Bonitah Kobusingye is a writer, blogger, and a student at Mt Kenya University. She is the ambassador of Girl Talk, Rwanda, a women’s rights organisation that provides an open dialogue for women. She is also the co- founder of the Outdoor movie. The 21-year-old talked to Sunday Magazine’s Sharon Kantengwa about the Outdoor movie night and feminism. When and how did the idea of outdoor movie night first come to mind? I got this idea when I was with my friend and partner Denise Mwiza in 2016 when we were trying to find something to do outdoors at night other than going to a bar or watching a movie at the cinema. I think later on, we were watching a movie and we saw the same thing happening. We just said to ourselves, “we should do the same in Rwanda occasionally.” Our initial idea was to do a driving movie but then most of our target audience don’t have cars and so we settled for the outdoor movie. It’s more like in a cinema setting but people sit down and we choose a movie that relates with whatever is happening in society. We started off with a smaller budget but with the help of friends, it happened and we have been getting more ideas since. We have organised three outdoor movie nights so far with one in Gisenyi. What can you say of the experience so far? and have your expectations been met yet? The first time that we showed the movie, we didn’t expect people to turn up. We thought that only friends and family would come and support but the turn up was really huge. I can say that we had around 300 people at the very first screening and everything was good because we had done our research very well, got approval from the police and followed all the procedures that we were told to do. The music, the DJ, and the vibe all turned out well. The second one, in Gisenyi, was also basically for people to have fun and the turn up was also good, because people were not just there for the movie but the ambiance too. The last one had a few challenges, there were lots of events happening at the time, weddings, because it was July and so the turn up was fair, but it was okay. We know why the turn up was bad and we have learned from that. What are your overall goals for this outdoor movie screening? When we started this event, our aim was for people to have a good time. We wanted Rwandans to have something to look out for. The money was coming from our pockets and we had sponsors who were helping us, so we needed to make the returns. I think that the Rwandan entertainment industry is not active enough, because in the previous year we had parties that we always looked forward to but they hardly happen now. The entertainment sector here keeps diminishing and so I think we need to have more exciting things to look forward to and enjoy, especially with the tourism industry growing, we need to also have an assurance that visitors will come to Rwanda and enjoy different activities. There are so many opportunities that Rwandans can explore to grow the entertainment industry. What does feminism mean to you and what makes you passionate about it? First of all, I am naturally an assertive and very outspoken person. I know what I want and will go for it because I have gone over the barriers that society has set for me. This is why I was able to organise the outdoor movie night. I grew up around many women and seeing them being independent and overcoming barriers for me depicted what I wanted to be in life. Feminism has given me a picture that I can clearly follow. Feminism has also taught me to be kind to people by giving me a clear view of what the world is like. Recently I met a guy who knew me from twitter but he told me that I was ‘too much’ and he lost my respect because he thinks that girls should not talk. As a feminist I am serious when I ought to be and I can still live a wild life without being labelled, and to me that is what feminism is about. Do you feel that Rwandans understand what feminism is about? My mother and aunties are feminists and they raised me that way, although they didn’t have that word to accompany it with the experiences. My mother is a fierce human being and to me the things she did for her family showed that she has always been a feminist. So when people say that the idea of feminism is imported from western countries, it’s false. Well, probably we would thank them for giving us the language to use, like patriarchy, and feminism but it has always been there. If you go through history, you find lots of women who were really radical. Feminism in Rwanda has a bad connotation and it’s all wrong but it’s a process. We have had countries like South Africa where feminists were raped and the progress that has gone on overtime is so huge. It’s a slow process but we will get there but we have to keep fighting. I am a proud feminist and I will continue to be that way. I believe that you don’t have to be loud or abuse men to show that you are a feminist. I started off as a very silent feminist but you have to be accountable to what happens and point it out. It’s a matter of learning that some things are not natural and can be changed and that’s what Girl Talk is about, changing the whole narrative of feminism being a bad thing for women and directing it to a new image. As a feminist, events organiser and writer, what are you most passionate about? I am mostly passionate about writing because I blog too. I used to be an entertainment minister in high school and so I had that entertainment bit in me. But when I break it down, I want to express my entertainment bit and feminism through writing. I hope that I will grow in writing. What are your plans? We plan to take Girl Talk out of Kigali to secondary schools. This is something that we are still working on but we want to grow it and expand it. We are also taking it to Nairobi and Kampala to create a platform for women who want to contribute to gender equality as well. For the outdoor movie we want to make it better, get more fun stuff to do and work with sponsors.
