Once upon a time, there lived a man and a woman who had two children. The first was born was called Karabo and the second-born Rwiru. The two siblings were totally different in their character. Rwiru was very careless, dirty, and was never home; while his sister Karabo was humble, kind, clean and helpful in the family.

One day Rwiru returned home crying. His big sister asked him why he was crying, and he told her that dogs had attacked him at his friend’s house. Some days later, one of his friends came to visit at his home and found that he was sad because his clothes had been torn. He then told Rwiru that his friends had intentionally planned to hurt him because they hated his bad smell and the fact that he was very dirty.

Rwiru was very disappointed and he felt a lot of pain about what had happened to him. It however made him think twice about his behaviour and he decided to shower, brush his teeth and put on nice clothes.

When he was done, he went to his big sister and asked to be pardoned for his bad behaviour. From that time, he also started seeking the permission of his parents whenever he wanted to leave home to visit his friends. They forgave him for his change of heart.

From that time onwards, Rwiru became a good boy because he had learnt his lesson. And because he was now clean and respectful, his friends also stopped harassing him with their dogs.

The writer is an S4 student, Lycée La Colombiere School, Kigali