YOLRED Hosts Annual Cultural Celebration to Promote Healing

By Geoffrey Omony, Goldin Global Fellow, Uganda

In Acholi, song and dance are fundamental parts of cultural heritage. They are used to retell important historical events as well as critique and pass on cultural knowledge from one generation to the next. With over 10 types of dances, the Acholi had a particular dance for almost every ceremony. They performed Bwola dance for the royals, Larakaraka and Ajere for courtship, Otole as war dance, and Myel Lyel for funerals. Other Acholi dances include Ayije, Dingidingi, Nanga, Acut, Okojo, Lacukucuku and Myel Jok. Apart from the dances, the Acholi also had a rich tradition of reconciliation (mato oput) which was widely used to settle misunderstandings and bring justice to the people.

However, this rich bank of cultural norms came to the verge of extinction due to the nearly two decades of insurgency in northern Uganda which disconnected families and limited space for cultural practices. The new generation of Acholi can barely sing, dance or perform any of the cultural norms, either because they don’t know how to do it or they have been caused to believe that those practices are evil and dirty.

But not all hope is lost as yet. Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) is standing with the people to save their culture from extinction. Annually, YOLRED organises Community Festivals in which various groups of music, dance and drama artists gather to showcase their talents and compete for a prize. While these festivals are targeted at serving former victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as a form of therapy, they also help as platforms for exhibition of cultural dances, practices and promotion.

On December 18, YOLRED held the third and 2019 Community Festival at the Palm Gardens and Restaurant in Gulu, northern Uganda. At least four groups participated in the event, where they exhibited Bwola, Myel Lyel, Dingi-dingi and Aguma (Ayije) dances, instrumentals and drama with messages advocating for peace, reconciliation and ending of domestic, gender-based violence.

As early as 8 O'Clock in the morning, sections of the participants had already started trickling in to the venue with their instruments. Travelling aboard trucks, the artists carried with them large saucepans, drums, calabashes, bow harps, thumb pianos, animal skins, beads, bird feathers, among other instruments and costumes for their performances.

Soon, Local Council members, religious leaders, journalists, adjudicators, the Acholi cultural institution representative and spectators joined. The event started with welcome speeches from the chairperson, Local Council One and YOLRED leaders before the performances.

And when the artists finally stormed the stage, cheers, ululations and immeasurable excitement characterised the crowd. From the drama, to the instrumentals and the dances, all the teams showed high level of competition. For some reason, the crowd seemed not to get enough of the performances. They went into wild ululations, asking for more at the end of every performance. When the teams finally concluded, speaker after speaker showered them with praises.

“I am so glad that you are giving our people the chance to see and feel what the true Acholi culture is like. From what I saw today, I am encouraged today that the Acholi culture is not yet extinct. When I die, I want the kind of dance I saw here to be performed at my funeral, not the music systems that have dominated our ceremonies today,” Mrs. Rosalva Oywa, a social activist said.

Mrs. Poline Lukwai, the deputy Mayor of Gulu Municipality, said she was extremely excited by the unity, organisation and problem solving messages in the plays.

“I am so proud of you, YOLRED for picking up our culture and bringing it forward. This is a great challenge to our cultural institution and I want to ask the representative of the Ker Kwaro Acholi to go back and tell the Paramount Chief and his cabinet that this event that YOLRED has started needs to be supported in order to bring more people on board from all corners of Acholi,” Mrs. Lukwai said.

She urged the artists and everyone else in attendance to take serious the messages passed in the songs, dances and drama, and use them to ensure that peace reigns in society starting with their individual households.

Sheik Musa Khelil, the YOLRED's Patron, said culture is very important because it sets uniqueness and create identity of a people.

“A person without culture is like a bird which wings have been plucked. I am therefore, so happy that this event is fronting the Acholi culture. If only donors knew, and if only they could come and witness this event, they would know that YOLRED is the right organisation to be supported,” Sheik Kelil said.

The adjudicators, represented by Ms. Grace Aber, said the event revealed how rich the Acholi culture was, and also reminded people of the need to guard against and preserve the culture.

