EARLY last year, a young artist, Byabushi Namwandala, a.k.a Kibe met fellow artist Iyamuremye Bienvenue over coffee. The agenda was simple: to find a way of facilitating collaboration among local artists under one roof. At the time, Bienvenue had just initiatted the Nkunda Arts Center at Kacyiru-Minagri. Kibe, on the other hand, had been running his own art project, the Ubumwe Creative Art Youth Kigali at Kabagali in Kacyiru. "We wanted to find a way to make Nkunda Arts a meeting point for all artists,” recalls Kibe. "We met and started producing art together here at Nkunda Creative Arts. They carried on with what both artistes had already initiated at their respective art studios; teaching art as well as dance lessons both to the youth and children. The only difference this time is that they tried to expand their web by engaging various art studios and solo artists to merge ideas. Coming togetherIn October 2012, Ubumwe Creative Art Youth Kigali officially moved into the premises of the Nkunda Arts Centre at Kacyiru-MINAGRI, where the two artistes currently do their art. The two artists live and work together with other artists and teach other youngsters, some of whom live on the street as well. These kids not only acquire new skills, like painting and dancing, they also learn to express their experiences and come to terms with their emotions. "When I’m painting I don’t think of anything else. I’m just in the picture I’m painting at the moment,” Kibe reveals. Walk into this place at any given time, and you will simply be blown away by the poignant messages and observations therein; from paintings of angelic Rwandan beauties oozing that typical Rwandan feminine charm, those depicting Rwandan country life, to those depicting the daily contradictions and indignities in the lives of the urban poor. One painting depicts a group of people walking together. They discover new things together, new thoughts and experiences, new countries, new people and new cultures. They derive strength from travelling together. They support each other and face their challenges as a unit. They become new people. We see the backs of the three travelers as they walk close together. We also see the eyes of an indifferent international community watching them and doing nothing to help. Kibe holds this particular painting close to his heart, and for good reason; it is because his life so far has involved so much perilous travel across the borders of the East African states. He was born in Bukavu, a town which sits on the border between Rwanda and the DRC. While still a toddler, his father found a job in Rwanda, which guaranteed easy cross-border movement for his family. His father later returned to the DRC, where Kibe studied for six years. But as with so many other children in this region, his education was interrupted by conflict, forcing him to miss school in 1997. He resumed studies in 1998, but his family was again forced to flee the fighting, a move that separated the family. Kibe was just 14. While he fled to Burundi, his family fled to Kisangani, DRC. Kibe entered Burundi by trailing a group of men and boys into the country (Uvira), from where eventually he made his way to Tanzania. He was lucky that his mother had her family in Dar es Salaam, which warmly welcomed him. Turning pointWhile with this family, he made friends with a Zambian artist. Little did he know that his journey into art had already begun. He quickly learnt the art of painting, and was soon expressing some of his experiences on canvass. When his Zambian friend packed his bags for home, Kibe followed him as an apprentice. He learnt more skills in art and craft by observing local craftsmen curve wood. Before long, he was putting out his own wall masks and beautifully curved furniture. One day, he fetched $250 from the sale of one of these chairs, which marked the beginning of yet another turning point in the artist’s life; with this money, Kibe decided it was time to go in search of his long-lost family, who he hadn’t seen in nine years. He did not know if they were dead or alive. If they were still alive, he did not know where in the world to search. If dead, would he ever know who/what killed them, and if/where they were buried? He made his way home, in Bukavu. There, he found members of his family, including his mum and dad. Now just imagine their joy at seeing their son alive! All these nine years, they had concluded him dead. One can only imagine how difficult it was for a then 14-year-old Kibe to flee for his life and make his way across East Africa, before eventually going full-circle and returning back home in Bukavu. But every cloud, like they say, has got a lining of silver. That brave journey gave him the skills and love for art that is today shaping his life’s ambitions and the ambitions of other people like him in his neighbourhood.