Heroes and Citizenship
Senior 2 · English
Heroes and Citizenship
Lesson 1 of 4
25 min
Every year on 1 February, Rwanda celebrates Heroes' Day (Umunsi w'Intwari). It is a public holiday. From the national ceremony in Kigali to meetings in every village, people talk about the men and women who put the country before themselves.
In this lesson you will read about the people Rwanda has named national heroes, learn the vocabulary of heroism and citizenship, and practise the past simple with adverbials of time. That is the grammar you need to tell the story of someone's life. At the end, you will prepare a one-minute talk about a person you admire.
This passage was written by Ganzaa from facts in the Kinyarwanda Wikipedia article Intwari z'u Rwanda and English Wikipedia biographies. Read it once for the main idea. Then read it again and underline every verb in the past simple.
A hero, or intwari in Kinyarwanda, is a person who puts the good of the country above his or her own interests, often at a great personal cost. Rwanda honours its heroes in three categories. The Chancellery for Heroes, National Orders and Decorations of Honour (CHENO) studies each case and decides which people should be honoured.
Imanzi is the highest category. It is for heroes who showed outstanding courage and gave their lives for the country. There are two: Major General Fred Gisa Rwigema, who led the liberation struggle that began on 1 October 1990 and who was killed on its second day, and the Unknown Soldier, who stands for every soldier who died for Rwanda and whose name nobody knows.
Imena is the second category. It honours people whose extraordinary acts and honest lives set an example for the nation. Unlike Imanzi, a person does not have to have died to be named Imena. King Mutara III Rudahigwa ended the ubuhake system of cattle clientship in 1954 and asked for Rwanda's independence in 1956. Michel Rwagasana, a politician, worked for independence and for the unity of all Rwandans. Agathe Uwilingiyimana was a chemistry teacher before she became Minister of Education. As minister, she gave school places on merit, not by ethnic quotas. She later became Rwanda's first woman Prime Minister and was killed on 7 April 1994, as the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi began. Félicité Niyitegeka ran a centre in Gisenyi (now Rubavu). During the Genocide, she refused to abandon the Tutsi she was protecting, even when her own brother urged her to leave them. She was killed together with them on 21 April 1994.
The students of Nyange Secondary School are Imena heroes too. On the evening of 18 March 1997, armed infiltrators attacked the school and ordered the students of Senior 5 and Senior 6 to separate into ethnic groups. The students refused. They answered together, "We are all Rwandans" (Twese turi Abanyarwanda). Some of them were killed and others were wounded, but their answer still stands for the unity of the nation.
Ingenzi is the third category. It is for people who stand out in their work, their ideas and their way of life, and who set a very high example of sacrifice and service. So far nobody has been placed in it. Possible candidates are still being studied.
Words to know: outstanding = far better than usual; infiltrators = armed attackers who enter an area secretly (abacengezi); merit = a person's own ability and effort; quota = a fixed share kept for one group.
Answer in your exercise book first, then check.
Name the three categories of Rwandan heroes, from the highest to the lowest.
Imanzi, Imena, Ingenzi.
Why is the Unknown Soldier in the Imanzi category, even though nobody knows his name?
He stands for every soldier who died for Rwanda. The honour belongs to all of them.
What did Agathe Uwilingiyimana change as Minister of Education?
She gave school places on merit (ability and results) instead of by ethnic quotas.
The Nyange students could have obeyed the attackers. Why do you think their answer is still remembered?
Possible answer: because they chose unity over their own safety. Their words show that being Rwandan comes before any division.
Many useful words come in families. Learn the noun, the adjective and the person together.
| Noun (idea) | Adjective | Person | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| heroism | heroic | hero / heroine | The Nyange students made a heroic choice. |
| courage | courageous | — | Félicité Niyitegeka was courageous. |
| patriotism | patriotic | patriot | A patriot loves and serves the country. |
| sacrifice | self-sacrificing | — | She made a great sacrifice for others. |
| integrity | honest, upright | — | A leader with integrity keeps his word. |
| unity | united | — | A united class solves problems faster. |
| citizenship | civic | citizen | Voting is a civic duty. |
Look at two sentences from the reading:
Both actions are finished and both happened at a known time in the past. That is the job of the past simple.
An adverbial of time tells us when. In a life story it keeps the events in order.
| Use | For | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| in | years, months, decades, centuries | in 1954, in March, in the 1950s |
| on | dates and days | on 1 February, on Monday, on the evening of 18 March 1997 |
| at | clock times and short moments | at six o'clock, at the start of the war |
| ago | counting back from now | more than thirty years ago |
| sequence words | order of events | first, then, after that, two days later, finally |
Notes: Agathe Uwilingiyimana — 1953 born — teach chemistry — 1992 Minister of Education — July 1993 Prime Minister
Step 1 choose the past simple of each verb (born → was born, teach → taught, become → became). Step 2: add the right preposition of time. Step 3: link with sequence words.
Agathe Uwilingiyimana was born in 1953. First she taught chemistry. In 1992 she became Minister of Education, and in July 1993 she became Prime Minister.
Tip
The in–on–at ladder. Big stretches of time take in (in 1994), single days take on (on 1 February), exact moments take at (at noon). And after did or did not, the verb goes back to its base form: did she lead? not did she led?
Put the verb in the past simple: In 1954, King Mutara III Rudahigwa ___ (end) the ubuhake system.
Solution: ended. It is a regular verb, and "in 1954" is a finished time, so we add -ed.
Correct the mistake: The students did not agreed to separate.
Solution: The students did not agree to separate. After "did not", use the base verb.
Complete with in, on or at: Heroes' Day is ___ 1 February. The Nyange attack happened ___ 1997. The ceremony starts ___ nine o'clock.
Solution: on (a date), in (a year), at (a clock time).
Make a question starting with Where: Félicité Niyitegeka protected people in Gisenyi.
Solution: Where did Félicité Niyitegeka protect people? ("protected" becomes did + protect.)
Choose a national hero, or a person in your own community who serves others. Plan four parts: (1) who the person is, (2) two or three key events, in the past simple with adverbials of time, (3) two qualities, using words from the vocabulary table, (4) why you admire the person. Speak for one minute to a friend or record yourself on a phone.
Model answer: "The person I admire is Agathe Uwilingiyimana. She was born in 1953, and first she taught chemistry. In 1992 she became Minister of Education. At that time, school places depended on ethnic quotas, but she gave them on merit. In July 1993 she became Rwanda's first woman Prime Minister. She was courageous, because she did the right thing when it was dangerous, and she had integrity. I admire her because she believed every child deserved a fair chance at school."
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
