Talent is everywhere: Kolibriz and how music, dance, and drama heal souls the Nakivale Refugee Settlement
Low access to proper education, exposed to violence, forced to leave their countries… They are young people who live in one of the oldest and largest refugee camps in the world.
Located in the southwestern part of Uganda, Nakivale Refugee Settlement is home to more than 110,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 8 different nationalities. Coming from different countries and tribes in conflict, victims and perpetrators live side by side. This leads to trauma and prejudice among refugees seeking refuge, a place to rest the mind and think about the future. Furthermore, people end up having mental disorders, fears and live isolated from each other.
On the other hand, when isolated, young people develop great talents. They find refuge in some group activities such as religious gatherings, sport… but above all music, dance, and drama.
Kolibriz Talentz - Bringing people together through Music
Moses Kasungu, 23, is a young entrepreneur who studied entrepreneurship and leadership skills at Opportunigee - a free-learning space in Nakivale where refugees create their own opportunities. He is now a business mentor in Promise Hub and pioneer of music, dance, and drama (MDD) in Nakivale. In 2017, he founded Kolibriz Talentz, a mentoring project that produces great artists in music, dance, and theatre.
As a young social entrepreneur, he thought of promoting artists in Nakivale with the initiative of a new program of “Kolibriz Talentz Show”, a free platform where different talents in Nakivale could come together and access main tools for the rehearsal and live performances like microphones, speakers, guitars, and start making workshops. Refugees come from all walks of life and it was encouragingly easy for Moses to find local artists willing and capable of teaching dance, voice coaching, playing instruments to interested youth. A door was opening for the young artists.
Kolibriz Talentz concert at Uhuru Amphitheater
The initiative was named after the Swahili word for Hummingbird, after a famous fable by Wangari Maathai:
“One day, there was a fire in the forest. It was spreading quickly and all the animals were afraid. All the large animals were sitting helplessly and watching as their home was burning. Then the hummingbird had the courage to bring just a drop of water to see if it will affect the fire. Then drop by drop it brought more water. When the lion saw the small bird’s courage, he called all the other animals to follow the hummingbird’s example to help put out the fire. All the animals came together, they fought the fire together as one, and at the end of the day they saved their home.
The moral is that there are some small things that can have a powerful impact. Refugees are often underestimated due to their status, but a label isn’t everything someone is – we believe we are all capable of great things. We were inspired by the story of the Kolibriz to show that refugees are also capable of doing something amazing, something that can change lives.
As I am an artist, the only way to change things is through my talent. From this I can show the beauty of the place where I live and I hope that other people in this situation around the world will also be inspired, have their voices heard and make a change” – Moses Kasungu, Promise Hub Mentor
A free place for everyone to enjoy art
Uhuru Amphitheater, Nakivale
Having a stage became essential for the audience too and that is how free MDD, live performances every Saturday evening in Nakivale at the famous amphitheater in Uhuru.
The Uhuru Land is an open space in Nakivale that was initiated by Opportunigee in 2017, it contains different innovative structures such as the Uhuru amphitheater that hosts up to 2000 persons and the Promise Hub bottle house.
Habitas Rise has funded the construction of the Amphitheater and has supported Kolibriz Talentz with their first sound equipment to be able to host their shows.
These live performances have benefited local artists with visibility, credibility, and appreciation. The way music is enjoyed here by thousands of residents every Saturday has had an immeasurable impact on Nakivale’s community development.
Since 2019 Moses and Kolibriz joined forces with Promise Hub, the project has benefitted from further support through mentoring, organization, logistics and funding in order to build on the amazing impact it has had on Nakivale.
COVID-19 Challenge
With the arrival of the Coronavirus, in March 2020, the government of Uganda decided on a countrywide lockdown as a quick response to slow the spread of the virus. Schools, churches, mosques, shops, and every sort of gathering were exclusively prohibited or closed. Kolibriz also suffered the mandatory lockdown too - the project stopped some activities until they found something suitable that can fit the audience for the next days of the crisis.
”As the entire world is fighting against the novel coronavirus, refugees are also concerned, artists in Nakivale couldn't just sit and watch without bringing their contributions, that's why we come all together; Rwandans, Burundians, Ethiopians, Somalis, Eritreans, Congolese, Sudanese and composed World against COVID-19.” - Moses Kasungu, Promise Hub Mentor
In April, just one month of the mandatory lockdown, Kolibriz Talent Show launched the World against COVID-19 song. The project mobilized distinctive artists, including musicians and poets from different corners of the settlement and 8 different nationalities, and put them together so that they express awareness about the disease and raise confidence in the community that the disease can be defeated if we respect the required measurements.
Kolibriz is presently running an online streaming performance on the Kolibriz youtube channel which has been a very brilliant endeavor to keep the audience connected despite the pandemic. Episodes are recorded at the Geodome studio at Uhuru.
The Kolibriz team is eager to begin hosting weekly concerts as soon as the lockdown ends so the community can once again enjoy local talents performing. In the near future they also hope to finish equipping the Geodome studio with all the necessary instruments and sound equipment needed to support and empower the artists of Nakivale.
The Geodome studio at Uhuru land, Nakivale