She is known for her inspiring poems, but now Delice Mukazi will tackle the stage from a different angle. The 22-year-old, who is also a third year student of Business Information Technology at the University of Rwanda-College of Business and Economics (UR-CBE), will be gracing our screens as a movie actor very soon. Early last year, Mukazi embarked on the pursuit of one of her lifelong passion–poetry. Not contented with poetic expression, this year she decided to also try her hand at acting. As a poetess, Mukazi boasts over fifteen poems under her belt, but also writes short stories from her different life experiences. She is a regular feature at Kigali Vibrates With Poetry, a monthly poetry contest in Kigali, and other slam poetry competitions. She writes about “dreams, about life, silence, anything that crosses my mind.” She recently created a personal blog where she posts her poems and other writings. In January, she earned her first acting role in a theatre piece that was filmed at the Kigali Marriott Hotel. “It was a theater piece for the Water Aid Project. When I was off the stage people congratulated me, saying that I’m good at acting. That was a kind of motivation for me. Since then I promised to myself, to extract that talent. I approached a friend of mine called Adrian Frank Kowi, a film director, filmmaker and script writer. I asked him to help me develop my acting talent because I liked it since I was young. That’s how I entered the film industry,” she explained. “Since I was young, I wished to be an actress, but I was not confident enough to do it and I thought that my parents couldn’t allow me do that. I used to play in theatres in some ceremonies at my school.” She explains that acting and poetry are closely related: “Actually, all art is related in one way or another. About poetry and film, they all affect the senses and emotions of people. The difference between them is that in poetry you speak your inner mind but when you’re acting you embody a given character. I always have something on my mind. I always feel like I have something to tell the world, that’s why I say that my poetry is and will always be there, I will keep on writing my poems. And about acting, it’s something that comes and goes, it’s something you do once given the opportunity.” She has also acted in a documentary film on the Genocide that will be launched in April. Mukazi is also acting in a new TV series, The Unit that, will be airing on a local TV station soon. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
