Our Treasured Children

Below is an account of a recent field trip that our English teacher, Tonia Kaufman did for the children of Sisters of Rwanda. Tonia is from the UK and has been doing a tremendous job teaching English at the Treasure Center, as well as helping out with daily operations. And she’s an excellent writer as well!

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This Saturday, 3rd February, 28 children from the Sisters of Rwanda English class – virtually the entire class, excluding two children whose father did not agree to their participation – went out for the afternoon.

I was amazed to see that under the right circumstances these children could all, not only arrive on time, but actually arrive early! By 2pm they were all seated excitedly on the grass outside of the Treasure Centre. At 2:30pm Jane (the English -Kinyarwanda translator) arrived with a minibus taxi and, wild with anticipation, the crowd of children piled in before we’d even had the chance to collect in their consent forms, signed by their mothers. One mischievous boy – not one of our students – had managed to sneak aboard. After sending this impostor out of the vehicle, off we drove to Hotel La Pallise in the Kanombe district of Kigali - not more than ten minutes drive from the Treasure Centre here in Remera.

On arrival at the hotel, we walked through the leafy gardens until reaching our own private area of table-clothed tables and chairs, congregated beneath a canvas roofing. The children sat in silence, not quite knowing what lay in store for them on this special day. As we waited, we reviewed what we had been learning in this previous week’s lessons: “What is this? This is a boy. What is his name? His name is Dusenge. How many boys are there here?” etc. I could see that they had fully grasped this subject and were ready to move onto something new in the next lesson.

After some time, the servers as well as the hotel manager arrived to feed these 28 unsuspecting children. But before they had had the chance to distribute any of the food onto the white china plates; the rain fell in a wild and dramatic downpour.

We moved the tables hastily towards the middle of the canopy; the servers holding up their olive-green tablecloth as a shield against the intruding torrent. Some of the rain was squirting in through small holes in the roofing and table-cloths were worn, wrapped over heads and shoulders, to protect against this new blistery wind. I lead a lively rendition of the “A-B-C-D Alphabet Song”: over and over we sang it, each time a little quicker, giggling as we went.

Finally the rain subsided enough for us to relax in our seats. The plates were handed around: each one offering a skewered kebab and two halves of a grilled potato. The children were very happy as they munched away, dipping their food into the dollop of mayonnaise that had been plopped onto each of our plates. Jane and I were lucky enough to eat too in the absence of two of our students.

The food was nice and, by the children’s glowing faces, they too had enjoyed it. I cannot explain the luck that we then had: the rain ceasing completely. What perfect timing! 28 of Kigali’s children then sprinted enthusiastically towards the playground that lay hidden on the other side of the trees, across the stream. It was not that pleasant a walk though through the swampy grass to join them.

For one hour, they swung and spun and slid on the circus of yellow and green metal, screaming out to me “Teacher! Teacher!” as they played. They all wanted to be in front of the camera and to be pushed by their extra-curricular “muzungu” English teacher. They had a lot of fun – especially pushing me up higher and higher on the swing, until I actually felt rather scared!

Just before leaving the park, when they no doubt believed that their day could get no better; out came 30 bottles of soda. They all wanted a passion fruit juice when they realised that that was their teacher’s choice. Kids; aren’t they adorable! We took them for a brief peek at the kiddie swimming pool, which had been my original choice for this afternoon’s excursion. They all agreed that they would love for that to be their next outing – whenever Sisters of Rwanda can find sufficient funds to take its children out again.

After relocating our briefly lost child, Umutoni, back into the minibus we climbed. The ride home was a jubilous affair: 28 Rwandese children, singing out in their native language, songs that celebrated their joy and their love of God. The people outside looked on in wonder as we passed them by on our merry way home.

Tonia Kaufman, Sisters of Rwanda English Teacher