SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Cedric Kiiza is one of the 90 boys at ‘Les enfants de dieu’, a home of former street children.  

Three years after bidding farewell to street life, Kiiza is on course to achieve his career dream.  Currently a primary three pupil at Ecole Primarie Munini, his dream career is to become a professional artist or an accomplished drummer.

"I enjoy drumming not because it is entertaining but because it’s like a sport; my whole body is active when I drum. While drumming, I use my brain to think about stirring rhythms. It’s a very exciting moment for me,” Kiiza says.  

The eloquent Kiiza says that the acting lessons, provided by Kaami Arts, have helped him build his confidence. 

"I can now openly speak in public without being scared thanks to the acting lessons I get from Kaami Arts. 

Last year we performed at different schools and places under our drama group. The play was about ways in which children and parents can communicate so that children stop running away from home and going to the streets,” Kiiza narrates.  

Kiiza says that with the different skills he has attained, nothing can influence him into going back to the streets. 

Les enfentas de dieu, which can be loosely translated as "Children of God”, was founded in 2002 as a home for former street children. The home is situated in Gasabo district, Ndera sector and was started by Jajdin Hussain Jaffer who is currently 81-years old. Although Jaffer visits the home a few times a month, his family members are involved in some day to day activities of the home.

In 2013, Kaami Arts, an initiative by a group of artists to provide skills and share knowledge and love of art to people while using it for social change was born. That same year, the initiative joined hands with the home and offered assistance by training the children in performing arts, something that could help them in their search for a better future.

Charles Hazabintwali, the project coordinator at ‘Les enfants de dieu’ says that the training Kaami Arts offers the boys has influenced positive behavioural change. 

"Most of the children here had lost hope in life, but performing art is helping them get out of the distressful and traumatic situations they encountered while living on the street.  The trainings have helped these boys to discover their talents,” Hazabintwali explains. 

Kaami Arts holds its trainings at Les enfants de dieu’ in performing arts – drama - as well as dance and drumming. 

"We can see the impact of the trainings based on their behaviour change. We had children who were loners and very anti-social, but after several training sessions, these same children opened up and interacted with others,” Hazabintwali says. 

The women of Kaami Arts

Kaami Arts recently won the Reach for Change award because of its impressive project ideas that were presented by Martine Umulisa, the legal representative and co-founder of the initiative. 

Umulisa is currently away in Tunisia but Sonia Uwimbabazi, another co -founder of Kammi Arts and the deputy legal representative spoke to Women Today about the day-to-day activities of Kaami Arts. 

"We are particularly child driven and our ideas are aimed at stimulating expression and creativity of children through arts and helping the disadvantaged to prevent the phenomena of street children. Art has the power in shaping the person’s goals and dreams for the future,” says Uwimbabazi. 

Uwimbabazi, a professional actress, director and painter, trains children. 

 "We chose to train children because we believe that as a child it’s easy to discover artistic abilities which I think help in shaping the way they look at life. Our mission is to develop arts while using it for the well being of children through training, creation, production, performance, debates and discussions and other artistic activities,” Uwimbabazi adds. 

As the winner of Reach for Change, Kaami Arts will receive $25,000 (about Rwf 17m) annually for the next three years to facilitate its activities. 

Regarding what inspired the founding of Kaami Arts, Umwibabazi says she was raised in a society that never appreciated art.  " It was regarded as something for children and failures in society (Imburamukoro). Arts are neither considered lucrative nor important to the growth of society. Therefore, society misses the opportunity to use this very important element of culture for individuals as well as societal development.”

Uwimbabazi says Kaami Arts’ aim is to address these misconceptions and show that arts can be a lucrative venture in society. 

"We train the children on different forms of art and encourage them to learn to do art and they are encouraged to keep on doing it. We believe they will be professional artists or gain skills that can help them in life while making informed choices about their future,” Uwimbabazi explains.

Jacqueline Umubyeyi, a trainer with Kaami Arts and also a Kinyarwanda/culture teacher at Green Hills Academy says that the joy the children have before the drumming lessons is something that keeps her going as an arts trainer.

"When the children see me at the entrance (Les Enfants De Dieu), they come running to me with joy saying that the drum teacher has come and it’s a great feeling. The look on their faces during the training sessions is so encouraging. As a professional drummer, I train a group of about 10 to 15 children depending on the number of drums that are available,” Umubyeyi says. 

She trains the children at Les Enfants De Dieu how to drum during holidays for at least an hour, three days a week. 

"Besides being an art and also entertaining, drumming is therapy. While drumming, the person tends to forget their sorrow and live the moment. It’s also another way through which one can release stress. I will say it’s also a lucrative talent that should be passed on from generation to generation,” Umubyeyi says. 

In the earlier years, it was a taboo for a woman to drum; Umubyeyi says that she has also faced criticism during her journey to her drumming passion.

"I started drumming in 2004 while I was a student at the National University of Rwanda. I remember I had gone to the university arts centre to learn how to play a guitar when I saw a notice that said women drummers were needed, I automatically abandoned the guitar lessons and went to get lessons in drumming. I drummed in Ingoma Nshya Drum Troupe and I can say it helped me reach places that I never expected,” Umubyeyi says.    

Ingoma Nshya is Rwanda’s first ever women’s drumming group that is based in Huye District. 

Reach for Change award

Reach for Change in Africa together with Tigo Rwanda identify and support social entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to transform the lives of children in the region.

Pierre Kayitana, Tigo’s public relations officer and events manager, said that they received over 600 applications for the 2014 Reach for Change competition.

"From the 600 project applications received, only 21 projects were shortlisted and a jury selected two winners,” Kayitana said. 

The partnership not only provides  funds to the winning  project but it also helps implement the programme and supports social entrepreneurs with technology and expertise of an innovative idea that could be developed into a sustainable venture to better the lives of children.

Reach for change aims to combine the non-profit sector’s visionary approach with business professionalism and the public sector’s agreement on the need for social responsibility.

Martine Umulisa of Kaami Arts and Gaspard Twagirayezu, the founder of Creation Hill, a technology firm emerged winners of this year’s Tigo Reach for Change Awards.

The awards focus on projects that promote children’s welfare and were organised by Tigo and Reach for Change, a Swedish non-profit organisation that supports children and youth causes. Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems.