Children’s participation in tourism is not something you hear about often, yet their contribution—whichever way they know how— can boost the growth of the industry and country at large. In modern society, tourism represents an increasingly important experience involving travelling and journeying to known and unknown places, to gain experiences and learn about new environments.
Eight-year-old Darek Genius Ndayisabye, a Washington-based Rwandan, is working towards playing his role in promoting the country by encouraging people to visit Rwanda, with their children. He also wants to promote the culture of buying local products, purely Made in Rwanda.
The second child in a family of three, Ndayisabye was born in Dickinson, North Dakota and raised in Seattle, Washington where he currently with his parents Dieudonne Ndayisabye and Therese Mukayiranga Ndayisabye and siblings Kasey and Kelly.
"He has been curious about Rwanda. His mother and I decided to take some time off and came with his siblings from February to March so that they get the chance to learn more about our motherland,” says the father.
Darek and his elder sister, Kasey on a Lake Kivu boat ride.
Being both Rwandan and US citizens motivated the parents to teach their children more about Rwandan history, as well as its beauty. The children share that they love Rwanda since it is their parents’ country, and theirs too, adding that the country has so many beautiful places, and is safe.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Ndayisabye says that he has been dreaming about visiting his parents’ country of origin. "When I came, I was so happy to see the very clean country and the people are so nice. Rwanda has some beautiful national parks and the animals are better than what I see in US zoos.”
During their visit to Rwanda, Ndayisabye decided to use social media to share ideas and reviews on all of the places he managed to visit, like Kigali, Southern Province, and University of Rwanda - Huye Campus (his father’s former school). He also visited the Kigali Arena where he shot a video and shared the content on his YouTube Channel as well as other social media platforms.
Regarding touristic sites, Ndayisabye visited Nyungwe National Park, Amashyuza at Bugarama and later went to visit the Rwanda and Congo border between Rusizi and Kamanyora. Ndayisabye also visited Kivu in Rubavu District and the border of Rwanda and Congo in Goma. Thereafter, they visited Akagera National Park as he was interested in seeing the beautiful lakes and animals there.
Having fun at abeach along Lake Kivu.
In Kigali, he went to Kigali Convention Center, KBS, Gahanga Cricket Field, Fazenda Park, Nyandungu Eco-Tourism Park and the downtown area. For every visit, he shared pictures and videos on YouTube and other social media platforms.
Based on what he has seen in Rwanda, Ndayisabye urges parents all over the world to bring their kids to Rwanda, and calls on tourists to visit the country.
"Special thanks to my parents who brought me to Rwanda. Everyone living abroad with roots in Rwanda, please bring your children to visit home. I encourage you to visit Rwanda because you will experience the best,” he says.
He adds that as people visit Rwanda, they ought to buy Made in Rwanda products, not only for the sake of developing the country, but also due to the fact that Rwandans have good and amazing products that exude creativity and innovation.
His parents says that he is normally a curious boy who always asks questions. When he is at home, he tries to invent stuff, like assembling robots and likes to invent games on his computer. Ndayisabye says that he wants to be one of the most successful people and so his inspiration and role model is Elon Musk.
Ndayisabye so far has shown a lot of love towards nature and tourism in general and he dreams of being a YouTuber as he likes content creation, especially sharing information on what he sees as he travels.
Darek Inside the Kigali Arena.
He says that he is working on a short documentary that compares Rwanda to the US; looking at Made in Rwanda products, touristic sites, and all that he managed to see.
The father says, "We are so proud of Darek and we are ready to give him all the support he needs to get to his dreams. All the friends and relatives are so happy with what he has done so far,” adding that after their visit to Rwanda, some other families saw Darek’s content in videos and pictures and were motivated to do the same, that is, bring their children to visit Rwanda. Some have already come and others are yet to come.
Both his parents share that he didn’t face any challenges. Instead they say that he needs support from everyone.
"He needs encouragement from people and wants to see more tourists visit Rwanda,” say the parents.
The eight-year-old rides a horse at Fazenda in Kigali.
"I personally want to see parents from all over the world bring their children to Rwanda and buy from local markets. Rwanda is so amazing, I liked the local passion juice, and I was surprised to see some Made in Rwanda products with lots of creativity. No matter what, living abroad doesn’t change where we are from,” the eight-year-old says.