Category: Arts & Culture

IN PHOTOS: Young girls are lined up before undergoing tribal circumcision ceremony in Kenya

Photographer Siegfried Modola captured this ceremony in rural Kenya for four teenage girls of the Pokot tribe

More than a quarter of Kenyan women have undergone ordeal, despite the practice being outlawed three years ago

But in many tribes, it is considered a rite of passage that marks the transition into womanhood so girls can marry.

These pictures show frightened girls lined up before villagers in Kenya to be circumcised – even though the brutal practice is now illegal in the country.

But in many African tribes, traditions are more important than laws and circumcision is considered a rite of passage that marks their transition into womanhood so they can marry.

Reuters photographer Siegfried Modola captured this ceremony in rural Kenya for four teenage girls of the Pokot tribe, in Baringo County.

Draped in animal skin and covered in white paint, the girls squat over large stones in the remote village after being circumcised – a life-threatening custom banned in the country three years ago.

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November 14, 2014
LOVE POEM: Your Shadow

I am grappling with anxiety and sorrow
Missing you is you is a severe blow
I have glued my eyes to the window
Sighing and weeping like a widow
My heart has become low and hollow
I’m looking brawn and sallow
Please come to me as quick as a arrow
I wish I saw at least your shadow.

My mind sees you in black and yellow
Eating something like a marrow
Your teeth are as white as snow
I see the way you have styled your eyebrow
You look sexy and mellow
I see the way you cuddling your pillow
Your breath is shaky and shallow
Please come and we go to the meadow
I wish I saw at least your shadow.

Whenever I greet you I make a bow
Walking with you is a fine show
You’re the one I shall forever follow
You have been my lover and frank fellow
Without you I’m crazy and fallow
My blood is running extremely slow
Everything is too tough and sour to swallow
I wish I saw at least your shadow.

I’m lazy and pushed like a wheel barrow
I’ m growing from a whale to a minnow
You’re moving around and across the marrow
I only get a wink of sleep at cockcrow
Ways of getting peace is very narrow
Please let’s meet not later than tomorrow
Don’t worry I’m no longer callow
I wish I saw at least your shadow.

Gratien UWAYEZU

November 3, 2014
POEM: YOU’RE IMMACULATE

{{ BY}}: {Gratien UWAYEZU }

The entire globe says that you’re immaculate
There’s been no change to date
Whatever you say is precise and accurate
Your reaction is wise and immediate
That’s why you’re said to be articulate

Your body is tender and delicate
You move like an angel to the Heaven’s gate
Just like a flower ready to pollinate.

Your voice is as sweet as chocolate
They changed my state when I was desperate
This love is so burning, very passionate
We’re bonded together; your fate is my fate
When I miss you my heart beats at a strange rate
Soul becomes crazy and obstinate
I hung on the window like inmate
On the whole your absence is what I hate.

Before you I was hopeless and desolate
With you I’m blessed and fortunate
When you come to me you never be late
Whatever you give me I do appreciate
Our love’s story is too hard to narrate
For you no part of my body is private
My aim is to make you a roommate.

You’re special; romantic literate
I love you, don’t ask me to elaborate
Your kisses have never been adequate
Ignore whatever they speculate
So long as our bodies do communicate
My heart won’t stumble nor deviate
I shall stick with you through any climate
Keeping you calm and cool is my mandate.

October 27, 2014
What you need to Know about Kigali Fashion Week 2014

{Kigali Fashion Week is an inspiration and an encouragement in nurturing innovation in both creative and commercial endeavors in the Rwandan’s era of creative economy. It explores the intersection of fashion dressing by bringing together the mainstream fashion communities, local, regional and international fashion designers showcasing their state of art designs. The event has recorded massive success in the last two years where the Rwandan designers have had a chance to learn the international fashion trends.}

House of Fashion Rwanda, LDJ Productions and The Commonwealth Fashion Council London has partnered to make the auspicious Kigali Fashion Week 2014 a success.

The event is slated for 3rd to 8th November 2014 and this year’s event has been given a booster by Rwanda being chosen to sit at the Commonwealth Fashion Council in London.

