Ruhengiri Days
a classroom play
by Wim Coleman
Cast of Characters
(main characters in boldface)
Visitors to Rwanda from the United States, 1, 2, and 3
Cathérine, a Rwandan widow
Land Owner
Velonica, a Rwandan widow
Felicita, a Rwandan widow
Foreman of a construction site
Neighbor of Velonica
Fabrice, Cathérine’s five-year-old son
Colmance, Velonica’s four-year-old daughter
Widows 1, 2, and 3
Everiste, a helper at the office
Simon, the office manager and supervisor
Adera, an older widow
17 speaking roles: 8 female, 5 male, 4 neutral
Setting: In and near the town of Ruhengiri, Rwanda
Time: Scene 1 takes place in July 2007; Scene 2 takes place in July 2011
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Scene 1
Visitor 1: Rwanda!
Visitor 2: The deep, crystal blue lakes …
Visitor 3: … the rich tropical forests …
Visitor 1: … the mountains and volcanoes …
Visitor 2: … “Land of a Thousand Hills,” people call it …
Visitor 3: … the amazing wildlife …
Visitor 1: … zebras, buffalo, lions, and gorillas …
Visitor 2: … such a beautiful country!
Visitor 3: And yet …
Cathérine: My feet are sick, and so is the rest of me. I’m hungry too.
Velonica: If only I had work. What hope can I give my children?
Felicita: My husband was shot to death during all the killing. So many people were killed
back then.
Visitor 3: … it’s also a land of terrible tragedy.
Visitor 1: We first went to visit Rwanda’s Musanze district in—what year was it?
Visitor 2: 2007, I think.
Visitor 3: Yes, that was the year. In July, a dry season.
Visitor 1: We went there on a tour. We wanted to see the scenery and wildlife, to track
gorillas.
Visitor 2: But we got off the bus and strayed away from the tour …
Visitor 3: … into the poorest part of the town of Ruhengiri.
Visitor 1: We got to meet the people.
Visitor 2: Many of them lived in little huts with mud walls and grass roofs. There was no
plumbing or electricity.
Visitor 3: But other people didn’t even have a hut to live in.
Visitor 1: That’s true. I met Cathérine that morning. Her feet were twisted and swollen, and
she walked painfully down the dirt street. Her tattered shoes almost fell off. She noticed
me staring at her feet.
Cathérine: They’ve been this way since I was 12. I don’t think they’ll ever get any better.
And I’ve got a disease—a virus called HIV. My children have it too. Many people around
here have it. Many die from it. The government gives us medicine. But we don’t take it
often.
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Visitor 1: (to Cathérine) Why not?
Cathérine: You can’t take it without food. I don’t have food most days. I’m trying to get food
today for me and my sons.
Visitor 1: (to Cathérine) Where do you live?
Cathérine: Nowhere.
Visitor 1: We approached a hut. It wasn’t much different from the others, but it had a small
garden beside it.
Cathérine: The man who lives here owns a little land.
Visitor 1: A man was standing in the garden. He was picking vegetables with two little girls.
Cathérine: (to the man) Please, friend, surely you can spare something. Just one cucumber.
Anything at all.
Land Owner: I told you yesterday, I’ve got to feed my family.
Cathérine: But you’ve got more than most of us. You’ve got a garden.
Land Owner: I’ve also got a wife and five children.
Cathérine: Can’t I help you pick vegetables?
Land Owner: I’ve got all the hands I need right here. I don’t need another pair. And I don’t
need another mouth to feed.
Visitor 1: Cathérine turned and walked away.
Cathérine: (to Visitor 1) It’s the same everywhere. If only I had work, my life might be worth
something.
Visitor 1: I began following her.
Cathérine: Please, don’t come with me.
Visitor 1: I stood and watched as she walked toward a wealthier part of town. I knew she
didn’t want me to watch her beg. I didn’t see her again that day.
Visitor 2: That morning, I met Velonica, sitting outside a little hut. She told me how much
rent she paid in Rwandan francs. It came to about three U.S. dollars.
Velonica: I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to pay it. I have to choose between the
house and food. Soon I may not have either of them.
Visitor 2: She was holding a newborn baby tightly in her arms.
Velonica: Poor Colmance—she’s so sick, and I can’t help her.
Visitor 2: (to Velonica) Can’t you take her to a doctor?
Velonica: Not without money.
