To Orwell Today,

Please visit Youtube and share my latest short film from Hillywood! ALPHONSE'S BIKE IGARE RYA RUFONSI

This nice video is coming from the foot of the Virunga Mountains near the Habitat of the Gorillas. Enjoy the good feel of this profile of our friend Rufonsi in Kinigi! Please share the video with the rest of the community in the diaspora.

You will love it, it is my favorite, I did the filming in less than 2 hours! I was taking my cameraman to film the gorillas and as I waited for him to come down the mountain, I heard the Radio broadcast coming from the forest and there was no house in the area, so I asked where this sound came from and some kids around me pointed to the Bike that was like 10 meters from me. So I had to look for the owner of the Bike that had a stereo installed on it! Enjoy the great video film.

Regards,
Eric Kabera

Greetings Eric,

Thank you for sending that great short film of Alphonse the taxi-driver's souped-up bike. When I was in Ruhengeri last summer I ALMOST used the services of a bicycle taxi but just as I was about to get on, our car ride showed up and I missed my chance.

We too, - while at the foot of the Virunga Mountains after seeing the gorillas - enjoyed playing with the kids in the village there:

Later, in Gisenyi, there were lots of bicycle-taxis and again I ALMOST took a ride, but once again our driver showed up with the vehicle (always there just when we needed him most).

Then when we went over the border to Goma, in the Congo, I saw - for the first time - bikes made of wood - even the wheels:

Whenever (like today) I pedal my bicycle to town and back (15 miles - 25 kms - of mainly flat, paved road) I think of all the bicycle riders we saw in Rwanda, and they serve as an inspiration when the going gets tough (I don't like hills).

There, in the land of a thousand hills, the bicycle riders pedal up those huge inclines seemingly effortlessly - and often carrying passengers carrying passsengers (baby on back) and water-jugs, bananas, etc.

Sometimes the bicycles are so heavily loaded (or the hill is so incredibly steep) that the bicycle rider has to get off and push. That would be the agony of it all. But then - when the top of the hill is reached - the ecstasy part begins as they whiz exhilaratingly by - the wind billowing their shirts out behind them - although that too is daunting - curvy and crowded as the roads often are.

Bicycles are a huge component of Rwanda as transportation for the people and as recreation for your world-class athletes. Anyone who earns his stripes riding bicycles in Rwanda would be very tough competition for someone from anywhere else:

Rwanda: Ruhumuriza Seals 3rd Tour de Rwanda. New Times, Aug 16, 2007 (Abraham Ruhumuriza won the 9th edition of the Tour de Rwanda championship which has been going on throughout the country for the last ten days. Ruhumuriza won his third consecutive Tour de Rwanda title after topping the overall standings with total time of 34:53:48 in the 1,177 km event....He was followed by fellow Team Rwanda champions, Nyandwi Uwase, Nathan Byukusenge and Adrien Niyoshuti respectively. The only foreigner who obtained a far better position was Asuman Gessa from Uganda who came sixth. This year's tour de Rwanda was jointly sponsored by MTN Rwanda, BCR and the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport.)

While in Kigali this past June I got your film "100 DAYS" on DVD and loved the 100% Rwandan perspective shot on location with Rwandan script and actors.

I look forward to future Rwanda Cinema Center productions from HILLYWOOD RWANDA.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

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