AJ Peace Justice
18 years old
The Republic of Rwanda
Biography by Angela Bizera
Photo by Luanda Bauma Primo

AJ Peace Justice is a young man from Rwanda who is 18 years old. He arrived in Malawi in 2015 and is currently a student.

For him, poems are emotions that you can express in written words, and it relieves you. He started his poetry after he got inspired by a friend, Espoir, who started teaching him while they were in standard 8. He firstly recited and performed poetry during a school assembly. The way people perceived his work and encouraged him after the performance pushed him to continue with his writing. He loves poetry a lot, because he can express himself easily.

He wrote a poem about discrimination because he saw and felt the need to speak against discrimination towards people living with disabilities. To him, it is important that such issues are spoken about and addressed.

He tells readers of the book and viewers of the website that, through his poems, he hopes they can learn.

I AM NOT THE ONE

I am not the one who troubles
Insulting people in the village
Roaring like a lion, strong like a ghost
Pushing others in my way
Hence, I am thin, like the leg of a cockroach

Buzzing like a bee
Biting as a bee
Not walking, but eating, like death

A dictator isn’t who I am
Teasing others
Ruling others in strong way
Others are getting heart attacks
Moving at high speed
Like drops from the heavens
With no break

Stopping others
People’s mouths, others leaving their families
Crying for orphans

But he’s sitting in the room, smoking, yet on the door is “No Smoking”
Putting leg over leg, counting money from blood

A collector can’t collect a collector, cause
A collector is already a collector