Editor, RE: “Mupende models to market Rwanda” (The New Times, October 28). Please allow me to appreciate your newspaper for sharing with readers in Rwanda and beyond, interesting stories about people of this great nation who have made a mark and a difference to society. Sometimes you cover stories of how both young and old have displayed exemplary courage and fortitude in battling against all odds since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. At other instances, you focus on Rwandan youth, like Alexia Uwera Mupende, who shine in their respective avocations. The beauty of Rwanda can be manifested in many ways and here we see how Mupende leverages her personal beauty to market her beautiful country and the land of a thousand hills. Only recently Rwanda participated in Mumbai’s Cinema Tourism Summit 2015. This event revolved around Bollywood and how films, shot in a particular country, could make an immense mark on the people of India and even on those people who might have migrated to different parts of the world, but are of Indian origin. This brings us to the issue of partnerships and how Rwanda’s Hillywood can effectively partner with India’s vibrant Bollywood to promote “film tourism” and thereby enhance not only visitor arrivals but also foreign exchange earnings for the country. Clarence Fernandes
