Under the theme "healing is a journey”, on the evening of June 25, Divine Akimana in partnership with Rwanda National Commission of UNESCO (CNRU) and Kigali Public Library launched her poetry book that tackles her journey and mental health issues.

The book is called "Scars That Shape Up” where the author refers to scars as the struggles people go through, adding that they impact their present and as well help them plan for their future.

The event gathered different book lovers and literary activists.

Book talk – healing is a journey

Scars That Shape Us contains 97 poems divided into two parts; mental health and activism. The author said that she was inspired by her pain and the hunger for justice. She tackled mental health issues because she went through similar experience, adding that she wrote the poems as a way of therapy but later realized that they were relevant to most people.

Talking about activism, she said that she loves women and children and despises seeing them suffering.

"There is a poem (The Forsaken) I wrote in 2018. There was a war in South Sudan and a lot of children were dying.  I address this poem to the UN asking them what they were doing to stop the war and why were children being killed; bleeding in the streets for reasons they didn’t even have a crew about. The least I could do was to call for help through poetry,” she said.  

Let us not mock them

She revealed that she is passionate about mental health awareness and create awareness especially among people who do not understand why others can commit suicide.

"There are those who would even whip the body of someone who has committed suicide because they take the incident as cowardice. They don’t realise that when someone decides to commit suicide, it’s because they are in pain. Let’s not mock them, let’s understand them and tell them that it’s okay to speak up and cry because they are in pain,” she said.

"We all have broken hearts that we are trying to mend and getting someone to help is our dream.”

When asked about the challenges she faced with her book, she said that it had been hard for her to share her pain in the first place. Similarly, it was challenging to publish the book due to publishing houses’ rejections and financial constraints.

She revealed that she went for self-publishing and got support from friends, family, and Rwanda National Commission for UNESCO.  

JerÔme Kajuga, the Director of Culture, Social and Human Sciences at RNRU said that it was their responsibility to support her.

"One of our aims is to enhance the culture of reading and writing in Rwanda. When we read Divine’s book and realised that it could help different people and that she was a young woman with the culture of writing, it was our responsibility to support her because she would be an example to other writers and would let them realise that it’s possible to publish. She is not our beneficiary but our partner because she is doing something in the line of what we do,’ he said.

He revealed that so far they have launched three books since January and are open for more.

Venting – a tremendous step towards healing

Francine Nkurunziza, Divine’s mother told The New Times that she loved her daughter’s book because she was able to talk about her painful real-life experience.

"In our culture, most people don’t like to talk about their feelings or address their problems but Divine was able to express what she has passed through. I see this book as something that will help other children with the same issues,” she said.

She added that it’s time for people to rethink the culture (but not kill it), stop fearing, and talk about their issues.

"I have never agreed with Divine that suicide can be caused by scars and wounds one could have, but as I talked with her and other different people, I figured out that it’s true because a healthy person can’t commit suicide,” she said. "So, it’s worth it that someone opens up and talks about their problems. There might be someone else to help them out. However, they have to be careful of who they talk to.”

Silver Busobozi, a teacher at Green Hills Academy and lecturer at Akilah College who has taught Divine at Eden International School and has edited her book, said that Divine’s book is a mirror of what the older generation should be doing to the young one.

"We have a lot of issues related to mental health and children are not being given room to be listened to. Parents are just caring about the academic results of their children without knowing that their holistic nature matters the most,” he said.

"When you read through Divine’s work and the symbolism behind what its title stands for, she voices that pain and silence that has not been reciprocated to. It’s like an appeal that society has to attend to and create a space for the young ones to have their mental health issues attended to and addressed.”

Sandra Nadege Uwayezu, a poetess who had been working with Divine, recited for the audience some of the poems in the book. She thanked her for writing the book, adding that her poems have been helpful and relevant to her.

The soft copy of Divine’s book is $7.99 and can be found on Amazon while the hard copy is Rwf15 thousand. One can reach out to her on email faithidivine2020@gmail.com or phone number 0787855855.