YOU HAVE PROBABLY seen two people that love each other and imagined that they were the definition of true love because just like a puzzle, each of their pieces fits perfectly. But that doesn’t mean that the opposite doesn’t exist. In a new fictitious novel, “The letter” a lot of these issues that society encounters are highlighted, although spinning around love. Written by Joyce Umuhire, the book is mostly dedicated to the youth who rush into marriage for the sake of money and status, but belittle their feelings and happiness. In brief, her main character Gloria is faced with an intricate situation. A focused and independent university student, her priority is education. But along the way, a fierce mature man is interested in her. This stranger is willing to do anything to have Gloria as his wife because he is rich. At first, Gloria resists, but the man kidnaps her, and takes her to his home. She faces torture, violence, and rape in marriage. She is impregnanted and infected with HIV/AIDS. When Gloria’s parents hear that the rich man is asking for their child’s hand in marriage, they approve of it because he is rich. They don’t bother to know whether she was happy with him. On her wedding day, Gloria commits suicide because she faced a lot of pain that she never shared with anyone until she couldn’t handle anymore. She couldn’t envision waking up to a beast every day. Doctors save the unborn child. The violent man also commits suicide. The novel is titled The Letter as Gloria writes three letters revealing her situation. For Umuhire, such scenarios are present today in Rwanda where parents are mostly worried about their children getting pregnant before marriage, rather than knowing whether they are happy with their partners. According to the author, her novel also portrays men that believe that their money and status can earn them anything they wish for, even when it costs other people’s happiness or life. “How I wish that my novel communicates to the girls that can’t speak for themselves yet facing depression, loss of identity, and low self-esteem due to the paths they decided or forced to take, that weren’t fruitful,” Umuhire explains. She added that the book also depicts fake friendships, for instance, one of Gloria’s friends forced her to go for the rich man just for money. Umuhire calls upon the youth to always seek beneficial friendships that are aimed at making them better people. She carries on that a number of people commit suicide because they are dealing with silent battles that no one knows about, hence encouraging everyone to open up and find solutions or counseling. The 23-year-old has so far released one book, although written two books. Her first book wasn’t published due to lack of finances and by then had limited time to juggle school and writing. This has inspired her to even keep writing as close friends and family have started acknowledging her potential. The author recalls writing her first book, “17 years of secrecy” in senior five while at Sunrise High School in Musanze. The book that she is yet to release reveals unconditional love, sacrifice, human rights, and culture. Umuhire’s curiosity to read compelled her to write. Having a well-equipped library at school exposed her to a number of books, from comics, love, history, politics, and so forth. She was buried in reading most of her free time, and with time, reading turned into a hobby. However, she noticed that most of the books she read weren’t written by Rwandans, which is what challenged her to write. The novelist was intrigued to write books that are fun yet impactful, but mostly topics that would attract one to pose what they are doing, and just read. Umuhire is passionate about several topics like divorce, love, children’s rights, and so forth. “I want to use my talent to speak for the people that can’t air out their opinions. I hope that Rwandans could develop the reading culture because reading is a fun way to travel the world while in one place. But also, there is endless knowledge hidden in books,” she states. Umuhire is a student of Southern New Hampshire University majoring in Healthcare Management in Global Perspectives under Kepler program.
