“I had never met another queer Rwandan person before. I thought I was the only one in the world.”
~ Ncuti Gatwa

"Reminiscing about previous events, he shares a moment from a few years back. ‘I remember being at Manchester Pride, going through the streets with all my boys, shaking my cha-chas, living it up, when I saw this woman who looked exactly like my auntie. She wasn’t – but I knew she was Rwandan,’ he says.

Gatwa himself was born in Kigali, Rwanda, in 1992. His family fled the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi population two years later and settled in Scotland.

He got talking to the woman and asked her why she was at Manchester Pride. ‘It just blew my mind that she was there. We were holding hands, and she said to me, “I don’t really know why I’m here. I’m just here.” I told her, “Honey, you don’t need to know. You absolutely. Do not. Need. To. Know. You’re here. Be proud of who you are.” I had never met another queer Rwandan person before,’ he says. ‘I thought I was the only one in the world.’"

A moment of kindness can help someone feel more confident in who they are