Based on the current ongoing publicity in TV, Radio, Print Media and Social Network, it is estimated that more than 600 persons will be hosted at the Kigali City Tower Roof Top on the grand Final, 7th November 2014. The House of Fashion team therefore works round the clock to ensure that it meets the highest standards and expectations it deserves.

In addition, top New York City based event-planning company LDJ Productions—the organizers of New York Fashion Week—will be present from day one to work with Kigali’s planning team and host workshops for designers. The event has attracted teams from UK, Canada, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi who have so far confirmed there attendance.

Locally, already casting of almost 20 (upcoming and established) designers is ongoing to set the stage for the show.

October 21, 2014
Hope Academy Rwanda held their 2nd Annual Art Attack

{Saturday October 18th 2014 saw Hope Academy Rwanda, Nyarutarama Campus, open its doors for the 2nd Annual Art Attack. Students, parents and members of the public tried their hand at over ten arts and crafts, ranging from painting, collage and beading to mosaic, weaving and comic book drawing. }

Face-painters were also on hand to turn children into Batman, Spiderman, tigers and butterflies, the only limit being the imagination of the child. Henna artists decorated those who preferred to accessorise their hands. The corridors rang to the sound of laughter and chatter as participants made recycled flower vases, paper chicks, and vegetable prints. To keep the energy and creativity flowing, parents brought homemade food – both savoury and sweet – to sell in a kermess in the school dining hall. All profits from this will be invested in future school events like Art Attack and Solidarity Festival.

Participants were joined by a talented Rwandan artist, Douglas Mugerwa from Uburanga Art Studio, who shared his tips for working as an artist and inspired the students to release their creativity in everything they do. Hope Academy Rwanda works to help students discover and achieve their potential in everything they do, and is grateful to Douglas Mugerwa for his message.

Parents commented that this event was unique in Rwanda and that it was a fantastic opportunity for children to express their creative side outside of class. Over 100 children, parents and members of the public enjoyed the 2nd Annual Art Attack; thank you to all of you for making it such a success. Hope Academy Rwanda hopes the 3rd Annual Art Attack will be bigger and better at the new campus in Gisozi. We look forward to seeing you there.

October 20, 2014
Artist Innocent Nkurunziza opens ‘Woven Life Tapestry’ solo show at Inema Art Center

{Innocent Nkurunziza, internationally recognized as a leader in African painting, opens his show Woven Life Tapestry at Inema Art Center in Kacyiru.}

The show focuses on Nkurunziza’s signature spiral patterns and dot-and-line works. The spiral patterns depict the circular flow of life. The blend of colors on the canvas, distinct yet interconnected; demonstrate how life events are woven together and apart at the same time.

“Each line represents a line in my life, how I see the world,” says Nkurunziza. “It’s philosophical and spiritual. When you see the spirals, the never show you that they’re ending, they show you they’re beginning. There’s always continuity.”

Nkurunziza says that’s why he always works from the center: when you move further away the spirals expand; when you move closer, they pull you into the center.

A variety of large-format spirals, in different colors and meanings, are spread throughout the gallery space. Of particular note is “Unity” that shows the gorilla in the middle. Nkurunziza says that the painting shows the way that the gorilla unifies people from different areas in the world. The gorilla has the Rwandan attachment, it’s a source of income to Rwanda, and they attract broader communities to Rwanda.

In addition to his spirals, Nkurunziza takes on ambitious works for his show, including “Unity Through Music.” This 48-panel piece shows distinct musical instruments in his dot-and-line style.

Each panel’s instrument originates from a different country, from the traditional harp, and guitar, to xylophone, horn, calabash, drums, djembe, and trumpet. For Nkurunziza, each instrument he chose produces a rhythm of hope, unity, and a connection that brings everyone together through love, dancing, and celebration.

The show continues to demonstrate Rwanda’s growing art scene and position in the wider international art scene. After showing around the world, this is Nkurunziza’s first solo show in Rwanda.

