Lord of the Flies

We visited a group of youngsters today. They are led, or looked after – however you see it, by a committee in their late teens and early twenties. The oldest is twenty-three. Several of the leaders were orphaned in the genocide and the children they look after age from eight upwards. The president and secretary take me to their hall, a hexagonal brick building, where teenagers are practicing their dance steps to a ghetto-blaster. The roof has holes in places but otherwise the building is in good condition.

There are no adults to be seen. The group, perhaps forty in all, are associated with a wider community in the local area supported by Solace Ministries. There are few men and none are involved with the youth. A number suffer from injuries sustained in the genocide and cannot work.  Among the women, most of whom are widows, HIV is common and some suffer from gynaecological problems as a result of rape.

So the children are left to fend for themselves. They have formed a self-governing co-operative under government rules. The maturity of the leaders is impressive and they have many ideas about what they want to do with the land around their hall. They would like us to come and take Bible study classes and perhaps also help them arrange a Sunday service. This is Lord of the Flies come alive, except that in Golding’s novel the children’s attempts to govern themselves fail. There is a strong Christian ethos among these young Rwandans and a hint that it is from communities such as this that the country’s leaders of tomorrow will come.