Many times during our walk around Kigali we were approached by people asking for money. We had been pretty sternly counseled not to give to them. Many of the women asking for help had small babies. My heart was torn. The first time I slipped a 5,000 franc note from my pocket (about $9.00 American) and gave it to a beautiful young woman with a baby. No one noticed. The next time I tried to do the same thing (another woman with a very young baby) some others must have seen because they followed us and would not leave. “Please, my baby is sick! My baby is sick!” Again, my heart was broken. Richard was angry. He must have picked up on what I had done. The women were relentless. Finally he said we could give them 100 francs – but not me. Someone else had to do it.
When we debriefed later he said that he knew “that one” (the girl who would not leave me alone) and that she sniffed glue and that the money would go right to her drug habit. The baby, he said, wasn’t hers.
Immaculee told us at another time that Richard gave a lot of his money to the poor. When he does give money he takes people out and buys them food. He eats with them. He always talks to them, although he just told us to say NO! (oya sp?) He says things like, “Why aren’t you in school?” “Go help your mother at her shop.” “You gotta get work – do you want to keep asking for money?”
When we debriefed later he said that he knew “that one” (the girl who would not leave me alone) and that she sniffed glue and that the money would go right to her drug habit. The baby, he said, wasn’t hers.
Immaculee told us at another time that Richard gave a lot of his money to the poor. When he does give money he takes people out and buys them food. He eats with them. He always talks to them, although he just told us to say NO! (oya sp?) He says things like, “Why aren’t you in school?” “Go help your mother at her shop.” “You gotta get work – do you want to keep asking for money?”
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