Day 5, Part 4: Breakdown

Our car was making funny noises as soon as we got in. We made it a few miles before, on a red dusty road in a small village, we came to a halt with a clunk. The shoulder sloped down to a dirt soccer field, alive with the action of a soccer game. The goals had no nets, only empty posts.

The children who began to gather hid from my camera at first. So I played camera hide-and-seek. And, with a few laughs, they came closer...

We took photos as the sun went down, and then the crowd grew larger. I tried, in my stilted Kinyarwanda, to converse. But the only phrases I had at hand were "Hello," "What's your name?" "Thank you," and "What's your profession?"... but the fascination was endless.

An hour later, a replacement car appeared and we slid in. Celine Dion was belting it out on the radio.