Horubone Thomas

I was born in 1930 and I am 83. (Comment from interviewer Laura: I think he is 83 and born in 1940)

From my first wife I got 10 children. This wife is my second wife, she replaced the first and I have 6 children with her. All together I have 16 children.

You didn’t see it? We live well. Life is good.

The trees, you saw around here? My coffee was planted 2 years after the coffee trees you just saw. I planted them before the independence, during the time of the prince Bararuzaziyeko. Those coffee trees I planted when I had my first child, but now I have grandchildren.

The idea of planting the trees was brought by the white people. The coffee trees came when I had one child, but now I have grandchildren.

We cultivate on hills, on the small parts of the land. But not all the parts of the land. My children got out of the house. All of my children I gave a part of my land.

I owe 4 lands with coffee trees. One land has 110 trees, another one 100 trees. I have 4 lands in total. 2 others lands have 80 trees. And another one 90 trees. In total I have around 400 trees.

Everything makes me happy. All that I eat or cultivate makes me happy.

The coffee tree is the first and most important one. Other plants follow. I cannot talk about all of them.

You don’t know that it is a tree that brings much money and which deserves to be well maintained. Other plants come to support you even more. I have a box in which I put much money. The plant allows us to get the money, but the money we get we use it in the expenses of several activities.

The first people who called it coffee were the Belgians. This was before we became independent. I told you that I advanced because of coffee. Coffee comes and helps the country to develop. Coffee brings money.

Nowadays it is not the same as the period with the Belgians. When I grew up I got beaten with sticks. This time is different. No one is behind anymore because the coffee gives us everything. There are even people who are able to fly into the USA because of coffee.