Mr. Emmanuel Ochora Lagedo, the deputy Prime Minister at the Ker Kwaro Acholi who represented the cultural institution, said while YOLRED said the Community Festival was meant for restoration of the Acholi culture, he viewed it as cultural development and not just restoration.  “This programme is developing our culture, not just restoring it,” Lagedo said.

He said everyone in attendance had learned a lot from what they saw and he hoped that they would return home and reflect on whatever they were not doing right as far as the Acholi culture was concerned.

Mr. Geoffrey Omony, the YOLRED Programme Director, said as an organization, they were moved to start the programme by the need they saw, resulting from the nearly two decades of insurgency in northern Uganda that devastated both the people and their culture.
Mr. Omony said through the festivals, they identify groups that they subsequently support to economically empower the members, irrespective of their academic and social backgrounds.

He said while YOLRED is interested in bringing more groups to the festival, it is incapacitated financially. But they were hopeful that more groups would be brought on board someday.

The 2019 festival was held under the theme: Performing Art Therapy for Community Transformation.

This article was written by YOLRED's Douglas Olum who was formerly abducted and forcibly conscripted into the Lord’s Resistance Army.

YOLRED shares its deep appreciation to Arigatou International and the Goldin Institute's global network of supporters, especially Board member Thomas Hinshaw, for providing the support to make this annual celebration possible.


It is Never Too Late to Learn

YOLRED Host Celebration for 12 Never Late Graduates

Like the famous Chinese Proverb states: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” On July 20, 2019, at least 21 women and men who were formerly abducted and forcibly conscripted into the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel activities, started a journey to literacy when they enrolled for the “Never Late," adult literacy programme.

Under this five months, speedy learning programme, the learners, with the support of two volunteer primary school teachers, convened at Kirombe Primary School in Gulu Municipality, every Tuesday and Saturday to learn basic arithmetics, reading, writing and speaking skills.

While they yearned for arithmetical knowledge and admired people who spoke English Language near them, so little did they know that this journey would lead them to an equal height with their English speaking neighbours.

But five months down the road, they were in awe as they competently spoke and read in English.

It was all joy and excitement on December 18, 2019, when at least 11 women and a man, publicly unveiled their new learned skills at their graduation ceremony which also doubled as the YOLRED’s 2019 Community Festival day.

Donned in a T-shirt with the “Never Late Project” inscribed at the back, Oliver Grace Lanyero, in company of her colleagues, presented a poem in English titled, “War.”

War war war
I am the enemy of peace, security, education
War, where do you come from?
I come from nowhere
I am always there
When you are always there
You bring us suffering, poverty, famine, destruction, sickness and disease
Above all; violence to our rights
War war war
You made us to become uneducated
You destroy our lives and future
You make us hopeless, you make us homeless
You make us slaves of others
You make us medicine of sexual abuse
You make us child mothers
War war war
You go away
We don’t need you anymore
Enough is enough.

As they walked to the back stage, tears of joy rolled down some of their cheeks while they hugged each other in disbelief that they made it thus far.

“I now feel like a new person. This programme is very good because it has helped us to learn how to read and write. Such knowledge was something many of us did not have yet they are very important,” Lanyero said in an interview."

Mr. Francis Opobo, one of the volunteer teachers, said while many of the learners had no prior formal education background, he was so impressed by their level of commitment exhibited and ability to learn.

“Even while they had family commitments and many other individual challenges, they persistently attended the classes. It is true that some of them had to drop out due to reasons beyond their control. But I want to encourage that the training and learning should not stop here. There is so much that these people can still learn which will help them, their children and even the community they live in,” Mr. Opobo said.

Geoffrey Omony, the YOLRED Programme Director, said they came up with the “Never Late” project following requests from the former abductees to be equipped with such knowledge.

"Many times these people would go for public gatherings and when the registration form is brought, they had to look around for someone to help them write their names. This is a very sad and shaming experience for an adult person,” Omony said in an interview."

He said while the world could have thought that there was nothing good the former abductees could do, the December 18th graduation proved that these people were still capable of doing so much good to the world if given the chance and the right guidance.

The “Never Late” programme is a five months, rapid adult literacy project implemented by Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) with support from Carlotta Ludovica Passerini, Arigatou International and the Goldin Institute.

This article was written by YOLRED's Douglas Olum who was formerly abducted and forcibly conscripted into the Lord’s Resistance Army.