Rwanda

www.wedidthis.org.uk Catalyst Rwanda is a new arts development project sparked by an 18-year old friendship between a Rwandan youth worker and a UK arts producer. We plan to set up sustainable programmes of arts activities for vulnerable young people in Rwanda, including street children and orphans of the genocide and AIDS, and to organise artistic development programmes with emerging Rwandan artists. In this pilot project, we will run hip hop dance workshops with street children who live in a centre in Kigali, Rwanda, run by the visionary Rafiki Callixte, and masterclasses for young, hip hop dance artists. An inspiring man Arts producer Nicola Triscott met teacher Rafiki Callixte when she visited Rwanda in 1992, eighteen months before the 1994 Rwandan genocide: the planned mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in this small East African nation. Rafiki survived the genocide, despite being shot and thrown into a pit to die. He survived two murder attempts and the loss of his livelihood, home, friends and most of his family. Since the genocide, Rafiki has devoted his life to helping vulnerable youth, many orphaned by the genocide and AIDS, in order to help re-build a healthy society. He is the project manager of the inspiring Les Enfants de Dieu centre for street children. In the chaotic aftermath of the genocide, Nicola and Rafiki lost contact. After 14 years fruitless searching, they found each other again in June 2010 via Facebook! Nicola flew to Rwanda and discovered Rafiki’s extraordinary work with street children and vulnerable youth. Catalyst Rwanda has been founded to support arts activities in Les Enfants de Dieu, and to work with other committed, passionate people in Rwandan arts organisations, who believe that arts development in their country is greatly needed to develop and reinforce cultural identity, facilitate emotional expression and the exploration of new ideas, and provide social activities to help peace and reconciliation. The children of Les Enfants de Dieu Les Enfants de Dieu's mission is to transform the lives of street children in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda; alleviating their hardships and providing them with the opportunities to mature into valued individuals. Although the organisation is secular, the word “God” (Dieu) was included to symbolise the protective and compassionate qualities of all spiritual movements. Les Enfants de Dieu runs a residential care centre for approximately 130 boys between the ages of four and 18 in Ndera, a suburb of Kigali. If children are willing to leave the streets, the centre first provides them with food, shelter and basic health care. Secondly, they begin a rehabilitation process that focuses on mind, body and spirit. The children have access to health care, education, sport, vocational training, and counseling. The goal is to reintegrate each child into society. Les Enfants de Dieu is child-centred, meaning that a lot of responsibility is given to the children to manage the project. The children organise elections each year to nominate leaders among themselves. They elect seven ministers to deal with various aspects of life at the centre, including administration, education, health, sport and culture. Why Hip Hop? The children who live at Les Enfants have had tough lives, suffering neglect and abuse. A number have AIDS. But they are a remarkable group of boys – intelligent, resourceful and resilient (a necessity for surviving on the streets). They love to dance and express themselves physically. The boys’ greatest wish is to learn Hip Hop dancing. They love the music and dance whenever they get a chance. They want the opportunity to learn to dance from professional hip hop dancers. Catalyst Rwanda will take pioneers of UK Hip Hop to work with the boys, and also to develop the technique and teaching skills of local dance artists who are already ‘breaking’. In partnership with Ishyo Arts Centre, we will work with these young dancers to develop their skills, and to start creating links between them and Les Enfants. Our idea is that, as the project develops, Rwandan hip hop artists will continue to work with the young people at Les Enfants de Dieu. Starting small, this is a project that Catalyst Rwanda, Les Enfants de Dieu and the Ishyo Arts Centre want to grow and develop, with professional artists from the UK coming in each year to inject new learning and skills development. Two artists who will be involved in Catalyst Rwanda are Pervez and Lil Tim, leading exponents of hip hop dance in the UK. Pervez has 30 years of experience as a B Boy. Starting to break in 1982, he was one of the London pioneers when Hip Hop first hit the UK. A member of Live 2 Break crew, one of London’s top old school London crews, he is globally respected as a dancer and teacher. Lil Tim found Hip Hop in the early 90s and has been part of the culture ever since. Performing, teaching and judging internationally his first crew wa

• published: 16 Aug 2011
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