Abana n'ubwana

Muraho mwese! Well, we made it into 2012. Let's just hope all those conspiracy theorists are wrong and it's not the last hurrah. Indeed, a country like Rwanda has reason to hope that the end is not nigh. That is because they have a huge number of young people. According to the CIA World Factbook, 42.9% of the population in Rwanda is between 0 and 14 years old, and the overall median age in the country is just 18.7 years old. To put those numbers in perspective, consider that in the U.S. only 20.1% of the population is under 15 years old, and the median age is a decidedly old 36.9 years! Of course, I'm sensitive to the differences between the U.S. And Rwanda and working at a school means that I see young people all the time. Even when I leave school, I see babies strapped to their mothers' backs, young kids playing in the road, and I'm greeted with hugs by hordes of bright young faces. So, what do these kids do? How do they live? Perhaps even a better question is what they will do, but I have no insight into that and so will only stick to the first two. Without further ado, here is what I've seen about children and childhood in Rwanda.

When a new baby is born, of course there is a celebration of the birth. Family and friends get together and eat and drink and the baby is given two names, usually one European and one Rwandan (for example Rwema Emmanuel). After the party, however, real life hits. The father has work to do, the mother has work to do, and now there's a baby to take care of. So what do they do? Well, the mother straps the baby on her back, wrapping a towel and sheet around her torso and the baby to hold the young cherub in place. Then, she can go about her work, farming, fetching water and firewood, going to the market, cooking, and cleaning. The only time she has to stop is to breastfeed the baby when it cries out. Otherwise, the baby mostly sleeps and the mother is just carrying around a little bit more weight. This is the way all children spend their lives until the age of about two, and it's such a big part of the culture that I've seen young girls strap dolls or jerry cans to their backs as if they were babies, just like young American girls put dolls in strollers.

Once children get older and off of their mother's back, they start playing with other children, as one would expect. Young children play a lot with bottle caps, little jerry cans, plastic water bottles, and other bits of refuse. I can't say that I know what they play, but I'm sure their games are only limited by their imagination, just as they were by all of us in our early childhood. When children get to around school age, their games begin to become more organized and structured. Gender roles are clearly defined, and there are games that girls play and games that boys play, with generally the only exception being soccer (or football), which is even then only played by older girls. Games are the highlight of the day for most children, and I certainly wouldn't want to be in their way when they charge out of class for recess. It'd be more dangerous than running with the bulls in Pamplona!

For girls, there are essentially two games in my village: taillard (not sure on the spelling) and a clapping game similar to patty cake. In taillard, one girl tries to build a tower of bricks while two girls on either side of her try to get her out before she can complete it by throwing a tennis ball (or other soft ball) at her. If the ball hits the constructor and one of the other girls is able to keep it from leaving the general vicinity, then the girl in the middle is out and a new one comes in. The girl in the middle, if she is hit, can whack the ball away, as far as she can, and then she can continue building and stay in the middle. It's wildly popular, and I've seen many heated arguments break out on the school grounds over this game.

For boys, they wrestle (very popular), do gymnastics (handstands, somersaults, back bends, etc.), play marbles, play football, or run with a stick in their hand pushing a bicycle tire. This last game is, I think, widely practised all over Africa, and the object is simple: keep the tire from falling down. The more skilled boys will saunter along at a slow pace, keeping the tire up over all kinds of rough terrain. At the school, most of the younger boys play the tire game, while older ones play football, and they all do gymnastics and wrestle.

Of course, life isn't all just fun and games; children have responsibilities too. First of all, the most obvious for me is school. Our school begins at 7:20 AM and ends at 5:00 PM for primary students, with an hour-long lunch and a couple of recesses sprinkled throughout the day. With no janitors at school, the students are also responsible for cleaning the classrooms and bathrooms and maintaining the school grounds. Once they leave school, there are plenty of responsibilities at home, real homework if you will. Here, once again, the gender roles are pretty defined. Girls sweep, mop, and do laundry, while boys help out with goats and cows. You can see both boys and girls fetching water with their little jerry cans and sorting beans or helping with other food preparation (though it's mostly girls). All of these duties at home mean that children, in general, are very respectful, and they will almost always do what is asked of them (even though I imagine they grumble about it sometimes).

But, what if they don't do what is asked of them or if they otherwise commit some error? What is their punishment? As it was not so long ago in the U.S. and in many European countries, corporal punishment is still the most commonly applied punishment, and one often hears the phrase ndagukubita (I'm going to beat you). Efforts are being made to change this fact, but of course it is a slow process.

In conclusion, Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills, has a couple thousand youths under the age of fifteen for each of those hills. They're obedient, hard-working, and taught to be responsible from a young age (perhaps more so that a lot of Western children these days). But, give them some free time and they'll play their hearts out, running over anyone who dares to get in their way. Rwanda has a huge resource at its disposal in these millions of young people, and it could make for a promising future.

Happy Birthday this month: Papa, Uncle Mark
Next month's topic: Visiting, the greatest of Rwandan social constructs