Art of blogging: Business or pleasure?

Last Monday, all roads led to Goethe-Institut in Kigali where the much-publicised workshop on blogging was about to take place. Some minutes before the event, participants were in ecstatic mood as they conversed in hushed tones about their expectations.Youth Literacy Organisation (YouLi), the workshop’s convener had carefully selected three popular bloggers to inspire the pool of upcoming writers. YouLi is a Rwandan based non-profit organisation whose main objective is to advance reading and writing in order to promote literacy among the youth. It is currently decentralised in all divisions.YouLi President, David Gilbert Rwabigwi, was upbeat about what was in store for the participants. “Today we are very excited to host the best blogging minds in Rwanda. They will address all your fears and give you reasons why we all need to blog,” he stated.Akaliza Keza Gara, an established web designer, was the first to take to the floor. Her popular blog ‘I Tried To Warn You’ was projected on a big screen that was visible to everyone.She recounted how it all started. “I came to Rwanda three years ago. It’s shame I could barely speak Kinyarwanda. I made many mistakes trying to communicate with my grandmother.” ‘I told my uncle about it and he advised me to consider putting the funny experiences in writing for my archival. I bought into his idea and opening a blog was among the best option’ she explains.Akaliza did not disappoint. She professionally handled the Question/Answer session. In addition, her promise to support the new bloggers cut the ice into the field was well received.Eric Ngangare, a local poet and actor was next on the podium. The blog ‘The Journey Of A Key’ that he created some two years ago has drawn huge traffic, especially among poetry lovers. In addition to poems, he posts screenplays.His discussion dwelt mostly on creative writing.“Never forget you are trying to share something new to your readers. If it’s not new, you have to tell it creatively, otherwise you end up putting them off,’ cautioned Ngangare.The third blogger, Frank Abaho, an ICT consultant who has been blogging for the past five years ,and is now trying to venture into the commercial side of blogging. “I have friends in Kenya who earn decent income from their blogs,” said Abaho. “We are living in the Dot.com age and there is great potential online. All you need is to be passionate and consistent. Advertisers will come begging for space.” Some participants have been hesitant to open their own blogs.“I always wanted to create my blog but I fear that no one would read my posts. This would affect my self-esteem and I would feel like a loser,” explained Joseph Biyomelu, a local filmmaker.Akaliza advised him to try sharing blog links on the social media. ”In order to increase your visibility, you will also need to share links of your blog on facebook and twitter. Your friends will know about it and possibly share the links with their friends,” she advised.At the end of the two-hour session, participants left the room armed with a thousand reasons to write down their maiden posts.

Leisure

Art of blogging: Business or pleasure?