Making friends through dance
As a girl, Catherine Nawany watched her grandmother dance, many times as a lone spectator. The old woman would gyrate to Larakaraka, a traditional dance by the Acholi people, in northern Uganda.
Many times, she would invite her granddaughter to join in, carefully teaching her the steps and formation involved. The Larakaraka is very engaging and interesting to the eye for even those who might not know the language.
Like that, Nawany picked interest in dance and when she joined dance competitions at school, in Kotido, she grew an appreciation of a beat or pulse. With time, whenever she danced, she turned heads.
Spotting her
Among the heads that turned was a Ndere Troupe tutor who saw her perform during Umoja Festival in Kampala, which brought together dancers from various schools. Ndere Troupe was recruiting young dancers at the time. At the competitions, she has met with a dance tutor, Jonas Byaruhanga, who became a friend. Nawany needed a friend because she was not getting love at home as her father had divided attention between his spouses.
“When Ndere administrators came to ask him for permission to take me on as their dancer and pay for my fees, he was hesitant. For the first time, I asked him to allow me take up the opportunity. He got emotional,” Nawany recalls.
Moving to Kampala
Anyway, she came to Kampala and became a regular at the Uganda National Cultural Centre. She also started staying with a friend and she got dependants. Despite the fact that she did not have enough to fend for herself, she recalls many times - sometimes late in the night - calling Byaruhanga to ask for assistance.
“He would laugh and share whatever little he had,” she recounts between fetes of a smile and shedding tears. Lady luck smiled at her and she met Anette Skoglund from Oslo who was on study exchange. She was also friends with Byaruhanga.
Skoglund is a secondary school teacher, writing her master’s degree about empowerment of indigenous women through local knowledge and has lived in Uganda. She was touched hearing Nawany’s story. She offered some help financially. The young dancer felt blessed having met Skoglund.
Through friends and her stage showcase, she got exposed to more people and duly began utilising her creativity to earn.
Spreading her wings
One of the key connections she got was to schools like Kitante Hill School, Makerere College School, Music, Dance and Drama department at Makerere University and Kampala International University where she taught and trained cultural and creative dance.
“I started earning some money. In a week, I would earn between Shs100, 000 and Shs200, 000 at each of the institutions where I trained students particularly during music, dance and drama competitions,” she recounts.
Soon, Skoglund introduced her to Karethe Nedrebø Eide, Nora Talleraas Hollekim, Elisabeth Meszaros Håkenåsen and Aneth Fossen, all teachers who had also come on an exchange programme.
Ideas for self-sustenance
From the interactions, came an idea, Ubuntu-Maata, a Norwegian organisation working in Uganda, with Nikaramajong and Acholi women from mainly Karamoja, where Nawany was born and raised. So she is the link between the Norwegian women and the communities.
Nora and Elisabeth say the project which started in October 2014 is for students, with a mission to share the opportunity to enjoy free education. The friends have supported Nawany to pursue studies in tourism at Uganda Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). She harbours a dream of establishing a tourism company someday. She is now the organisation’s local director.
With the Norwegian partners, they teach the children under their care. In Norway, they fundraise to keep the organisation and particularly support the children’s upkeep and also to help the local women realise their potential.
Nawany says most of the women are engaged in making handicrafts. Nora and Elisabeth say they are currently building a resource centre in Kotido where they can learn business acumen, exchange ideas and sell items that they produce, with help from resources in the Ubuntu-Maata circle.
“Through collaboration with the local women and partners, guided by their skills, knowledge and understanding of their situation, Ubuntu- Maata contributes to empower these women, and raises focus on the importance of local and indigenous knowledge.
Our tools are education and entrepreneurship, and together we can achieve a sustainable community,” the Norwegian students say.
Goal of the friendship
They explain that part of their inspiration are the urge to cause change in society as well as making a contribution to the post-2015 Development Goals, which point out unemployment as one of the global changing.
The Sustainable Development Goals estimate that 600 million youth are unemployed.
Nawany appreciates the efforts of these friends. She is strategising on how she can start her tourism company, which will employ women and youth as her contribution to reducing on the number of the unemployed.
