Speak Easy At Wild Goose

Last week about 60 people walked in the door of the Wild Goose Gallery for the monthly Speak Easy.    I’ve been trying to tell stories each month about Rwanda because those memories are so tightly packed in my head that bringing them out is like decompressing a computer hard drive.  I told the story of coming to model school and being adopted by some of the children when I joined them at the flagpole each morning to sing the anthem.  Many Kinyarwandan words are 18 letters or more because all kinds of objects and grammar pieces are contained inside, so, even when the words were right in front of me, I slid and glided over them only belting out the chorus.  Every day I was grilled by the girl who brought a dog-eared copy of the anthem and her friends.  Every day I found them at recess for my lesson.  I tried, during my short time as a practice teacher, to teach an English song to my class.  The girls took me aside that day at recess for an especially stringent lesson actually at a desk inside a classroom.  So, now they not only were burdened with teaching me their anthem, but also how to properly teach a song.

 

Now, here is the memory I forgot until after I told my story at Speak Easy.  On the last day of model school when attendance was waning, there was no one to lead the anthem.  Even my self appointed teacher wasn’t there.  Slowly the students began to wander away.  “Wait,” I said.  “Come back”.  They didn’t turn around.  I didn’t go up next to the flag, but I did start singing.  I had the first four words by heart.  I didn’t have to go past those first words because kids started to sing.  I can’t say their heart was in it, but we did sing it and I chimed proudly in on the chorus.

 

Here's a link to Rwanda's new national anthem.  This anthem emphasizes the importance of their country and becoming one people.  It replaces the old anthem which brought attention to the different groups, even if it was in an even handed manner.  The new anthem makes no mention of the the Hutus or Tutsi popultion.  Rwandan National Anthem.  You can find a translation in Wikipedia.