BANZA December 2015 Issue | Page 12

“Words are not enough to express how happy I am to be at ALU,” she says, “I grew up in an environment that did not give me room to dream or aspire. I used to look at a big picture and people would say, “you cannot do that.” I now live in a community that tells me “yeah, you can reach there!” The first decade after she was born, Ingabire had moved to four different countries – unlike any other children – she had to look over her shoulders because she was an undocumented immigrant. In such an environment “there’s no way a child can dream. All they can do is hope they can wake up the next day, have three meals, and sleep peacefully. I couldn’t dream to become a pilot, or doctor, or a writer because I was not encouraged to do so. No one told me, you need to study hard become a writer, or an actor. All they told me was to get a job and survive; that I would go back home and have a life,” she recalls. Fatuma doesn’t see herself teaching forever. “What a crazy job!” she says. “I’m enjoying it more now that I see it as something I’ve been fortunate to do. Maybe in the next few years I’ll focus more on writing and directing. I’ll be happier behind the camera,” she continues. “I am proud to be African and I want to tell a story of an African child, woman, and society.” No one told me, you need to study hard become a writer, or an actor. All they told me was to get a job and survive; that I would go back home and have a life. 2013: Fatuma, Karim and Fadhia 12