Economic Activities
Primary 6 · Social and Religious Studies
Economic Activities
Lesson 2 of 4
15 min
Let's begin
Every year, visitors from all over the world land in Kigali and drive to Musanze to spend one hour with the mountain gorillas. On the way home, they buy a woven agaseke basket as a gift.
The park ranger, the guide, the driver, the hotel cook and the basket weaver all earn money from that one visit!
Tourism means providing services to visitors who travel to see and enjoy a place. It is Rwanda's largest source of foreign exchange (money earned from other countries).
Tourism creates jobs for guides, porters, drivers, cooks, hotel workers and craft sellers. Part of the money from park visits is shared with communities around the parks to build schools, health centres and water supplies.
Trade is buying and selling goods and services.
Rwanda is landlocked: it has no sea coast. Its goods travel by road to the ports of Mombasa in Kenya (the Northern Corridor, through Uganda) and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania (the Central Corridor). Rwanda joined the East African Community (EAC) in 2007, which makes trade with neighbouring countries easier.
Craft work is making useful or beautiful things by hand.
Craft work gives income to many women and young people. The crafts are sold in markets, to tourists and abroad.
Factories make cement, drinks, soap and clothes (manufacturing). Other people work in building, transport, banking, teaching and health care. These services are a fast-growing part of Rwanda's economy.
Worked example
How does one gorilla visit help many people?
Step 1 List who is paid: the park, the guide, the porters, the driver, the hotel, the cook and the craft seller.
Step 2 Add the money the park shares with nearby villages.
Answer: one visit gives income to many families and helps build schools and clinics near the park.
Tip
EX- goes OUT, IM- comes IN. Exports exit Rwanda; imports come into Rwanda.
For tourism, think of the three parks by animal: Gorillas in Volcanoes, Chimps in Nyungwe, Lions in Akagera.
What is tourism?
Answer: providing services to visitors who travel to see and enjoy a place.
What is the name of the ceremony in which baby gorillas are named?
Answer: Kwita Izina.
Rwanda sells coffee to Germany. Is this an import or an export for Rwanda?
Answer: an export, because the coffee goes out of Rwanda.
Name the two ports that most Rwandan goods pass through.
Answer: Mombasa (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania).
What is imigongo art made from?
Answer: cow dung, shaped into patterns and painted.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The practice questions were written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each national park to an animal visitors go to see there.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