{{ABOUT WOVEN LIFE TAPESTRY}}

Come celebrate the Woven Life Tapestry

6 PM – 10 PM
October 16, 2014
Inema Art Center
Kacyiru, Kigali

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

{{ABOUT INNOCENT NKURUNZIZA}}

Nkurunziza Innocent is one of the leading contemporary artists in Rwanda. He is a prominent force in the development and promotion of the contemporary arts scene in Rwanda and admirably succeeds in making it an inclusive process by engaging the broader community. Nkurunziza paints, makes sculptures, and designs jewelry in an abstract-expressionistic style. He has participated in various local, international, solo and group exhibitions; including in the Wilmington, NC; New York; Portland, OR; Boston; Charlottesville, Virginia; Scotland; Canada; Germany; Denmark, and Holland.

{{ABOUT INEMA ART CENTER}}

Founded in 2012 by brothers and self-taught painters Emmanuel Nkuranga and Innocent Nkurunziza, Inema Arts Center spurs creativity for personal, social, and economic growth. Nkurunziza and Nkuranga started Inema to tap the untapped potential of art in Rwanda. To use creative expression to bring the community and country alive. To provide exposure to creative people and create opportunities for Rwanda’s most underserved to use creativity for a productive livelihood. Today, Inema Arts Center has become a beacon in Rwanda for cultivating creative expression.

October 16, 2014
Meet Songa Designs CEO to know how Rwandan Women benefit from Jewelry Designs

{Women in Rwanda are benefiting from different handmade objects that are created by using locally sourced, natural materials to give designs that make eco fashion desirable.}

IGIHE’s Ange de la Victoire Dusabemungu has met Sarah Sternberg, the CEO of Songa Designs International which produces different types of jewelries made in Rwanda and she has explained to us how Songa Designs works with Rwandan women to fight against poverty at the same time fighting for Economic independence.

Below are excerpts of Interview.

{{IGIHE}}: {{May you introduce yourself to me?}}

{{Sarah}}: Yes, I am Sarah Sternberg. I am Co-Founder and CEO of Songa Designs International.
{{
IGIHE}}: {{You said Songa Designs International, Why the name “Songa”?}}

{{Sarah}}: Songa means”summit” (Isonga) in Kinyarwanda, and it means “Continue forward” in Swahili. So, we just felt that was perfect for the kind of business we want to build and we do believe that job creation is in line with poverty alleviation and it puts women in their part forward to economic independence.

{{IGIHE}}: {{Briefly tell us about Songa Designs International?}}

{{Sarah}}: Songa Designs works with women cooperatives throughout Rwanda and we take collected jewelry from North America and ship it here. It is assembled and we create them into new designs and sell them to the overseas.

{{IGIHE: Why don’t you use Jewelry from Rwanda?}}

{{Sarah}}: We can take jewelry from Rwanda absolutely.

{{IGIHE: Tell us about Songa products?}}

{{Sarah}}: So we take indigenous materials such Sisal leaf, banana leaf, cow bone, Fabric materials, etc. We recreate those materials to jewelry designs and then we have collected jewelry from women all over North America and that’s how jewelry is combined and makes it very different and unique designs.
We do also take into consideration Rwandan culture when we are creating jewelry designs.

{{IGIHE: What is your target market? }}

{{Sarah}}: Our target market is the other women in North America. And initially we target market in North America.

{{IGIHE: Why have you invested in this type of Business?}}

{{Sarah: }} I believe I have talent and I also believe in creating jobs for women in Rwanda who want to work and I want have an economic independence.

{{IGIHE: Where did you get inspirations for the designs you created?}}

{{Sarah:}} My co-founder who is now living in Thailand has done a lot of Songa designs and she does get a lot of inspirations from the Rwandan culture and working with women

{{IGIHE: How do you select the kind of jewelry you want to design?}}

{{Sarah: }} We do a lot of market research to see where is the trend, where women wearing, what is the target market is wearing and then try to create jewelry that would attract them.

{{IGIHE: What are your plans for the future?}}

{{Sarah:}} The plans for the future is to build and grow Songa, continue working with Rwandans and build store here in Rwanda and go to other countries where other women are looking for a dignified income and look for other materials that we can make and many other accessories.

{{IGIHE: What is your message to Rwandan women? }}

{{Sarah:}} If you believe in yourself and you have the support of those around you, you would be able to do anything you want.

