My name is Gakire Katese Odile but everyone calls me Kiki. I come to you as a professional dreamer. So, I brought a dream for you. Yes, I have a dream. I have a dream that one day, there will be equality of gender and equality of opportunities in the creative industries, in Rwanda and all over the world.
I have a dream and I have a drum. I have THE drum that one day, my granddaughter will play, with passion, with power, with pride. And with grace. The drum and the dream I have are old. And I am seeking for companions, allies, partners to take with me the old drum and the old dream to the new generation.
So, allow me to also stand here as a mother. Yes, I am a proud and happy single mother to all the female drummers of Rwanda. And next year, they are turning twenty! I wish them to be safe. I wish them to continue to access this precious thing that is freedom of expression. Join me in this important journey negotiating and securing their future.
Gakire Katese Odile (Kiki) is a Rwandan actor, playwright, director and cultural entrepreneur whose work has been honoured around the world. She is the first recipient of the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Rosamond Gilder/Martha Coigney International Award and one of the recipients of the 2012 Carnegie Common Ground Awards, which honour outstanding accomplishments in conflict resolution, negotiation, community building, and peacebuilding around the world “for healing Rwanda’s past and giving hope for its future”; and the Fair Saturday Award in 2019 “for being a reference in inclusion and empowerment, ensuring access to the arts for all”. She is also a fellow of Sundance Theatre Lab and Salzburg Global Seminar.
Currently, she is the Principal Investigator on the research project “Gira Ingoma – One Drum Per Girl" that aims to ensure that the Rwandan National Curriculum Framework in Music, Dance and Drama is gender responsive.
Currently, she is the Principal Investigator on the research project “Gira Ingoma – One Drum Per Girl" that aims to ensure that the Rwandan National Curriculum Framework in Music, Dance and Drama is gender responsive.