Louise Uwacu once described herself as a “rebellious teenager in Kenya who crossed through Europe and became a fearless woman in North America.” The outspoken Canadian-Rwandese is self accomplished in many ways but still strives for more in her many fields of work. ElleAfrique caught up with her to get a bit more insight into the real Uwacu.
EA: Who is Louise Uwacu?
Louise Uwacu is a child of IMANA. I am one unique reflection of the Supreme Being. I am a fraction of this infinity that we are all part of. That is my one identity that comes before any other society-imposed identities…such as Author, Talk Show Host, Entrepreneur, Black Woman, African, Rwandan, Canadian and bla bla bla…
EA: How did you get into media (passion or destiny)?
Wow… passion or destiny… now I have to check the dictionary! And after checking I would say neither! I got into this media business by accident, creativity, and a great sense of responsibility and leadership.
EA: Tell us more about U & I Talk Show?
U&I TALK SHOW is one of those great accidents that happened to me while I was pursuing a humanitarian mission in Mali, West Africa. I was there to do an Educational documentary on the villages we wanted to help, and the journalist that I was supposed to work with bailed out on the whole crew at the last minute. I was so mad at her… but my POSITIVISION* self said well I shall be the host, the producer, and the director of the whole thing… who needs this journalist? Next thing you know all the people that I worked with loved me, and they started asking me: What’s the next project? When I told them I was only doing this for POSITIVISION* a humanitarian initiative, they said: NO Louise, we hope that’s another one of your jokes. You cant just be doing this for a charity organization, you are good at talking, interviewing people and what not… you must do this for real!
I did listen! But it took so many other initiatives, creativities, and non-accidents to get to the U&I TALK SHOW. And Today, as I think of it, this show has become a way to respond to the education needs that I saw in those villages. We have started virtually, one day we will build real schools. This is mainly why in the meantime, I like to interview people who have something to teach. That’s what U&I TALK SHOW is about. I love interviewing teachers, and of course I love interviewing authors, because I remember how hard it was to write a book and then get it heard out there in the media. And so I have to read a lot of books, because I like to ask questions relating to people’s works. I rarely ever go into people’s personal lives and we rarely do celebrity stories. A simple exchange of love for knowledge, information and laughter is what I promise on U&I Talk Show. For anything else, I ask people to watch other talk shows!
EA: You’ve published books too? What are they about?
My 1st book “The Nightmare of a POSITIVISION* – is about reflecting on surviving peace in the world, in Africa, Europe, and Canada after surviving a genocide in Rwanda. People focus on surviving war, and they underestimate how hard it is to survive peace! What do you do with peace? Think? Think about what? WHY? Why this? Why that? Why me? And then what? What will you actually do with peace? What will you become? What will you die for now? This book is been said to be very encouraging, very motivating to those going through hard times. But some have also complained that is it very daring… for a Rwandan woman they say! How dare I expose that much about my self? Any ways, I don’t know why any one would bother to write if you are not exposing nothing. In my books I usually go naked! Some people Love it, and some people DISLIKE TOTALE as we say on U&I TALK LIVE!
My 2nd book is called “The WRITIVIST* WAR is WRITE”
I wrote this book for all the people who have stories that they know they should write down and share with the world, and yet they don’t write them, because they do not know how to go about it. I am giving them my own formulas and teachings on what I found out being in this writing business, self-publishing, and the media. The journey into becoming a serious media my self is explained in this book. And of course I also talk about politics, spirituality and war. There is a war on the physical level, there is war on a mental level, and there is a war on a soul level… And so of course there is also a war in writing! Writing itself can be a war. In this book, I am talking about how one can survive that war, how one can become an activist in writing, a WRITIVIST*, one that may never fight any other wars, one who just writes. Because WAR is WRITE anyways!
EA: What are your challenges and how do you overcome them?
I wish I had wings. Because as you know flying around the world is so expensive. Especially when you dream of doing it on private wings! So I am working on overcoming this by becoming monetarily infinite too.
EA: You use a lot of Kinyarwanda in your shows. Why and how do non speakers relate to this?
I use “some” KinyaRwanda in my shows (and I have even used it “a lot” in my 2nd book) because my name is UWACU, which means the one that is our own. So how could I speak everybody else’s languages and forget the one that is my own? Non-speakers of KinyaRwanda will eventually thank me for teaching them some words of a powerful ancient language. Like many African languages, KinyaRwanda is so deep, so rich, and so spiritual. People who don’t speak it, don’t know what they are missing! And even among those who speak it, most have yet to realize its deeper connections, to all that is today attributed to so called ancient Egyptian civilization! So I am here to uncover it for all. I do it in small doses for now, because even in small doses, it may still be too powerful for some.
EA: Do you see your show ever airing in Rwanda?
My show is already airing in Rwanda. In this age of the Internet, who needs the official Radios and Televisions, when you have the World Wide Web? And with people doing so much on their mobiles, my show being mobile, I know I am being aired “IWACU” already! But of course yes, I would love to work with Rwandan “regular” Radios and Televisions. For example on our website (uwacumedia.com) we have a lot of content in KinyaRwanda and I would like to interview Rwandan authors, artists, and other great people in Rwanda. U&I Talk Show is ready to collaborate with those who see the light in this. Because I know that it is in the best interest of Rwanda to expose it self to the international scene, and correct the image that is so negative most times about Rwanda. What better way to do that than through the media, in collaboration with us in the international diaspora who are already doing it. In the future, the way the media is going, each African country or Great region like East Africa, will need to have its own international media, to have its voice heard. To have our culture survive. To have our problems solved. Or it will still be BBC, CNN and FRANCE speaking for AFRICA. And that is a DISLIKE TOTALE in my vision of our future. We need many more “UWACU” Medias (our own medias). So I look forward to working with all the great teachers in and out of Rwanda. After all U&I Talk Show is “UWACU” and “INTERNATIONAL” Talk Show…
More on Louise Uwacu can be found at http://Uwacu.com or on YouTube and Vimeo