Dieudonné Gakire, 27, is a writer, social entrepreneur and public speaker. He believes in the power of storytelling, and continues to speak publicly to encourage young people to join forces in finding solutions to the problems of community development and reconciliation in post-conflict societies. He is currently pursuing a degree in International Relations at Amsterdam University College, and also serves as the vice president of The Netherlands’ chapter of IBUKA, a survivor organisation that promotes justice, memory, and peacebuilding. He shares with Weekender how he joined the industry without formal art classes. How you join the art industry? It is a long journey that might be tough to explain but most of the time, it is art that chooses you and pushes you to join. Naturally, I enjoy listening and recounting stories, therefore, my story started at such a young age. I remember asking my colleagues to document their life stories and they all failed, so I drafted them and I got positive feedback. That was the birth of my art. What are some of the books that you have written so far? I wrote “A Dreaming Child”, a book about how the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi affected children in Rwanda and “A Gift to the World”. The rest of my works are research-based articles, while my books are stored in the world’s greatest libraries like Stanford University and Columbia University, where people can buy and access my works. What has art helped you achieve? Art helps one to create and imagine new things. It opened my eyes, gave me fame and took me to higher places in Rwanda and abroad. I attended large festivals like International Book Fair for Bogota, in Columbia, and Uganda Writevism Festival, where I was invited and given several platforms to express my views. I even got a scholarship to pursue my studies in The Netherlands because of the message I give through art, yet I majored in electricity during high school. How does your art impact the community? I use my art to build creativity and encourage young people from all walks of life to be part of change through capacity building workshops, cultural exchange initiatives and sustainable development programmes. I have a global radiant youth organisation through which we conduct a festival called “Youth Voice Festival”. We also carry out social youth exchange campaigns, it also entails a networking fair between Rwandan youths and their Diaspora colleagues as well as other foreigners to cement a mutual bond between youth in Rwanda and beyond. In Rwanda we are situated at Imfura Arts Centre, three days ago, we were at Lycée de Rusatira in Southern Province and we went to Ruhango, Kibagabaga for the same campaign. It has a centre which I founded, built a school for them and provided them with reading materials from money earned though my art. But I also got support from my supporters because art gives you supporters who listen to you and help you grow. Can one earn a decent living from art or are they required to have a side hustle? There are campaigns that aim at developing freedom of expression around the globe. I was paid 1000 Euros for a thirty minutes’ poem. What are your future goals? I am a grand enemy of inequality. My goal is to do the best to support villages so that they can be able to develop and compete with urban areas. This is to also show people who believe that wealth can only be reached in towns. As a matter of fact, all of those superstars we see were upcountry. Dieudonné Gakire.
