{"id":2000105089,"date":"2026-03-11T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000105089"},"modified":"2026-03-11T17:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:06:19","slug":"tom-close-recalls-writing-a-letter-to-president-kagame-as-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/tom-close-recalls-writing-a-letter-to-president-kagame-as-a-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Close recalls writing a letter to President Kagame as a child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tom Close shared the story during a talk he gave at \u2018Citylight Foursquare Church\u2019 on March 10, 2026. The session was held under the theme \u201cBalancing fame and Christianity,\u201d and he appeared alongside gospel singer Israel Mbonyi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking during the event, Tom Close recalled that while he was still in primary school he admired President Kagame deeply and often played his role in school drama performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that although many children today look up to fictional characters such as Spider-Man and Superman as their heroes, things were different when he was growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor children today, Spider-Man and Superman are their superheroes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when we were young, the Inkotanyi were our superheroes. I often say this jokingly: when I was still in primary school, I liked acting in plays where I played the role of the Vice President and Minister of Defence, Paul Kagame.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that at one point, when he was still very young, he wrote a letter addressed to Kagame and asked his mother to pass it on to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember going to where my mother worked and giving her the letter so she could deliver it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Close did not disclose what he had written in the letter, nor whether it ever reached the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artist also shared that while many musicians chase fame and wealth, his childhood dream was much simpler: to make music until President Kagame knew who he was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrowing up, I always felt that if one day I learned that he knew me and considered me a good artist, that alone would be enough, even if I stopped there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Tom Close, this dream influenced the way he approached his music career. He said it pushed him to produce songs that would protect his reputation, believing that one day President Kagame might hear and appreciate his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Tom Close appeared alongside gospel singer Israel Mbonyi during the talk delivered on March 10, 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Rwandan singer and medical doctor Muyombo Thomas, popularly known as Tom Close has recalled writing a letter to President Kagame during his childhood. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwandan singer and medical doctor Muyombo Thomas, popularly known as Tom Close, has revealed that his admiration for Paul Kagame began at a very young age. He says that as a child, he even wrote a letter to the president and gave it to his mother in the hope that she would deliver it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000105110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000105089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000105110,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tom-1.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":802,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tom-1.jpg","width":150,"height":120},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tom-1.jpg","width":300,"height":241},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tom-1.jpg","width":768,"height":616},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tom-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":802},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tom-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":802}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000105089"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000105111,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105089\/revisions\/2000105111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000105110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000105089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000105089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000105089"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000105089"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000105089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}