On the grapevine

Rwandan filmmaker, Ndahayo awarded Congratulations are in order! Latest from Hollywood is that a Rwandan filmmaker Gilbert Ndahoyo has won the Verona Jury Award. His post Genocide film ‘Behind This Convent’ was nominated the best African feature film. It’s rumoured that the filmmaker having endured much suffering, wants to express his sufferings to the entire world. “As a filmmaker we are engaged in the same quest of languages and signs to express values,” wrote Ndahoyo in an email to me this week. Ndahayo uses film to keep the memory of the Genocide alive and heal his own heart. We have heard that the winning filmmaker celebrated his victory alone at Taj Mahal restaurant in Manhattan, New York, where he went for his favourite dish – chicken masala. A mothers love Jen Lemen first met Odette in a playground in 2007. Odette had seemed distressed and asked to borrow her cell phone, Jen handed it over without question. Recalls Jen, “I didn’t ask any questions, but that brief exchange opened the door to a friendship that has turned my world upside down.” Odette is among the lucky Rwandans who survived the Genocide. She left two daughters behind in the hopes of making a better life for all of them in the United States and eventually bringing her daughters to her. In the spring of 2008, Odette and Jen worked together to find a way to bring the girls to the United States. Then it dawned on Jen that while Odette couldn’t travel to Rwanda to see her girls, Jen could. And that is how Jen found herself on her way to Africa a little over a month later. In May, Jen arrived in Rwanda holding one mother’s love and care in her heart to be poured directly to the hearts of two young Rwandan girls who she had never met her before. Jen writes, “As the first white woman in anyone’s memory to sleep in the village, I spent each night in a mud hut with Odette’s girls in my arms and more love in my heart than I knew was humanly possible.” Is MC Monday making a come back? Good news for all fans of MC Monday! It’s rumoured that the humorous singer, also known as 2Pack, is spending sleepless nights working on a new album. Scouts have revealed that his song ‘Inyoni yadunze’, which dominated our airwaves some time back, was banned because of its unseemly contents. Hopefully, the singer learnt his lesson and is busy writing lyrics that won’t offend. Contact: lindaonly2005@yahoo.com