My First Months at ASYV

The following is excerpted from a conversation with Ntihebuwayo Nehemie, a third-year student and member of ASYV’s Media Club, about his video, below, featuring three first-year students.

Ntihebuwayo Nehemie (right) offers guidance to two students interested in learning photography.

I made this video because when a student arrives here at Agahozo-Shalom, they don’t know much about the Village. I wanted to show these students a few months into their time here—to capture the moment when they first understand all that we have here at ASYV, and how they can use those resources to improve their lives. 

Take me: I had never seen, or touched, a camera before I came here. Right away, I thought to myself that I have to go into cinematography. The thing I like most about filmmaking is catching a story about the many people I see. I learned the skills needed to capture these stories from my mentors, including our big ASYV siblings. Marc [ASYV Class of 2024] first motivated me. Other alumni who came through here to talk with us like Libens [ASYV Class of 2018], Salem [ASYV Class of 2023], and Belyse [ASYV Class of 2025] taught me so much of what I know. 

Like these mentors did for me, I try my best to give the younger students skills. I created a Media Club class that teaches first-year students about filmmaking and livestreaming. Some of them love livestreaming, others like capturing pictures, others like filming videos, so my class teaches them about all of these things. Some students, they see the camera, and they fear it because it is big and unknown to them. But I tell them, they have to have curiosity. If you don’t know something, you can learn. 

After I graduate, I want to study cinematography. I want to be a filmmaker. That is my dream.