadow over our lives and torn us apart.

"This chapter is a bitter part of our lives, but one we must remember for those we lost, and for the sake of the future."

Wreaths could be seen at many of the graves at the memorial.

"Interred here are the remains of over two hundred fifty thousand individuals," reads a plaque. "Please respect the sanctity of their final resting place."

Among the photos of genocide victims at the memorial center, located in northern Gisozi, in the Gasabo district of the capital, was one of a teenage girl sitting before a computer monitor.

That monitor, of the cathode ray tube (CRT) type Bruno Alves Portugal Camisola , was similar to that of the first computer I owned, in 1994, about the same time when the Rwandan genocide was unfolding.

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Fidele Ndayisaba, executive secretary of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), was himself a survivor. Some of his brothers were killed in the genocide.

"I witnessed what had happened during the terrible tragedy," he said. "It's not something that I learned from outside."

"It was genocide of proximity... There were people who killed their neighbors, colleagues, friends or schoolmates. There were even people who killed their spouses Rui Patricio Portugal Camisola , their own children, their in-laws, only because they were called Tutsi."

Before being appointed as head of the NURC, a government agency answering directly to President Paul Kagame, Ndayisaba had served as governor of the Southern Province and mayor of the capital, Kigali, and experienced the reconciliation efforts first-hand.

Rwanda has since adopted a policy of single national identity. Citizens are registered simply as Rwandans, with no ethnic or tribal references on their identification papers.

Under a campaign called "Ndi Umunyarwanda Portuguesa Mundial Camisola ," or "I am Rwandan," the government seeks to recover the unity ingrained in its culture and to root out what it describes as divisionism and genocide ideology pursued by colonial rulers and the regimes of the first two republics.

"'Ndi Umunyarwanda' means putting the Rwandan identity above all, above all differences," Ndayisaba said. "It dignifies Rwandans."

"It helps in healing from those different wounds, from the shame of Rwandans who have lost their dignity, those who committed genocide, those who feel ashamed because of being relatives of killers, and survivors who have been victims of what happened."

While stressing the achievements made in the unity and reconciliation efforts Portuguesa Futebol Camisola , Ndayisaba did not shirk from the challenges ahead and the enormity of the long process of recovery.

A 2015 NURC report, Rwanda Reconciliation Barometer, put the country's reconciliation status at 92.5 percent, up from 82.3 percent of five years before.

Ndayisaba attributed the "remarkable progress" achieved by the country in the past two decades to the vision and leadership of President Kagame, who enjoys immense popularity among Rwandans.

"I see a very bright future for this country," he said.

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Ndayisaba's optimism is shared by the Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda, Rao Hongwei.

"A country that gives top priority to education has a great future," Rao said.

Rwanda now offers free universal primary and secondary education Rolando Mundial Camisola , emerging as "one of the top-performing countries in sub-Saharan Africa in education," according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The country's Education Ministry put the net enrollment rate at 97 percent.

"For us, education is the No. 1 issue," Finance and Economic Planning Minister Claver Gatete told us in an interview shortly before presenting the 2017-2018 budget to parliament, which he said would reflect the country's attention to education.

The number of universities has increased significantly, with

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