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From mean streets to suburban streets
After surviving near death in Rwanda, 15-year-old Taka
Larson of Maple Grove now finds success, happiness on ice rink

by Andy Greder

"Overcoming adversity," has become a clich in sports. If it's succeeding on fourth down or flourishing late in the third period, the wide world of sports has tossed out this saying haphazardly.

Once you hear the story of Taka Larson, you learn its meaning in the true sense.

On the surface, Taka, the adopted son of Nancy and Kyle Larson, is an average 15-year-old Maple Grove boy who's had his fair share of athletic successes. When you dig a little deeper, however, you quickly see that his early childhood was anything but average as he had experienced more adversity than most suburban teenagers could ever imagine.

POLITICAL TURMOIL
To fully understand the obstacles Taka has overcome, one must first understand the political turmoil that has long engulfed his native country.

Taka was born in the small African country of Rwanda, which has two major ethnic groups, the Tutsi and the Hutu (Taka is Hutu). At the time, the Tutsi were the ruling 20% minority and the Hutu were the oppressed 80% majority. The sign of wealth in Rwanda is the number of cattle owned. The Tutsi had a monopoly on the cattle and it forced the Hutu into labor. The affluent Tutsi also had better opportunities to receive education and the classes stayed separate for many decades.

A victory for the Hutu was achieved in 1994 when the first democratic Hutu president was elected. This was a monumental occurrence because every previous president had been a right wing Tutsi. The major policy point of the new president was that he would treat both groups the same.

This policy upset the radical Hutu, or the Interhamwe, because they didn't feel that both groups were equal. They wanted only their interests represented. The Interhamwe took matters into their own hands and assassinated the new president.

Another radical scheme that the Interhamwe had devised was the set up of militias throughout the country. Then the Interhamwe spread slanderous propaganda about the Tutsi to these militias and the common people on the only radio station in Rwanda. The Hutu heard these things and after years of oppression began to believe it.

These guerrillas also told the people to be ready for an attack. The attack was genocide. They were to go to villages and kill the highest-ranking Tutsi. They also went after their families and any sympathizers.

In the following two and a half months more than 800,000 people were killed by guerrillas using rocks, machetes and hoes. During this outrage there was no foreign intervention. The United Nations had a contingent there but pulled out after six of their peacekeepers were killed. The United States did nothing to intervene.

A similar incident occurred in 1965, when the Hutu forced the targeted elite Tutsi to flee to neighboring African countries. During their exile, the Tutsi bought weapons from the Soviet Union, and in 1994 stepped back in to defend their brethren. With the superior weapons, the Tutsi were able to overthrow the Hutu and regain power of Rwanda.

STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL

Taka lived in a grass hut on a remote hillside in the Birunga National Forest in the southern part of the country. His family was peasant farmers. Their low standard of living forced Taka to work as a 5 year old. His daily tasks were collecting firewood, carrying water, and working in the fields.

A typical day in spring 1994 was the start of a defining period that this young boy would never forget. As he and his family were going about their work in the fields, a woman reminiscent of Paul Revere came running up the hillside screaming, "the soldiers are coming, the soldiers are coming!" The woman was warning her neighbors that the Tutsi exiles had returned and were on a rampage of total destruction.

Taka recalls the next few minutes as chaos. His family was scrambling to grab what they could and run for the cover of the woods. His mother, Ahmkiapha, carried one of Taka's younger stepbrothers while Taka's stepfather did the same, leaving Taka to run as fast as his short legs could muster.

LONG JOURNEY

With the civil unrest that had developed in Rwanda, there was only one choice for Taka and his family and that was to seek refuge in a neighboring country. The closest country was Tanzania and that would require several weeks of walking.

As Taka's family members approached the Tanzanian border they were saddened to see the borders closed because the country had already allowed in millions of refugees. The only other neighboring country with open borders was Zaire and that was a three-month journey across their homeland. Dire straights left Taka and his family no choice but to push toward Zaire.

The road they traveled on soon became crowded. They were on foot in 100-degree heat. The journey soon became painful and exhausting as food and water were scarce. Taka described his feet as blistering, bloody objects.