{{IGIHE:}} Thank you for the Interview.

{{Sarah:}} Thank you too.

{{angedelavictoire@igihe.com}}

September 20, 2014
Iran Dismisses Reports on Closure of Cultural Centres in Sudan

{{ Iran’s foreign ministry has denied reports that Sudan shut down its cultural centres in the country and asked one of its diplomats and the staff at the centres to leave the country within 72 hours.}}

Fars News Agency (FNA) on Wednesday quoted the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, Hussein Amir Abdollahian, as saying that certain groups in Sudan are trying to impair the good relations between Tehran and Khartoum.

Abdollahian stressed that “embassies and cultural and economic missions of both the Islamic Republic of Iran and Sudan continue their normal operation in the two countries”.

“Yet, we rest assured that the Sudanese leadership would never allow anyone to undermine the historical relations between the two countries,” he added.

Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Youssef al-Kordofani, said in statements carried by state media on Tuesday that the government continued to monitor the centre’s activities and stressed that it had exceeded its mandate and posed a threat to the intellectual and social security in Sudan.

“It became necessary to take an official action against this centre, which has prompted the closure decision,” he said.

He also confirmed that the Iranian charge d’affaires was summonsed on Monday and informed of the decision and their request that the Iranian cultural attaché and the staff at the centre leave the country within 72 hours.

Some press reports have suggested that the Sudanese government’s decision was motivated by warnings made by religious circles as well as the media about the spread of Shiite ideology among Sudanese youngsters after the intensification of activities by the office of the Iranian cultural attaché in Khartoum.

Several religious forums had warned the Sudanese authorities against spread of the Shiite doctrine and considered it a serious threat that must be stopped.

A radical jihadist group under the name of “Hamza Group for Preaching and Jihad” issued a statement last month threatening the former managing director of Kenana Sugar Company Mohamed el-Mardi Tijani and religious cleric al-Nayel Abu-Guroon after accusing them of promoting the Shiite doctrine.

Sudan’s foreign minister, Ali Karti, told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Wednesday that the Sudanese presidency had rejected a request from Iran to reverse its decision to close the centre.

“We have been closely monitoring the activities of the centre in Khartoum to verify that it is committed to cultural activities rather than seeking to make Shiite, sectarian gains that are alien to Sudanese society,” he said.

Karti said that the Sudanese authorities urged Tehran to stop what he described as “Shiite proselytizing” but that the cultural center had refused to comply.

“Unfortunately, the Iranians behind these exploitative activities were trying to spread Shi’ism by offering financial gains, as well as other unacceptable means,” he said.

He noted that the foreign ministry had summoned the centre’s leadership on several occasions in the past to complain about its activities, adding that the cultural centere’s continued non-compliance prompted the presidency to issue the “necessary decision, which came as a surprise to officials in Tehran”.

The Sudanese top diplomat further said that activities organised by the centre in poor neighbourhoods and university campuses across Sudan “confirmed to us beyond any doubt the center has deviated from its agreed-upon cultural role”.

Sudan’s foreign minister further said they sought to promote common interests with Tehran without hurting other Gulf or Arab or African neighbouring countries, adding they would not allow Iran to exploit Sudan’s economic, military or political needs to achieve its goals at the expense of society, religion and friendship.

The warm political ties between Khartoum and Tehran have angered Arab Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and led to strained relations with them.

Over the past few years there have been mounting signs of deterioration in relations between Khartoum and Riyadh.

Last year, Saudi Arabia closed its airspace to the plane carrying the Sudanese president on his way to Tehran where he was scheduled to attend the inauguration ceremony of president-elect Hassan Rouhani, thus forcing him and his delegation to return home.

Sudan has also regularly allowed Iranian warships to dock in Port Sudan across from Saudi Arabia, drawing the concern of the United States and its allies in the Gulf.

{sudantribune}

September 4, 2014
Exhibition Sheds Light on East African Slavery

{{East African slavery and the Trans-Indian Ocean slave trade are rarely discussed either in local textbooks or at global forums where the West African slave trade is a common topic of debate.}}

“Less is known about East African slavery because it’s been seen as a tabu,” said senior curator at the Shimoni Slavery Museum and Heritage Site, Patrick Abungu.