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Visitor 2: I took money out of my wallet and held it out to her. She wouldn’t take it. I put it in
her lap. A tear fell from her eye and she let out a sob of despair.
Velonica: Thank you. If only somebody could also give me hope, and work.
Visitor 2: She got up with her baby in her arms and walked away. I knew she didn’t want me
to come with her to the doctor. I’d done too much already. So I went back to the tour bus.
I felt as bad as if I’d given her nothing at all.
Visitor 3: That morning I met Felicita outside a hut. (to Felicita) Is this your house?
Felicita: Friends of mine live here. They’re letting my children and me stay here this week.
Next week we’ll stay with other friends.
Visitor 3: Through the openings that served as doors and windows, I could see children
crouched on the dirt floor. Their clothes were dirty and torn. (to Felicita) Don’t your
children go to school?
Felicita: They can’t.
Visitor 3: Isn’t school free?
Felicita: Yes, but uniforms aren’t. My children can’t go to school without them.
Visitor 3: She was wearing a simple white shirt and a long skirt.
Felicita: What I’m wearing now—these are the only clothes I’ve got. My children need more
clothes too.
Visitor 3: I followed Felicita to a construction site. Workers were building a little brick
house. Felicita spoke to the foreman.
Felicita: Do you have any work for me today?
Foreman: Sorry, none.
Felicita: Not even mixing cement?
Foreman: That’s getting done.
Visitor 3: He pointed to a little boy standing over a large puddle of wet concrete. The boy
was mixing it with a stick. He couldn’t have been more than five or six years old.
Felicita: Maybe later?
Foreman: Not today.
Visitor 3: Felicita walked away, miserably shaking her head.
Felicita: I could have made 200 francs. I could have bought a potato. But today is like most
days. If only I had work—something I could do every day!
Visitor 3: Two hundred Rwandan francs came to about 70 U.S. cents. Felicita left me behind.
I rejoined you two with the tour, feeling stunned by what I’d seen.
Visitor 1: The widows we’d met—they were among the poorest of the poor in that town.
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Visitor 2: “Land of a Thousand Hills,” they call Rwanda. Such a beautiful country … !
Visitor 3: … which makes the suffering of its people all the more tragic.
Scene 2
Visitor 1: That tour of 2007 ended.
Visitor 2: We came back to the United States.
Visitor 3: But we couldn’t stay away from Rwanda.
Visitor 1: I was haunted by thoughts of Cathérine …
Visitor 2: … and I by Velonica …
Visitor 3: … and I by Felicita.
Visitor 1: We longed to know what had become of them.
Visitor 2: So we went back together to the Musanze district in July, 2011 …
Visitor 3: … not on a tour this time.
Visitor 1: We headed straight the town of Ruhengiri …
Visitor 2: … the poorest part of it again.
Visitor 3: It looked much the same …
Visitor 1: … mud huts …
Visitor 2: … dirt streets.
Visitor 3: That morning, we saw no sign of our widows where we’d found them before.
Visitor 1: What had happened to them?
Visitor 2: Had they died?
Visitor 3: We were worried sick!
Visitor 1: I found the land owner Cathérine and I had met before. I asked where she might be.
Land Owner: Out with the sheep. She said she was going there before she went to the office.
Visitor 1: (to Land Owner) Sheep? Office?
Land Owner: Yes, she’s got a lot of work. She helps the rest of us more than I can say.
Visitor 1: He gave me directions, and I made my way to a little pasture. Two men were
shearing a sheep. Cathérine was there, gathering up the fallen wool in a burlap sack. A
handsome, neatly-dressed little boy stood near her. He was about five years old.
Cathérine: (laughing) Sheep, stop your wiggling! Let these fellows do their work!
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Fabrice: (laughing, to the sheep) You’ll feel much cooler when you’ve got less wool!
Visitor 1: Then she saw me. She recognized me right away. She ran toward me and threw her
arms around me.
Cathérine: I’m glad you caught me in time! I was just ready to go to the office. Meet my
little boy, Fabrice.
Visitor 1: (to Catherine) You both look so well!
Cathérine: Yes, we have food now, and we can take our medicine.
Visitor 1: She picked up the big bag of wool, and we started walking together. She had new
shoes which fit well around her swollen feet.
Cathérine: What I’ve got here is as precious as gold! I never knew that sheep’s wool was
good for anything. What a surprise!
