Most women will shun work in bars and nightclubs because of fear for what people will say, so they sit at home instead. Shadia Saidi not only manages a hotel bar, a job that ensures she is up all night, six nights a week, she is also a budding local movie actor with appearances in a few Hillywood movies.

Talk about Shadia, the actor

Well, I love acting because I believe that to act in a movie is to teach. Acting is in me. If it’s time to cry I will cry, and if it’s time to switch to laughter I will change immediately. I believe that you don’t have to learn to act; you just have to have it in you.

I have acted in a few Hilly wood movies, like Amapingu y’Urukundo (Love chains, Parts 1 and 2), Amapingu y’Icyaha (Part 2), and Siyo Herezo (Parts 1 and 2).

To make Amapingu y’Urukundo, we formed a group of 16 members and we pooled money to make the movie. In the movie I acted as Jovia, a girl who is in love with a poor man, although her parents disapprove of him in favour of a rich and powerful older man.

It was one of the first local movies based on a love story, and it’s still loved. Up to now, people still recognize me as Jovia whenever I walk on the street. I think I can’t fail to get a job anywhere because people know me.

I enjoy love stories and horror movies most. I usually watch my movies alone, behind closed doors so that I avoid any interruptions.

Shadia, the bar manager

Today, she is the manager of the O’Connell’s Bar at The Manor Hotel in Nyarutarama, which she joined last year as a supervisor. Interestingly, she studied Biochemistry at Ecole Secondaire Islamique (ESSI), in Nyamirambo.

Her hotel career started at the then Khana Khazana restaurant (now Indian Khazana), in Kiyovu where she worked as a hostess and customer care manager.

"After Khana Khazana I worked with Nokia Distributors –the official Nokia dealership in Rwanda as Sales Manager for six years, then came to The Manor. I worked for eight months then joined Babilax Construction company as chief personnel officer. When the company folded after one year, I returned to my previous job at The Manor.”

"It’s not an easy job especially for a woman,” Shadia laments, "because being a bar, some men will always disturb you, so you have to be careful and clever. You have to talk to such a client respectfully and in a polite way because you can’t afford to lose them.”

Her staff includes both boys and girls, but mostly girls, "because it’s mostly men who come to the bar, and most of them prefer female service. The way that men and women serve is different. If you have only female staff, some female clients won’t be happy. I have to be there till the last customer leaves, whether they are taking just water.”

Women and work

She believes that there is a big difference between a woman who works and one who does not work.

"Working is so nice. Women and girls need to work to keep themselves busy, because we need many things –makeup, nice shoes, a car, and a good life. Without a job a woman is easily forced into another life. Working earns you money but it also keeps you busy. When you are confident, even the men who meet you will respect you.”

The other side of Shadia

Away from movies and managing a bar, Shadia’s other passions lie in the sport of kung-fu and karate, skills that she values so much, because "it helps in self defense”. She was introduced to karate at the tender age of six.