There are few pleasures like training children in poetry. The Babishai Kidz and Kreativity Program for 2018 has transformed, re-invested and reshaped the learning platform for children.
By using creative tools like Shindles, which is a tool that enables children to learn a new word every lesson and use it creatively and appropriately, the Babishai program has proven to work.
During the second term holiday for majority of Ugandan children, the training covered three weeks; six lessons in total. divided into poemolecules; or what Babishai categorizes into expectations, challenges, life stories, poetry, rhyme and evolution, the children followed a step-by-step guide, building their potential as poets, creators and story-tellers.
The Babishai Kidz and Kreativity program occurs all year round, targeting children in both the local and international schools. The holiday seasons are a delight because often parents are exasperated by the amount of time that their children spend on gadgets like i-phones and i-pads. Babishai is the creative alternative to this pandemic. There are several partners whom Babishai has worked closely with, who share similar values of promoting and creating a massive writing and reading culture amongst children. Sooo Many Stories, managed by Nyana Kakoma , is a good example of that. Storymoja in Kenya are other partners, with a knack for raising the reading standards unapologetically and we have delighted in partnering with them on many occasions.
With a population of about 40 million in Uganda, 70% of whom are youth, the need for creative arts training in children, cannot be overstated. Reading and writing is an assurance to steady leadership. Uganda requires intentional and consistent practise of reading and writing amongst her children. Babishai’s emphasis is on poetry because poets, with immersing themselves deeper into the act of reading and writing poetry, are able to revel in mystery, unravel tangled complexities of the human mind, politics and socio-economics and then detoxify it all into the marvellous assortment of poetry.
The #Babishai2018 Poetry Festival is scheduled for 3-6 August in Kapchorwa and Mbale, with an excursion entitled, PoetryAtSipi, where poets from all over Africa will be surrounded by the spectacular crystal waterfalls of Sipi. This will be combined with a visit to Mbale, hosted at Starlight by renowned Professor and poet, Timothy Wangusa.
Don’t miss out on the festival. Follow this link for details.
https://www.babishai.com/2018/01/29/babishai-2018-poetry-sipi-falls-3-6-august-2018/