Changing lives and leaving a mark is what 25-year-old King Ngabo longs for. The artist, poet and author stresses that what fills his heart with joy is contributing to other’s success, creativity and talents. This is what inspired Ngabo to start the Kiyovu-based “Ingabo Corner”, a creative space that aims at offering a platform to endowed artists, poets, photographers, and authors to showcase their work for free. Ngabo believes that there are many talented people who have given up on their abilities for lack of support and not earning from their crafts. King Ngabo. “Having noticed a number of capable artists struggling to sell their art pieces, I thought of giving them space to display and sell their work. On every piece we sell, I earn 20 per cent from it. So far the place is serving the purpose for which it was formed. Young people have developed a thirst for drawing even more, knowing that they can be paid for their efforts,” he says. Before the new Covid -19 restrictions, Ngabo would organise poetry nights at a cost where poets recited poems, and earned from them, a thing he says inspired them a lot. For authors, he invites them for book conversations, to explain more about their books to the public, or sharing ideas about different books, which expands their knowledge and builds connections as well. His space has a conducive environment suitable for people who want to read books. “I offer painting lessons on canvas to artists and traditional dancing coaching to young people as I realised some of them don’t know our culture, both the language and dances, but also the history of the Rwanda to be proud of their country,” he says. Ngabo’s future plans are to offer creative education and inspire young people to have creative business minds. He also looks forward to opening up a library to boost the reading culture. Some of the challenges he encounters are lack of enough connections that a number of people haven’t discovered his place. He would also want to expand his business but lacks enough capital to do so. He has no doubt that with financial support; he can bring all his ideas to life. Ngabo’s space also consists of a restaurant just in case one wishes to have what to eat; or drink. This year, he started a program dubbed, “One client, one free plate to vulnerable people” to give food to street kids and vulnerable people. The number of clients he gets a day at the restaurant, is equivalent to the number of deprived people he gives food a day. His vision is not only to give food but also to provide them with shelter, among other skills like culinary, drawing and basic skills to assist them fulfill their dreams. He is hopeful that he can accomplish this, by partnering with NGOs. Ngabo’s passion for writing instigated from a young age. He was exposed to reading news papers and all other kinds of literature, which was swift for him to start composing poems. He loves writing Christian poems as he wants to convey to the public the message of repentance and accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior. Some of his poems include; “My mama’s old Bible”, “Quiet place, my old best friend”, “Mama do you feel blessed too?”, “My big house, home for all”, among others. Resonating with children mostly and connecting with them easily, he loves writing children’s books. He started writing books in 2020, and so far published three, that is, “Cake or God”, “Keza and Karabo”, and “Intare in the farm.” The author is currently writing two novels. While pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Finance at the Kigali Independent University-ULK in Gisenyi, in 2015, the youngster was employed in a cement manufacturing company where he saved some money with hopes of starting his own business at the right time. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, his job was affected just like many others, and he decided to return to Kigali. However, to his disappointment, he noticed that some of his old friends he had studied with had completely changed in character-they had got wasted in drugs and alcohol. “I was touched when I looked at how my friends were living life without a purpose, hence creating the space that would motivate people to be creative, motivated, and have constructive conversations,” he says. In order for people not to lose focus, Ngabo made sure that his restaurant doesn’t sell any alcoholic drinks for fear of turning it into a bar. However much he says that many people have tried to advise him that he won’t earn money without selling alcoholic drinks, he has offered a deaf ear. For him, he believes that alcohol would divert people and end up not using the space for its purpose.
