Pops

I would like to introduce you to a friend my team met this month… (Although, I’m gonna change all the names for their protection.)

Meet Pops.

Pops was legally born in 1936, which would make him 83. However, he is adamant on a very different story. I’ll let you decide if it’s true or not.

When we sat down with him and his wife, Pops immediately asked us how old we thought he was. One of my teammates’ reply was: “Not a day over thirty!” He got a good laugh out of that one! A few more attempts later, he laughed and shook his head before announcing his ‘real’ age.

Pops was born in 1914, making him a whopping ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE!!!! Apparently, in a scheme to evade taxes, he continually reduced his legal age for years! What a guy! He went into the next room in the house and dragged out his driver’s license which stated that he was 83, but we were all understandably shocked by his claim to 105. 

Here’s his story: 

He was a servant to three kings of Rwanda and was even on the counsel that chose the third king. [Not really sure if that’s true because aren’t kingships passed through family lines? Oh well. Who knows.]

Years ago, he met his wife and they had 14 children together. Five of them, sadly, didn’t make it through childhood. Then, adding to his grief, his wife also died. 

The woman sitting with us in the house was apparently his second wife– we’ll call her ‘Emily’. With her, he had 11 children (though, only 10 are still surviving). The oldest with her was 23 and we got a chance to hold the youngest who wasn’t even one year old yet! So, in total, he has 19 living children. Emily was obviously much younger than him, but I think it made more sense as to why he seemed so youthful. And why they had a less than one-year-old child. In his words– “If God is giving [me more children], I must receive them.”

After he shared all of this, he told us about their living conditions now. The house we were sitting in is not theirs. Their neighbor has rented the house to them for 20 years. I’m certain that their entire family sleeps in it as well and it is a very small house. Their kitchen is actually a lean-to that they built behind the house, so I bet that helps. 

Pops’ only prayer request was that God would give them a better house and insurance to take care of his family should he die. I spoke to our host about what happens to widows with that many children and what he had to say was not promising of an optimistic future. It was very easy to see the joy in their family, but I imagine it also brings much worry into their home to know that their livelihood hangs by a very old thread. Please be in prayer with our team for Pops and Emily. 

We visited them again this morning (our last day in Rwanda) and took pictures with their family. We prayed over them and both Pops and Emily prayed over us. It was a very special moment. I will likely never meet Pops again, but we have hope for eternity.