The Harrowing Story of the 'Children of Sin'

June 1, 2022 - Exactly 60 years after the independence of Rwanda and Burundi, the three-part documentary series Metissen of Belgium tells the disconcerting history of more than 300 metis from the Belgian colonial period in Rwanda.

The makers of the series do this on the basis of the life stories of three of them: Jaak, Paul and Jacqueline.

As illegitimate children of a white father and a black mother, they were taken from their mother by the Belgian government and placed in Save's boarding school in Rwanda. Just before independence, they also had to leave there and were rushed to Belgium.

There they ended up uprooted and traumatized in an adoptive family or an orphanage. They were events that marked the rest of their lives. It was only in 2015 that they gained access to their official file and were able to search for their roots.

A production by The Chinese for Canvas.

Research by Ken Kamanayo and Laura Uwase, among others. Ken is the son of filmmaker Georges Kamanayo, who was also a 'child of Save' himself.

The story begins in the 'boarding school of Save', in the south of Rwanda. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Belgian government placed more than 300 children of white colonial fathers and black mothers there. They were very small when they were sometimes literally snatched from their mother's arms because they did not fit into the colonial system. In Save, these 'children of sin' received a special education according to white standards, far away from their 'inept black mothers' and the 'inferior African society'. Their lives changed drastically and forever.

Kidnapped and uprooted

The children's agony didn't stop in Save. Just before independence, they were removed from the boarding school and flown to Belgium. It looked like a humanitarian action, but in fact they were kidnapped a second time from their natural environment. While their mothers were left with grief, the children in Belgium were placed in orphanages or foster families, where they often fare no better.

In many cases, their identities had also changed. Finding traces of their roots was almost impossible. Many therefore had a disrupted existence, full of traumas and scars. It wasn't until 2015, when most were in their 60s, that they were given access to their official records in which some discovered the name of their biological parents for the first time.

Looking for their roots

The series follows the exemplary quest of three of these now retired 'metis of Belgium'. We see how, with the new information from their files, they can only really start looking for their roots, for unexpected relatives in Belgium and in Africa. Their quest and daily struggle is supplemented with interviews of other metis from Save. They clearly show that it was not about a few isolated cases, but that there is a system behind their story.

They are strong testimonies of scarred, but resilient people who discover that behind the burden of their existence as a colonial metis lies a whole wealth.

Episode 1: Jake

In the first episode we follow Jaak, a successful retired police detective from the Kempen. Sixty years after his traumatic transfer to Belgium, he tries to come to terms with his past. Quite a challenge, because although he seems cheerful and cheerful, the old injuries are still very painful. He has the feeling that he has failed as a father because of his uprooted existence. That is why he finds it important to involve his eldest son Johan, with whom he has always had a difficult relationship, in his research.

Using his colonial files, he shows Johan how for years the Belgian authorities hid essential information about his identity and origin. He tells how, as a boy of six, he was abruptly taken by his mother from Gisenyi in northern Rwanda and taken to the Save Institute in the south of the country. There his life changed forever.

Jaak also takes his son to Villa Bambino, the infamous orphanage in Schoten, where many metis children ended up after they were transferred to Belgium. On Saturday they were dressed properly, because then there were 'viewing days' for candidate foster parents who could take a child on a trial basis for the weekend. If the child did not meet the expectations, they could drop it back at the orphanage with the same ease. The children themselves did not know what was happening to them and piled up one traumatic goodbye after another.

Jaak and Johan are also going to Rwanda together for the first time. They visit the current site in Save, which still consists of a boarding school and a monastery. They also look for Jaak's roots in Gisenyi. It becomes a journey that leads to unexpected discoveries and encounters, which finally provide Jaak with solid ground in his existence. And who at the same time ensure that there is rapprochement between him and his son.

Episode 2: Jacqueline

In the second episode we follow the quest of Jacqueline, one of the youngest children in the Institute of Save. She doesn't remember much about that period, except that she had to learn to walk again after she had polio. Her childhood with her adoptive family in Belgium, on the other hand, is still vivid in her mind. It was hell, marked by loneliness and abuse.

After sixty years, she finally feels ready for a real search for her roots. She hopes to find information about her birthplace and her biological parents. The quest must provide answers to its existential questions.

To her great surprise, Jacqueline turns out to have a half-brother in Belgium. This discovery strengthens her to continue the search in her native country. The chance is small but not non-existent that her Rwandan mother is still alive. She hopes to find her again and finally be able to ask why she was given up and why she had to go through life as an orphan.

Full of courage, she goes in search of answers to identity questions that should also alleviate the suffering from her youth.

Episode 3: Paul

In the third episode we follow Paul, a retired piano teacher from Aalst.

The metis were always told that they were unwanted and that their mothers were women of easy virtue. Paul has also always been convinced that he was a nuisance to his Rwandan mother and that he therefore had to leave for Belgium. Taken in tow by a friend, he found her years ago.

Despite the physical reunion, language and cultural differences have always created a great emotional distance that has prevented Paul from asking her the most fundamental questions. Does she actually love him? Why did she not care that he left for Belgium? And not unimportant: what kind of person was his biological father?

Paul is one of the few metis whose mother is still alive. But she is old, there is no time to lose. Together with his daughter Liesbeth, he returns to Rwanda to break down the barriers between them and finally build a real bond with his mother. If he wants answers, this is his last chance.

.