Keeping cultures alive around the world

Changing your locality in terms of regions and nations may come with a lot to it. You will have to adapt to; the food, the way of life but among all the culture. Adapting to one’s culture may seem an uphill task but when well grasped, the likelihood that you will dart your own culture through the window is at bay. I met Mary Ingabire kayondo, 38, who exudes the real epitome of Ugandan culture despite living in the UK for most of her life.

Ingabire’s Origin
“When my parents found no peace in Rwanda where we had been living, they were forced to relocate to Burundi where things turned out to be worse as the Tutsi from Rwanda were being hunted down. That is when we moved to stay in Uganda until my father got a job in Kenya as a French teacher. He had prior experience teaching at Namukozi Secondary School in Mityana where we had been living,” narrates the single mother of three boys.
“In Kenya, we lived at Marsabit along the border with Ethiopia from 1990 to 1993. At the time, all the people of Ugandan and Rwandan decent were hunted and deported back to their nations. So we ended up back in Uganda, which we made home. From Uganda, I found my way to the London UK, first for studies but later settled there but as a refugee not a citizen.
“Growing up in refugee camps has made me get in touch with many cultures and that has propelled my general understanding and appreciation of what culture is.
“Despite our random movements from one place to another, this did not affect me or my siblings. We usually settled in faster than you could imagine. We were very positive about culture and we also cherished whichever culture we entered as our own.”

Using cultural differences for good
“I find people divide and hate each other because of where they come from, which is wrong! Worse still, this has become a budding habit within our children too in their schools, they are not helped to like their cultures, languages and appreciate other people’s cultures. For me, it is one people from different locations with different dialect,” says Ingabire.
Ingabire went to St Aloysius Secondary School Bwanda Masaka before she went to Universal group of Colleges Nairobi in Kenya after which she joined University of Salford, Manchester in the United Kingdom for Bachelors in Tourism Management. She speaks of this time as being her defining moment into knowing how much she loves culture.
“At University, I saw people dividing because of cultures and differences in origin. Being well-travelled and upbringing, I thought of the thing to bring these people together.
Since most of them have an African origin, I thought hard and ended up starting small gatherings where a group of people would showcase their different foods, dances and cultural Art pieces. Thank goodness!
People liked the whole thing and started growing in number but my motive wasn’t about the money people were paying to come to experience the cultures but the closeness people started getting and the way people started appreciating other people’s cultures.”

Taking up the cause
After campus, the urge to bring people from different cultures together grew stronger and that is how she was inspired to begin an event organising group called Global Cultural Events as a registered organisation seeking to promote Pride, Heritage and Peace. She now goes to different countries to help the Ugandans and people from different cultures work together and embrace the cultures in which they live but without losing the love for their origin and heritage.
Ingabire is the CEO of the Global Cultural Events. “I have been to countries including China, UK, and United Arab Emirates, organising events that have seen different cultures from Uganda enhanced and brought to life.
We stage shows of music, dance, drama, art, poetry and food from different cultures in Uganda and in so doing, we help them love and keep in touch with the cultures where they come from. I don’t get fulfillment in the money but the fact that people get to appreciate culture and all it comes with.” Ingabire will be having a show in Uganda later this year.
“Travelling a lot means different challenges like when you are denied a visa and things of the sort. But so far it has been so good,” she says of some of her challenges.

Fulfilments
For her, it has been more than bringing bread to table. “I get fulfillments when people begin to love their cultures and this can be a strategy of peace creation in the world. When you love your culture but also appreciate other people’s cultures, you will live to learn more about different people and cases of racism will begin to be minimised,” Says the winner of best Events and Cultural organiser at Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television and Arts awards (BEFFTA) organised in London by Dr Pauline Long. She continues to say that her happiness is in seeing her dream come true and also inspiring those who might be struggling in different countries as refugees or emigrants whose cultures might not be appreciated.