FENDING FOR HIMSELF

The journey from Tanzania to Zaire was into its second month when an explosion and ensuing gunfight broke out separating Taka from his family. He recalls searching for someone wearing a red shirt in hopes that it was the one his mother was wearing but he couldn't find her anywhere. He said he was distraught with loneliness and it consumed him to tears. However, he remembers thinking that he had no choice and that he had to continue walking.

As he continued on, Taka passed soldier-controlled checkpoints and without his mother to show his identification card or his "credit card," as the 5-year-old would later reminisce, he was at their mercy. Taka said, not long after the incident, "Depending upon what the credit (identification) card said, the soldiers would let you pass or put a gun to your stomach and fire. The people would then lay down and go to sleep."

In fear, the innocent boy would later run through or around the checkpoints.

At night he would sneak up on strangers' campfires for warmth until being chased away. For food he would eat grubs from trees.

NEARLY KILLED

As Taka neared the Zairian border, he was struck over the head with a machete and left for dead. Luckily, a stranger bandaged his head and placed him on the side of the road. A medical transport noticed Taka and took him to the Israeli Military Hospital in Goma, Zaire. At the hospital, doctors tried to take skin grafts from his legs to repair his head wounds but the skin would not bond due to infection.

Nancy Larson was a relief worker at the Israeli Hospital and noticed this young, charismatic boy that was sitting on a stack of supplies. Medical personnel called him "king of the hill" and everyone at the hospital knew of Taka for his outgoing and mischievous personality.

"He grabbed at your heart and wheeled you in by his animated gestures to communicate," Larson said.

After another surgery at the nearby French Hospital, Taka still needed more medical attention. The plan was to have pro bono surgery performed at New York University. Taka was on his way to the United States. He was one of the only Rwandan refugees allowed in the country and he would go on to have a total of eight surgeries that miraculously reconstructed his face and head.

MOTHER'S ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

Ahmkiapha, Taka's mother, would later return to the family's grass hut without any of her three children. She saw Taka's picture in a book of missing children. The Rwandan officials didn't believe her because Taka was now widely known for his story of survival. She later proved that Taka was truly her child and found out that he was alive and recovering in the United States.
She would later make the ultimate sacrifice when she allowed Taka to be adopted by Nancy and Kyle Larson of Maple Grove, so he could pursue a better life. Ahmkiapha's strength was shown in her will to sacrifice her only son and is a trait that Taka carries on today.

SPORTS PLAY KEY ROLE

As a get-well gift after one of Taka's final surgeries, Larson family friend Steve Gilkerson gave Taka a hockey stick. After the surgery, the IV in Taka's arm couldn't stop him from getting out of bed to try out his new stick.

Gilkerson, with his gift of a hockey stick, ignited a passion for sports that Taka carries over to today. Taka has since played football, baseball, track, and hockey.

"We call him the energizer bunny," said coach Tim Steele, who coached Taka in youth hockey and football. "He will go from a two-a-day football practice to a hockey practice and still have energy."

The sport that Taka thrives in is hockey. He plays for the Osseo-Maple Grove Hockey Association and was selected to compete in the Minnesota Hockey Summer Festival in St. Cloud this summer. The camp invited the top 102 Minnesota Hockey players born in 1989.

Gilkerson is not the only one who sparked that sports passion. Taka's next door neighbor in Maple Grove - Andrew Derksen - took Taka under his wing when he was adopted and treated him as his brother.

"Andrew showed him everything from swing sets to Popsicle sticks and of course hockey sticks," said Nancy Larson.

"He never stops smiling," said coach Matt Theiler, another one of Taka's coaches in hockey and baseball. "He is a great kid with a great attitude who happens to have an above average ability."

KEEPING IN TOUCH

Since the adoption, Nancy Larson has sent pictures of Taka to Ahmkiapha. One picture in particular stuck out. It was Taka on ice in skates outside of Rockefeller Center in New York.

What a different world. His childhood started with the fear of death if he associated with his Rwandan neighbors to now playing freely in the street with his new American friend.

Taka has gone from running through and around militia checkpoints to running through and around defenders on fields and rinks. He said his opportunity to play sports and his passion for them couldn't have happened without an unconditional love from his mother.
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wow... This kid is a senior right now. I ran track with him 3 years ago, and I've managed him in Football. Just a great, amazing dude. I just learned about all this tonight. You always hear about these stories... but they all seem so distant. It just hit me hard that someone I know has been through all this crap and is still in extremely good spirits.