\u201cGive me money. I am poor,\u201d the young Rwandan boy said to me. It was not even a question; it was a demand, an expectation.<\/p>\n
A few other Harding students and I were walking to a nearby coffee shop after our last Rwandan church service. We wanted to make sure we were caffeinated before hopping on a motorcycle taxi to pack our bags for our return home.<\/p>\n
For three weeks we had been teaching conversational English with AfricaReads, a nonprofit built by Harding professors to teach English in Rwandan schools. For eight hours a day, we sang and danced around a 90-degree classroom with smiling, energetic elementary students. It\u2019s amazing how many times a group of Kinyarwandan-speaking third-graders can sing \u201cHead, Shoulders, Knees and Toes\u201d without getting tired of it.<\/p>\n
Our students adored their white teachers. They hugged us and held our hands. They would fight over who would get to play \u201cpatty-cake\u201d with us on the playground and played with our mysteriously soft, long hair.<\/p>\n
We would receive several notes throughout the week. They had virtually no school supplies, but sometimes a graph-paper notebook and pencil would appear on a desk. They would use these to write us notes, trying their best to spell our names and express thankfulness in broken English. Several of them read \u201cpeace in America\u201d and other glamorized views of the U.S.<\/p>\n
I found these notes ironic. They did not know about the Civil Rights conflicts, opioid epidemic or heated election that were occurring in the U.S. They did not know about the high rate of suicide or broken families. They only knew there were white people there, and that they had big homes with electricity and running water.<\/p>\n
The closest encounters these children have with the U.S. is when Harding students come in to teach once a year. If they went into downtown Kigali, they may see a few white people roaming the streets or missionaries at the market \u2014 but for what other reason would an American come to Rwanda if not to donate money or provide services to a country labeled as a developing nation?<\/p>\n
I wonder if some of our students admired us simply because we were white \u2014 because they thought we would give them money.<\/p>\n
After the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, the country\u2019s economy has grown each year. Rwanda has one of the leading economies in Central Africa, according to the World Economic Forum. However, the country\u2019s development relies heavily on foreign aid rather than domestic economic development. The World Bank reported 30 to 40 percent of its financial budget comes from other countries, a significant sum that determines the economic growth and stability.<\/p>\n
Just a quick Google search for U.S. nonprofits in Rwanda will generate hundreds of organizations within the small country. Rwanda \u2014 one of more than 100 developing nations \u2014 has formed a dependency on the foreign aid. The children I spent time with in Rwanda seemed to understand that white people \u2014 most notably from the U.S. \u2014 are main contributors to their country\u2019s success. They are aware of the efforts made by foreign governments not to stop genocide, but rather to help rebuild the country afterwards, as if apologizing for their lack of interference.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me money. I am poor,\u201d the boy said to me.<\/p>\n
Maybe he expected me to give because my skin color gave me away as a foreigner, as a money-giver. I only had enough Rwandan francs for a single cup of coffee. I turned him away, knowing he could find whatever he needed without relying on the white woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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