Needs and Wants

1Beans or a video game?

Keza and her mother are at the market with 3,000 Frw. “Mama, please buy me a new video game!” says Keza. “We need beans, flour and soap first,” says her mother. “A game is nice, but we can live without it.”

Some things we need, and some things we just want. Today you will read about a boy who did not have the things every child needs, and learn to tell needs from wants.

2Listen and read: Magozwe

Listen to the whole story (audio, read by Darshan Soni). The audio reads the full story; the text below is shorter. You can also open the Storybooks Rwanda page to read it in Kinyarwanda and French.

In the busy city of Nairobi, a group of homeless boys lived on the street. Every morning they packed up the mats they slept on. Magozwe was the youngest.

When Magozwe was five years old, his parents died. He went to live with his uncle. His uncle did not care about him. He did not give Magozwe enough food, and he made him do a lot of hard work. When Magozwe asked to go to school, his uncle was very unkind. “You're too stupid to learn anything,” he said. After three years, Magozwe ran away and started living on the street.

Street life was hard. Every day the boys struggled to find food. When they were sick, there was no one to help them.

One day, Magozwe found an old storybook in a dustbin. The pictures told the story of a boy who grew up to be a pilot. Magozwe looked at the pictures every day, but he could not read the words.

One cold day, a man called Thomas spoke to him. “I work at a place where you can get something to eat,” he said, and he pointed to a yellow house with a blue roof. Over the months, Thomas often came to talk to the boys. He listened carefully to their stories. He was patient and never rude.

Magozwe told Thomas his story. Around Magozwe's tenth birthday, Thomas gave him a new storybook. Then he said, “I think it's time you went to school and learned to read.” He knew a place where children could live and go to school.

Magozwe was afraid. What if his uncle was right? But Thomas helped him to feel brave. So Magozwe moved into a house with a green roof. Ten children lived there with Auntie Cissy and her husband, three dogs, a cat and an old goat.

School was difficult at first, and sometimes Magozwe wanted to give up. But he thought about the boys in his storybooks. Like them, he did not give up.

One day, Thomas found Magozwe reading a storybook from school. “What is the story about?” asked Thomas. “It's about a boy who becomes a teacher,” said Magozwe. “What's the boy's name?” asked Thomas. “His name is Magozwe,” said Magozwe with a smile.

Read and think

3Needs and wants

Needs are things we must have to live, grow and be safe. Wants are things that are nice to have, but we can live without them.

4How to say it

• need / want + a thing: Every child needs clean water. I want a bicycle.
• need to / want to + verb: Magozwe wanted to learn. We need to eat every day.
• In the past, use didn't have: Magozwe didn't have enough food.

Needs are also rights. Every child has the right to food, a home, health care, school and love. When a child's needs are not met, adults like Thomas have a responsibility to help.

Your turn: speak and write

Speak: Your teacher reads out a list of things. Stand up for a need, and stay sitting for a want. Explain one of your choices: A … is a need because … .

Write two short lists: Three things I need and Three things I want. Then write two sentences about how Magozwe's life changed.

Try it yourself

Write your answers in your exercise book, then check.