The Interviews

Photo by Beth Brewer in Busanza, Rwanda

One of the initiatives of the Kingdom Gate School in Busanza is to create more of a public presence for global awareness and support. This was an area I got to be a part of, building a personal profile of the students attending the school to give outsiders a more tangible picture.

This was a very special experience for me, as I got the opportunity to more personally acquaint myself with the 42 young faces of Kingdom Gate.

I sat down with a teacher who helped to translate, and I had a bank of questions to get a closer look into the child's personality, interests and dreams.

What is your name?
How old are you?
How many siblings do you have?
What is your favorite subject in school?
What do you like to do while at home?
What is your favorite color? animal? song? food? game to play? holiday?
Interesting thing about you.
What do you dream of becoming when you grow up?

I found a lot of answers were similar across the board with the students, while a few children's responses were significant and memorable. Some of the things they said made me sad, some made me think, some offered hope.

The children enjoyed a range of subjects at school, drawing was a popular one while music class, languages and math were among some of the favorites as well.

When asked what the kids liked to do at home, across the board, 100% of the students named a favorite chore. Washing dishes, cleaning shoes, washing cups, sweeping the floor, helping mother to cook, washing clothes, carrying siblings, peeling potatoes, and making bed were amongst the repeated list of chores the students named as their favorite hobby at home. The only deviance was one child added that he also like to sleep.

As I heard this over and over, I couldn't tell if I was impressed by the obedience and sense of responsibility at such a young age, or if I was sad that they weren't naming different games, sports or imaginary activities their playful young minds would get lost in. Probably mostly the latter.

I countered this by asking them what their favorite game at school to play was, knowing play time was worked into the daily schedule. The vast majority said playing anything that included a ball, but most specifically, football. Others named a few games their teachers played with them, like Red Rover, "Ms. Ryan" or "Doggie where is your bone?" A few kids simply said their favorite game was jumping.

There was a lot of similarities as I asked them some of their favorite things. Favorite foods was typically, rice, potatoes and meat, or occasionally they would say "chips," which are like potato wedges. Pretty much every child said their favorite animal was a butterfly, a few goats made the list. A lot of children really had interests in singing and dancing, so every now and then I got to witness a few sweet moments of them standing up and singing a song to me with a coordinated dance to go along.

The most interesting revelation I had during these interviews, was getting to listen to their dreams. I am not sure what I was expecting to hear, but I was pleasantly surprised with many big dreams the children had. Doctors, teachers, soldiers, police men and women, Presidents, pirates, pilots, becoming "Miss World," and a handful of children's dream was to one day drive a car.

The top answer was Doctor, then soldier, then police men and women. I was told that the children's knowledge of the genocide through stories paints these figures as the heroes, and this shapes their dreams in many ways.

I also wondered, if their dreams had evolved throughout their time at Kingdom Gate, if perhaps they started to believe in bigger possibilities due to the moral support and academic growth provided.

Of course, the few who wanted to simply drive a car, brought reality back into perspective as I recognized how in a country where only the rich westerners are taxied around in a car, while the others walk miles for water and work, it would be considered a dream to arrive at that point one day.

One of my favorite interviewees was a 6-year-old girl named Chanella, she was very talkative and would start sharing and end up on a whole other topic level, like talking about a dream she once had. She was unique, and her answers to my questions revealed this. Some of her favorite things to do at home was to help her dad, and she explained the many ways how. She said she likes to be in all situations. At school, she loves "reading and learning more and more," she also said she likes "to help others to learn well." Her dreams are the best. She said she wants to "run the country one day, be a leader in Rwanda, make lots of money and give teachers a lot of money. And then I want to be a teacher, a doctor, a policeman, a soldier, and the President," Chanella said.

I loved witnessing these children dream, because I believed the words coming out of their mouth, no matter how far off or imaginative they seemed. They believed the words they said, and that was humbling.

God continually points us to look at the nature of children and be like them. I can see why, their hopes and dreams aren't tainted by circumstances, they see through circumstances with a confident peace and assurance. They live off of unfiltered hope. We could all take wisdom from the optimistic sight within a child's view.