Before improvised video shacks were closed down in Kigali, many young people used to while away most of their time in the shacks watching movies and football. According to George a former resident of Giporoso in Remera, the video shacks used to be a popular hangout for young people. Many young people talked to, say that it was because of the cheap entrance fee charged in several video shacks and halls that they became popular with students and young unemployed people before they were banned a couple of years a go. “On many occasions, I used to pay just one hundred Rwandan francs to watch the latest movie which in most cases would not be available anywhere else” says a young man hanging who used to hang around video halls in Nyamirambo before the demise of the video shacks in Kigali. He says his name is Kamali, and now years after the closure of the shacks, he mostly prefers to watch movies at a friend’s home in town. It is not surprising to find a recently premiered movie being watched in a video shack in any African country before it is even officially distributed. Jackson (23) says this is one of the reasons that attracted him to watch movies from video shacks, many years ago. According to one Barya, it was not surprising to find young people especially the school going type watching movies in shacks around town. “From how they used to dress and their general appearance, these young people who would move in groups seemed to be from affluent families, but this never stopped them from going to shacks in the slums to watch videos”. However he adds that many of them preferred to watch the movies from the Video halls in the outskirts of the city rather than the comfort of their parents’ homes. “I enjoyed watching movies with my buddies during school holidays rather than being bored at home with all my family around” says Claude Murenzi. He adds “At home we are always many people and sometimes we do not agree easily on which movie to watch especially when my sisters are at home”. But the movies that were popular in many of the video halls became a big time cause of concern to some people especially parents, and also the authorities who according to Barya could have been the reason for the closure of the Video Shacks. Jean-Claude, says that his mother was always suspicious as to why he was not always interested in watching what she thought was the more educative Nigerian movies from Nollywood. “I liked watching thrillers that were always readily available in Nyamirambo, and I would not be allowed to watch them at home. So I would go out and watch from out there”. Mutembe, a father of four teenage boys says that the demise of the video shack was a blessing since parents could never know all that transpired in Video shacks. He says that he could never allow his kids to go to video halls to watch movies. He adds “These are places that used to be frequented by drug addicts. That is not the company any parent would want for his or her children. They could have easily got spoilt”. Indeed many video halls used to be a meeting point for bayaye or idlers, and this was always a cause for concern to many parents and adults. Worse still it is also widely perceived that many people who used to hang around video halls were not only drug addicts but would always be on the lookout for people to buy drugs like Marijuana. In most cases many people who frequented video halls used to remove their shirts and shout on top of their voices as they watched recent blockbuster movies just released from Hollywood. What was mostly missing from such video shacks according to Kabahizi a movie fan who frequented Video shacks was the Bollywood produced Indian films. He says this could have been due to the unpopularity of such movies with most young people who were regulars at the shacks. “Most of the movies viewed in these halls were Hollywood stuff. You would rarely find those unpopular Indian flicks” says Kabahizi with a rather cocky frown playing on his lips. With sweat dripping from their bodies, energetic young men would while away their time in such places after doing casual work like fetching water for a fee in many of the less affluent Kigali suburbs like Nyamirambo. At the same time according to Kabahizi they were destined to be closed because they promoted laziness among the youths. Many people looking for cheap casual laborers would always go to the shacks and be sure to find them in the vicinity of the video shacks in town slums. The lots of stuff that happened inside the halls were yet an attraction for young unskilled people who lacked formal employment. “Most of us never used to have daily work to do, so staying around video shacks was a way of getting entertainment and they served as meeting points” says Gaaga who used to frequent Video halls in the Giporoso area of Remera before they were banned in 2005. Now a couple of years after the closure of many of the video shacks in Kigali, he has moved on and owns a motor bike he uses to make money by transporting people. Contact: frankkagabo@yahoo.com
