A Trip Back in Time

As we traveled from Kigali to Takwe the other day and observed the differences between the city and the country, it occurred to me that it was as if we were traveling back in time. I even felt like I was traveling back in my own ancestral history, to my great grandparent's and grandparent's lives. The first clue was seeing little boys running down the road after rolling wheel rims. I hope someone got a picture of that--I've only seen that in old-time picture books before. The people in Takwe and most of the rural areas are subsistence farmers, much the same as my great grandparents when they emigrated to the US in the 1890's. Farming families in Rwanda are facing some of the same issues that my German ancestors faced as they continued to divide their land between their many children, generation after generation. Eventually, there's not enough to divide any more. That caused the six oldest children in one branch of my family to leave Germany for America, leaving the six youngest children behind. In Rwanda, the government has a goal to create jobs in rural areas in order to reduce the number of people doing agricultural work by 50%.

I met the two children I sponsor through Food for the Hungry, Catheline and Eric, and their families. It's hard to describe those visits. They were so happy to see us, probably even moreso the adults. One adult said that it was wonderful to have us visiting them and it was because of their children that we were there. I think that helps them attribute more value to their children, in a culture where that isn't always common. Their homes are extremely basic, but so very clean. (The whole country is very clean; we learned that on the last Saturday of the month, EVERYONE over the age of 10 takes the day to clean their home or a common area. This is one of the government's initiatives to promote unity among all people.) The homes are built around a courtyard, with the living space on one side, a kitchen on the other and animal stalls on the other. Catheline's family had a cow and a pig, which is really significant. We learned that it only takes a couple of years after getting a cow before the family is able to get ahead a little bit, either by selling milk or calves. Also, the cow manure adds fertilizer to their fields and increases the crop yield. Then they're able to put some money aside for the future instead of literally living hand to mouth. Both families raise sweet potatoes, beans, bananas and cassava. Eric's grandfather told me that it was hard to farm there because it was either too hot or not enough rain or too much rain. Because I told him that my grandfather was a farmer, he asked me if conditions were better in the US, and I had to chuckle and tell him that it was exactly the same in the US--you have to have a lot of faith to be a farmer :-)