Judgment

I was sitting on the couch outside the guesthouse speaking with Cristina about the fact that I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the new Agricultural Work Program (AWP) that had been implemented at the orphanage over the holidays.  Several agricultural workers had been dismissed and now all the children were required to work in the fields for several hours per day.  Something about that screamed of child labor.  About that time I was summoned to the office to speak to Victor.

When I arrived, Victor and Prince (Prince runs all the operations of the orphanage) asked if they could ask a favor a me.  Wanting to be as helpful as I can while here, I said ‘of course’.  They went on to explain that the Rwandan government was establishing a new policy that would close most of the orphanages in the country.  The government’s concern was that the orphanages were producing ‘spoiled’ children that did not know how to take care of themselves and expected everything to be done for them.  Victor felt that the new AWP addressed those issues and asked if I would write up a description of the program and its mission to be included in the next monthly report to the government.

Oh great, the program that I was criticizing only minutes ago I was now being asked to ‘sell’ to the outside world.  Something told me to sit back and wait until I learned more so I agreed to meet with Prince the next day to review the program.  

Prince and I walked the property as he explained the program.  This gave me an opportunity to not only learn more about the AWP but to get to know Prince better as well.  Victor has a dominant personality and Prince can sometimes fade into the background but our time together allowed his passion regarding the orphanage to shine.  Keep in mind that this is a 30 year old man whose parents were killed by jealous neighbors who wanted their land, whose remaining family was killed in the genocide and who only escaped his own death at that time through the kindness of a Hutu man who claimed Prince was his son when the soldiers were threatening to kill him.  

At that point he was sent to l’Esperance where he has been ever since.  When the previous orphanage director was fired, they asked Prince to take over and he ran the orphanage on his own for several years with limited training until Victor arrived seven years ago.   He now lives off-property with his wife and two children.

Really, Jean, do you think you know more about the welfare of the children than this man?  

I learned more details of the program—they limit the number of hours the children work, the assignments are age appropriate, there is plenty of time for school and play and the children actually receive a financial reward that I equate to an allowance for doing chores.  The orphanage highly values education and they want as many children to go to University as possible but Prince feels that for those that can’t, and even those that can, this experience teaches them a work ethic, self-sufficiency and life skills.  Hard to argue.  The kids learn how to raise seedlings, plant, cultivate and harvest and all the food is consumed by the orphanage. 

So the orphanage got a great write up to include in their monthly report and I got a lesson in judgment.