SYLVESTRE NSENGIMANA, is a local poet who has used his artistic gift to train youngsters to be prodigious stage performers through spoken word and acting. At a young age, he knew without a doubt that he would drive social change in communities, even though he hadn’t figured out how. At a tender age, the 28-year-old found creativity in everything. Having lost his younger brother at just one year and nobody to play with, Nsengimana sought means to occupy himself. The poet wrote about anything that crossed his mind and somehow found solutions to diverse problems. His zeal for writing poems was stirred while in form six at Groupe Scolaire Gary Scheer-Huye, when he wrote a poem that his teacher treasured and called upon other students to pick a leaf from him. While at university, he joined a theatre group that groomed him to act, write movie scripts, and direct movies, and before he joined Ubumuntu Art Festival, where he met several actors. Eventually, his stage fright faded, and he desired to use his talents like writing to inspire, and build hope amongst those that are heartbroken and traumatized. In 2018, the creative artist started his own company dubbed, “Umuti” Arts, a platform with which he could educate, stimulate, and entertain youth to believe in their capabilities through performing arts. The youngster also believed the platform would also be a tool for mental health. “Through poetry, we give a platform to young people to showcase their talents, on stage. Our community theatre involves communities and is aimed at providing social change,” Nsengimana said. He added that with festival theatre; he combines spoken word, music, and acting. He has so far been able to impact a number of people ranging from 15 years to 35 years. Nsengimana first poem he performed was titled, “Keep walking”, a message of hope, healing, humanity, and love. Today he has 45 poems to his name, including “Inkubiri”, “Nyobora ku idembe”, “Love one another”, “Caged”, “Ngarukirandatwa”, among others. One of his challenges in the industry, he says, is that the art industry is still raw, as locals haven’t embraced and understood poetry yet, while others don’t see the value of paying to watch stage performances. He also believes that artists lack collaboration among themselves and that they have failed to understand each other’s work and this has lagged them behind. “The materials used to produce good quality sound like quality cameras, sound recording studios are expensive, which has hindered the quality of local videos and performances to compete on the international scene,” he also shares. The writer is of the view that investors should also finance the creative art industry because Rwanda is blessed with many talented people who just lack financial support. Nsengimana is a graduate of Applied Statistics at the University of Rwanda.