“There has been denial on the part of many descendants of slaves, primarily because there’s a stigma associated with slavery.”

This is why the current exhibition at Alliance Francaise entitled “Silent Memories: the unbroken chains” is so important. It’s bound to clear the air and clarify what actually happened in East Africa with regard to slavery.

Presented on the occasion of the United Nations International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, the photo-text exhibition including an equally illuminating documentary film scripted and narrated by Abungu, was produced with support from Unesco, Alliance Francaise and the French Embassy to Kenya as well as the National Museums of Kenya.

The first stunning revelation that the Shimoni Museum’s lead researcher, Abungu, brings to light is that slavery has been endemic in the region for centuries.

“It wasn’t commercialised, however, until outside forces came to the Coast. After that, Africans were marched from as far as Malawi, Mozambique and Congo as well as from Uganda, and Kenya to Shimoni caves where they were held until dhows came to take them to the slave market in Zanzibar,” said Abungu who led the National Museums research team which has unearthed much of the information in the exhibition.

Using archival photographs and drawings together with maps of the various slave routes in the region and detailed texts, the exhibition offers an excellent overview of what slavery and the slave trade has meant both in the past and present.

In Abungu’s view, present day slavery is not so very different from the commercial slave trade that was abolished by the British in the mid-nineteenth century and specifically in Kenya in 1907, although the practice continued covertly until the mid-1940s.

Modern-day slavery may be called by different names, such as sex trafficking, child labour, child soldiers and even wage slavery, but these manifestations still deprive human beings of their liberty, said Abungu who includes indentured labour such as was found during the colonial era among the myriad forms of enslavement.

NMG

August 22, 2014
Kenyan Wins Coveted Caine Prize for African Writing

Kenya’s Okwiri Oduor has won the prestigious 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story, My Father’s Head.

“It gives me audiences and opportunities that were not previously possible. It is great that my work can be read by people that might not have been aware of it previously,” she told media.

Ms Oduor’s story explores the narrator’s difficulty in dealing with the loss of her father and looks at the themes of memory, loss and loneliness. The narrator works in an old people’s home and comes into contact with a priest, giving her the courage to recall her buried memories of her father.

Jackie Kay (a UK award-winning author who chaired the panel of judges) was full of praise for the story.

“Okwiri Oduor is a writer we are all really excited to have discovered. My Father’s Head is an uplifting story about mourning – Joycean in its reach. She exercises an extraordinary amount of control and yet the story is subtle, tender and moving. It is a story you want to return to the minute you finish it.”

Ms Oduor received the £10,000 (Sh1.5 million) prize and becomes the third Kenyan to win the prize after Binyavanga Wainaina (2002) and Yvonne Owuor (2003). The prize is awarded for a short story by an African writer – living in the continent or diaspora – published in English and between 3,000 to 10,000 words.

She was also named in the Africa39, a Hay Festival and Rainbow Book Club Project, that aims to select and celebrate 39 of the best writers from sub-Sahara African and the diaspora under 40 years.

The writers are selected for their potential and the talent to define the trends that will mark the future development of literature in a certain language or region. Ms Oduor directed the inaugural Writivism Literary Festival in Kampala, Uganda in August 2013.

Her novella, The Dream Chasers was highly commended in the Commonwealth Book Prize, 2012. She is a 2014 MacDowell Colony fellow and is currently at work on her debut novel. “The prize also gives me time to focus on my new novel as I won’t have to worry about other work for the near future,” she said.

As the winner, she will be given the opportunity to take up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, as a Writer-in-Residence at the Lannan Centre for Poetics and Social Practice.

Ms Oduor will also be invited to take part in the Open Book Festival in Cape Town in September 2014, the Storymoja Hay Festival in Nairobi and the Ake Festival in Nigeria.

The other shortlisted stories were; Phosphorescence by Diane Awerbuck (South Africa), Chicken by Efemia Chela (Ghana/Zambia), The Intervention by Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwe) and The Gorilla’s Apprentice by Kenya’s Billy Kahora.

NMG

July 20, 2014