Artists, dancers give needy people a chance to smile

RECENTLY, a group of Salsa dancers and visual artists put a smile on the face of Burundian refugees at Mahama refugee camp when they visited the camp and donated some basic items to support them. Then on New Year’s Day, the group, now called Dancing Hearts spent the whole day with street children at Mai-Children Academy where they not only played different games with the vulnerable kids but also shared with them snacks and refreshments in an effort to make them feel at home. The charity events which kicked off on Christmas day were an initiative of Immaculee Tany Ndegeya, a 27, year old presenter at Contact FM and a client advisor at AB Bank. She said the idea of initiating a charity event came in mind when she had a conversation with her Burundian friend recently. “He told me about the kind of life they were going through in the camp as a consequence of the raging crisis in Burundi. He said back home, they lived normal lives but the political turmoil in his country had now rendered him homeless in another country,” “His ordeal really touched my heart and I said I must do something,” says Ndegeya, after realising that the refugees had been lacking some of the basic needs due to their current status “I thought about how Burundians love to party (kuryoherwa) and I thought we could do something to spice them up. I sold the idea to my Salsa friends and most of them agreed that this was a good idea and decided to take part,” she says. Ndegeya went on to call a group of visual artists from Uburanga and Imagine art studios among others, writers, curators, poets and musicians and shared with them the idea. Together, they started a Whatsapp group Le Partage to raise money to go and visit the refugee camp on Christmas day. For three weeks leading to Christmas day, Ndegeya says that they visited random entertainment joints in Kigali where the Salsa dancers danced to patrons while the painters did live painting. Then afterwards, they would introduce their mission as they raised money in a basket. They collected over Rwf600, 000 and more that 30 bags of clothes, shoes and sanitary pads among other items from the over 10 entertainment joints and supermarkets like Simba, Nakumatt and La Galette. The raised amount was also used to buy more basic items which they presented to the refugees on Christmas Day in a fun-filled day which was characterised by dancing in groups and sharing stories for the whole day during their visit. A cross-section of refugees at their camp. They had fun and merry making when the artists visited them. “It was an emotional day for us because all of our group members saw the distressing life refugees live in the crowded camp. This is not going to be the last of such an initiative but just the start. We promise to do more this year,” Djamal Ntagara, a painter at Uburanga Art Centre in Kimihurura who actively took part in the initiative says that he managed to sell paintings worth over Rwf100, 000, and the whole amount went towards helping the refugees. Ntagara, who was born in DR Congo where his parents had to flee in the 1950’s, said that as someone who was once a refugee, the visit meant a lot to him. “When we were coming back to Rwanda on foot with the rest of my family members after the genocide, we spent some months in different refugee camps before eventually making it to Kigali,” “I came face to face with the suffering refugees face and prayed to God to give me something I can use to help out as well as a country to call home,” he says. Tany Ndegeya, left with a group of visual artists working on a painting to sell to raise money for a charity event. (All photos by Joseph Oindo)

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Artists, dancers give needy people a chance to smile