Children in Rwanda

These children captivated my guide, David, and me on our last day in the north. We had driven up to an eco hotel with good views of the twin lakes and had found a bench to sit on that offered lovely panaramic views of the lakes and the mountains and farms surrounding it. We were a few hundred meters up the mountain and there were farms below us, down a very steep hill. David and I talked for a few minutes when sudenly two children appeared out of nowhere and began chatting us up. They had climbed up an incline that was at least 85 degrees, in barefeet. Within minutes and hand full of children appeared and more continued to come until we had a small crowd.


David began asking them about school and their dreams for the future and then he asked them if knew any songs, which of course they did, and so we were serenaded for a bit. Dancing followed and then it was time for us to leave.

David remembered he had brought some pencils for village children so we said we would go to the car and then return with a little surprise for them. When we returned five minutes later, the children were no where to be seen. But as we approached the bench there were shouts, it seemed from all over the valley below as the children informed david that they had been threatened with a beating if they came back up. Sure enough, two hotel guards appeared and said they children were a nuisance and they had told them to leave and not come back. After David explained that he had some pencils for them, the guards relunctantly agreed to let them come up, as long as they promised to stay away after that. When David told the children they could come back up, a few brave souls came half way up, but when they saw the guards they ran back down screaming. It took about fifteen minutes to conjole them all to come back up (when David asked the guard to throw their switches down, we started to make progress) Eventually, they all came up and David conducted an elaborate method of doling out the pencils and the kids, so appreciative, vowed to stay away form the hotel and study hard. Then the scampered down the steep hill.

You can see that they are dressed in rags, and some had clear signs of malnutrition. They all had professional careers in mind (doctors, lawers, engineers) for their futures. Their good cheer and hopefulness belied their dire living conditions