‘You were born in Rwanda. If you wish to live in Rwanda, work in Rwanda, die and be buried in Rwanda, you may stop learning English now. Kinyarwanda is all you need.
But, if you want to go outside Rwanda, meet people from outside Rwanda, do anything beyond these borders, English is what you need.’
Forty students sat in the warm classroom, three to a desk, listening to Ivan speak.
They had come to join English Club and had asked us, three fluent English speakers, ‘How do we succeed?’
‘Practice. Practice, practice, practice,’ we said.
Forget memorizing and analyzing the grammar rules you learn in school. You must speak. As often as you can. Speak to us, your teachers. Speak to one another. Speak to everyone you meet in English.
Listen. Listen to our different accents. One American, one Ugandan, one Rwandan. Listen and soon you will be able to understand anyone, no matter their pronunciation.
Read. Read as many books as you can. Do not just memorize vocabulary words and never use them. Learn them in context and you will not forget. Go to the library and open the books which have seldom been touched. When you find a word you do not know, look it up or come ask us.
Write. Write stories and poems, letters to penpals, and arguments for our debates.
But first of all, speak.
‘But teacher, people will laugh. We do not know much vocabulary and we make mistakes. If we try to speak always in English, others will think we are arrogant. They will laugh and they will criticize. We cannot do what you ask, we cannot speak English.’
But listen students! You just did! You just spoke in English and we understood!
You will make mistakes. We all do.
Last week, I went to the market to buy candles but I did not know the word. Ten people gathered, trying to help the vendor understand what I wanted. Umuriro [fire], Itara [light], imbabura [stove] … I tried every word I could think of related to a candle as the vendor held up matches, light bulbs, and credit for cash power. Finally someone got it – bougie – candle! A French word. Not even Kinyarwanda at all. We all laughed. But not at me for my mistake. We laughed at our impromptu game of charades, for my efforts, and our success.
Ivan stood, ‘I want to tell you a story. A story about frogs -what’s the word?’
‘Ibikeri,’ the students offered.
‘Yes, a story about ibikeri**…
There were one day about fifty frogs – ibikeri- sitting around. They saw, from a distance, a pole, a telephone pole. One igikeri said, ‘Let us have a race! A race to the top of that pole. Let us see who can run and climb that pole the fastest!’ All the other ibikeri thought this was a great idea, so on the count of three – rimwe, kabiri, gatatu – they began.
Now you know how ibikeri run. Very slowly! But they ran and ran. And as they ran, a crowd began to gather along the road. Some of the crowd began to cheer, ‘Go frogs, go! You can do it! Run faster!’ But other people began to jeer, ‘Silly frogs, you cannot run so far. You will never make it! Why are you trying?’
Now some of the ibikeri heard these cheers and were encouraged and ran faster. Other ibikeri heard the jeers and began to wonder, ‘Yes, why are we doing this? We will not finish. My time is better spent doing something else.’
And half the ibikeri dropped out of the race and went home.
The remaining ibikeri ran on as the crowd grew even larger. The cheers continued, ‘Run faster little frogs! You are almost to the pole! Keep going!’ The jeers continued as well, ‘Crazy frogs! What do you think you are? Even if you get to that pole, you will never be able to climb it!’
And again, half the ibikeri heard the cheers and ran on, while half the ibikeri heard the jeers and began to think, ‘This is no race for a frog. I am not meant to climb poles. It is better that I stick to the ground where I belong.’
And so there were ten ibikeri left in the race.
At last, the ibikeri reached the bottom of the pole and the crowd went wild!
‘Yes! Yes! Climb little frogs! Climb!’
‘Crazy, silly frogs, you will get halfway up and be too tired to continue and then you will fall and your little belly will explode when you hit the ground!’
Now half those ten little ibikeri kept right on going and they began to climb. But half of those ibikeri said, ‘Noooo way! I do not want to fall and have my belly explode. This race is done.’ And they went home.
So five little ibikeri were climbing up the pole as fast as they could.
The crowd continued on, some cheered and some jeered. Some said those ibikeri could make it to the top and some said those ibikeri were crazy for even trying, a pole is no place for an igikeri. Who do they think they are?
And one by one, igikeri began to turn back, thinking, ‘Who do I think I am to climb a pole? I am just a little igikeri, this is no race for me.’ Until finally there was just one igikeri left on the pole, climbing on and on right up to the very top.
When the winner came down from the pole, the crowd gathered around, cheering and praising him, asking how he did it, how did he succeed where all others had failed? But the little igikeri was silent.
Journalists swooped in, shoving their microphones in the igikeri’s face, clamoring for a statement. ‘How did you do it? What motivated you? Why did you continue when all the other frogs turned back?’
But the little igikeri said nothing.
The mayor arrived to give the little igikeri his prize. He said, ‘Mr. Frog, before I give you your prize, won’t you tell us? Tell us how you have managed this great thing?’
But the little igikeri just looked up at the mayor and said nothing.
Another igikeri pushed his way forward, ‘Please, Mr. Mayor, don’t be upset with my brother. You see, he does not answer because he does not hear your questions. My brother is deaf. He cannot hear any of you.’
And the crowd understood. The little igikeri did not hear the jeers, he did not even hear the cheers. He ran and ran and climbed and climbed because he was focused only on his goal and he had nothing to stop him but himself.’
People may laugh, Ivan said, the may even cheer. Your task is to keep going. Focus on your goal. You have come to join English Club because you believe it is important to learn English. Remember that. Commit to that. Close your ears to anyone who would tell you it is not possible.
‘We must have confidence in ourselves!’ one student stood to say.
‘Yes! Have confidence and make a promise today. Look around this room and promise to only speak English to these members of English Club. Who can make that promise today?’
One by one, students raised their arms, two fingers lifted in a sign of oath.
‘Let us show this school that we are English Club members and we will succeed!’
** Two notes on the story: Ibikeri = frogs (plural); Igikeri = frog (singular).
Also, Ivan told me after club that this story was from an email forward he received, complete with cartoon images. I can’t give credit to the original author but I do give credit to Ivan and his inspiring retelling!
Detour Scenery 