Visitor 2: Meanwhile, I’d talked to a neighbor of Velonica’s …
Neighbor: She’s at the office. She’s such a help to me and my family!
Visitor 3: At the construction site, I found the foreman Felicita and I had met …
Foreman: Felicita is at the office, and she’s got a great job. Someday soon maybe she’ll hire
me to build her a house. I’ll be happy for the work.
Visitor 2: I headed on over to the place they called “the office” …
Visitor 3: … and so did I.
Visitor 1: The two of you arrived just when I showed up with Cathérine. We all walked
through the gate together.
Visitor 2: “The office” was a nice little house surrounded by grass and a brick wall.
Visitor 3: Next to the wall were gathered about 20 women, happily working and talking.
Visitor: Cathérine called out to them …
Cathérine: I’ve got wool for everybody!
Visitor 2: Velonica saw me. She jumped up and greeted me with a hug and the biggest smile
I’d ever seen …
Velonica: How wonderful to see you again!
Visitor 2: A beautiful, healthy four-year-old girl was at her side.
Velonica: Meet my daughter, Colmance. You saw her when she was just a baby.
Colmance: (to Visitor 2) Mama told me about you. You’re the nice visitor from far away.
Visitor 3: Felicita shouted joyfully when she saw me.
Felicita: Welcome, welcome!
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Visitor 3: She was wearing colorful new clothes.
Felicita: My children are in school now.
Visitor 1: A man on a bicycle came riding in through the front gate. He was tall, gangly, and
cheerful. The back of his bike was piled high with leafy branches.
Widow 1: Everiste is here!
Widow 2: What have you got for us, Everiste?
Everiste: I’ve brought eucalyptus branches.
Widow 3: We can do lots of dyeing with these.
Visitor 1: The women eagerly set to work stripping leaves off the branches.
Visitor 2: A man came in from the house—their manager and supervisor.
Visitor 3: He was well-dressed and had kindly eyes.
Widow 1: Good morning, Simon!
Simon: Good morning to you all! I’ve got orders from the U.S. We need more orange-colored
yarn.
Widow 2: That means more coreopsis flowers.
Widow 3: Let’s go get them.
Visitor 1: Three women left the office. An hour or so later, they came back with baskets full
of bright orange flowers.
Visitor 2: Meanwhile, the other women had settled down to work alongside the wall.
Visitor 3: Everybody talked and laughed as they worked.
Visitor 1: Cathérine proudly told me …
Cathérine: We’ve been sharing our money. We help each other with all kinds of things.
Widow 1: I’ve fixed my leaking roof.
Widow 2: I’ll get a door and windows put in next week.
Widow 3: Someday we’ll be able to have plumbing—real running water.
Visitor 1: We visitors pitched in and worked. I helped Cathérine wash wool …
Visitor 2: … I helped Velonica and Felicita pull yarn …
Visitor 3: … and I helped Everiste with the dyeing. At the end of the day’s work, Simon
passed around the day’s pay.
Everiste: New shoes for my children!
Cathérine: Fruit for my family!
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Velonica: I’m making porridge tonight!
Felicita: Every afternoon, I can’t believe I’m holding money in my hand.
Simon: (laughing) Start believing it. Business is good, and we’ll always have work for you.
Visitor 1: An older woman stepped forward …
Visitor 2: … the leader of the women.
Visitor 3: Adera was her name.
Adera: Don’t leave yet, young sisters! You know what we’ve got to do now!
Cathérine: Oh, yes, a song!
Velonica: And a dance!
Felicita: Start a song for us, Adera!
Visitor 1: Adera started singing, and the others joined in. Within seconds, all the women were
singing and dancing.
Visitor 2: We visitors didn’t know the words …
Visitor 3: … but we had no trouble joining in the dance—a dance of joy and hope.
Visitor 1: Rwanda!
Visitor 2: The deep, crystal blue lakes …
Visitor 3: … the rich tropical forests …
Visitor 1: … the mountains and volcanoes …
Visitor 2: … “Land of a Thousand Hills” …
Visitor 3: … the amazing wildlife …
Visitor 1: … zebras, buffalo, lions, and gorillas …
Visitor 2: … such a beautiful country!
Visitor 3: And yet …
Cathérine: Work to do, every day!
Velonica: Food and clothing!
Felicita: Hope for my children’s future!
Visitor 3: … its greatest beauty is its people!
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