Living Arts
An Orphan’s Life
by Gabriel Constans, PhD
If it isn’t difficult enough to be a teenager, try growing up in a country that just over 14 years ago experienced one of the worst genocides in African history and combine that with having both of your parents die from AIDS when you are only 15 years of age. That’s the life into which Franco Gakwaya was born, but it is not the end of the story.
Rwanda is in East Africa, adjacent to Lake Kivu and bordered by the countries of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. It is a land-locked nation, known as the “land of a thousand hills” for its rolling iron-rich red landscape, fertile fields and volcanic mountains. Some of the rarest species of mountain gorillas live within its northern borders and chimpanzees are protected in national parks in the east.
Even though Rwanda is now a bustling and successful country that is providing health care, education, jobs and economic growth to it citizens, most people only know about the 1994 genocide, in which a million people were killed by their neighbors over a 30-day period. It was horrible and still affects every single Rwandan.
The AIDS pandemic has also touched Rwanda. As a result, there are thousands upon thousands of orphaned and vulnerable children. In the last ten years, many of these children have been placed in foster homes, orphanages or boarding schools, but far too many still roam the roads and live on the streets. Franco is one of those who found a new place to call home, an orphanage called El Shaddai. El Shaddai is located in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, the most densely populated country per square mile in all of Africa.
“We sleep four to a bunk for the older boys,” says Franco, “and six for the younger smaller kids.” (This breaks down to two to three on the top and two to three on bottom.) “We get up around 6:30 in the morning to start our day, say our prayers, get dressed, bathe, and brush our teeth. By 7:30, breakfast is ready,” Franco explains. “It’s usually a porridge cooked in soy oil. It contains beans, salt and vegetables from our garden. Sometimes we get to have eggs, chicken or rabbit from the animals we raise for our morning or evening meal.”
Franco says that after breakfast they all attend school. He started out in “catch-up” (primary) school at El Shaddai when he first got off the streets, but now attends secondary school at a public learning center.
Franco is presently a Senior Four in secondary school (equivalent of being a senior in high school). He recently got the highest grade on national exams in his school (for his grade level) and was accepted into a vocational school. He wants to attend university and “become an engineer.”
“After school,” Franco grins, “we have some free time before the evening meal to hang out with friends, play games and study. I like to play football (soccer), rugby, and watch the news on TV. I like everyone at El Shaddai, but my best friends are Dady Hakizimana, John Hakizimana and Daniel Nadambe.
“I don’t see myself as an orphan anymore, but as someone with opportunity and hope,” Franco explains. “Like the classrooms at El Shaddai...when they are empty it is just a room. But when you put benches, students and teachers together, a lot can happen. People come together and learn. My life was empty, but now it is full.”
“After our evening meal, we study some more and watch TV or a video donated from overseas,” Franco concludes. “Around 9p.m., we go to bed.”
“If I could study all night and not sleep I would, but it’s important to rest,” the wizened 18-year-old laughs. “I have many hopes for the future. The past can be full of pain and some are not as lucky as I have been. I know there are thousands of children like me all over the world. I am not alone in my suffering. I live in a good country and now have parents again. I want to have peace with everyone here and everywhere.”
For more information on The Rwandan Orphans Project, visit www.rwandanorphansproject.org. To contact Gabriel Constans, visit www.gogabriel.com.