Babishai and Open Mic at Kampala International School Uganda Poetry Slam

When poetry escapes through the minds and hearts of children,  there is no doubt that the universe has made a great investment.



Early reading inspires creativity/photo from Kampala International School Uganda

 Babishai Poetry Foundation Director,  Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva and Open Mic Director Shiraz Murray witnessed a cocktail of indescribably brilliant poetry at the Kampala International School Uganda Poetry event held in early November.

Shiraz Murray

From Years 7 to 9,  the children captivated the wide-eyed audience for over two hours. Being part of a competition did not deter the pupils from adorning themselves in the most glorious poetry costumes possible.

Topics ranged from deep seated society issues like cruelty to animals,  racism and poverty.  With unexpected word twists,  creative imagery and unapologetic realities,  the children were courageous and explored those themes affecting them. This proved that U. S elections,  race relations and political attitudes affected them as much as everyone else.

It was difficult as the judges selected winners and no surprise that there were several ties. The Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation,  through the children's literary program,  Babishai Poetricks,  identifies with school poetry programs like this to maximize a child's potential through exploration of poetic devices.



Students at 2016 Babishai festival

In 2017,  Babishai will conduct another primary school poetry competition after an extremely successful one this year. They will also continue with their creative literary outreaches in children. 

WHERE WE'VE BEEN AND WHERE WE'RE GOING #BABISHAI2016, #BABISHAI2017

Babishai Poetricks is an adventure toolkit that encourages children to maximise their creative potential using poetry, creative illustrations, movement and sound and inter-personal communication.

Storytelling time

Every child has something to say

 This programme, under the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, was launched on June 16^th 2015, on The day of The African Child, to promote new spaces for children aged 4 to 12. Having visited and facilitated in many primary schools in Uganda, the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation noted a significant lack of African poetry for children. Babishai Poetriska is a toolkit divided into eleven adventures that emphasizes the use of the five human senses as a wholesome way of describing and articulating, builds on team-work and introspection to develop children individually and with others.

The busiest times are during the holidays. Over the Easter Weekend, Friday, Saturday and Monday, there were nine children who underwent the training. Ranging from 3 to 10, we articulated the five senses, compared colors to emotions, improvised with kites to determine the power of wind and had an impromptu spelling bee. This coupled with story-telling and composing their own poems, gave the children a real Babishai experience.

Daniella,one of the trainers

During the Babishai Poetry Festival which will take place from 24-2 August 2016, we will have an entire day for primary school children to perform in poetry and theater and hold a pan discussion, presenting their case for poetry.

We partner it hike-minded organizations like Malaika Educare, which is one of the largest mobile children’s libraries in Africa. With over on thousand children’s books for children in various towns, they ably deliver books to individual homes on a weekly basis.

This year on June 16^th, The Day of The African Child, we will launch the Babishai Poetricks Leadership Academy for African Children Living in Africa. The main pillar of this academy is Creative Leadership Through Creative Readership. The target is African children from 4 to 12, living in Africa. We will be using the Babishai Poetricks toolkit, which is a proven workable creative method of nurturing the leaders that Uganda and Africa need.

Babishai Poericks time

The Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, founded by Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva, a writer editor, poet, long-distance swimmer, actress and leadership trainer, coordinates annual poetry competitions for Africans. This year, they introduced the Haiku competition, dubbed Babishaiku, they publish poetry by Africans, coordinate creative children’s programs, business programs, annual poetry festivals and poetry mentorship programs.

Observation

This year in June, Babishai is leading a team of creative explorers to the foothills of Mt. Rwenzori to hold a poetry session, launch a poetry collection and have a wide barbeque spread. Poetry on The Mountain is another annual event which Babishai will share with her audiences and friends.

The Babishai 2016 Festival runs from 24-26 August in Kampala. #Babishai2016

The Babishai 2017 Festival runs from 7-9 June in Kampala.  #Babishai2017

BABISHAI POETRICKS CREATIVE CHILDREN'S HOLIDAY

Babishai Poetricks Creative Children’s Christmas party

The Babishai  Poetricks team held their first children’s Christmas party under the theme of Children, 

Creativity and African Christmas. Held on 18^th December 2015 in Mpererwe, the residence of Mrs. Betty Mugoya, a horticulturalist, about ten children gathered for five hours of poetry and party.

Babishai Poetricks, December 2015

Babishai Poetricks, December 2015

Eliana

Poem by Exriela

Ezriela reciting

Zion Agasaro

Daniella and Agasaro, Poetricks party-December 2015

The three Poetricks facilitators, Daniellorah, Robert Ssempande and Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva started with Babishai Poetricks, doing rhyming schemes, matching colours to moods, word play, poetry and sound and anecdotes.

After that, the event stretched to animal imitations, chain stories, opening crackers and making very long paper chains of about 25 yards. It was delightful to see the children expand their imaginations. They joined in pairs and raced around the garden as part of a rhyming scheme game, made silly faces to bring out confidence and character and much more. We ended by sharing African based Christmas poems and holding a large special children’s barbeque. Our next party will be held as an Easter creative for children on March 19th 2016.

Babishai Poetricks holiday session.

During the first week of the Kampala children’s Christmas holiday December 2015, Robert Ssempande and Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva spent three days engaging children in Babishai Poetricks. With six children in total, they began by outling their faces, including features like hair, earrings, teeth and so on. From each picture, the children commented on their friend’s photos, talking about the mood depicted, friendliness,  uniqueness of facial features, thus appreciating one another’s differences.

Favourite animal

Next, was matching colours to moods which interestingly brought varied and unexpected responses, proving once again the under-estimated intelligence of children and their power of observation. Using the five senses of sight, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting, the children navigated poetic devices and eventually composed poems about their favourite animals, which they themselves named and created stories from. 

Time for Poetry and Party

Time for crackers, Babishai Poetricks

Our next creative children's Christmas party will take place just before Easter on March 19th from

11:00am to 4:00pm. The fee per child is 75,000/- For details, contact +256 751 703226

Photos above by Zahara Abdul and Emmanuel Nsengiyunva

I STARTED READING BOOKS AT THE AGE OF TWO, HOW ABOUT YOU? #BABISHAIBOOKS

“I started reading books at the age of two, when did you start reading?” That is what Asiimwe, Rachel and other children of Epitome Kindergarten in Muyenga will say. When people see their ability to articulate in exceptional ways, their highly imaginative ability, they will say that it's because they started reading from the age of two.

Thanks to their head-teacher, Joyce, who organized a book week from 2^nd to 6^th November. The shelves were filled with animations, folk-tales, fairy-tales, animal stories, fantasy books and jolly phonics, all with the aim of changing a generation. We were privileged as Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, to donate books to the children. Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, a critically acclaimed poet from Nigeria, winner of the 2014 Glenna Luschei Prize with three globally sought after poetry collections to his name, donated a large amount of books to the Babishai Children’s Book Drive. Grassroots Uganda, run by Lee Anyadwe, generously donated children’s material to the drive as well and for that we are eternally grateful. These donations came during the Babishai Poetry Festival in August 2015. It was the first ever poetry festival in Uganda and came with close to 250 guests from 11 different countries. Our next festival will be held from 24 to 26 August 2016 under the theme of Abundance: Poetry From Contemporary Africa. Amongst the confirmed guests are Kenyan actor and playwright, John Sibi Okumu, The Head of Literature at Makerere University, Botswana’s highly acclaimed poet, TJ Dema, amongst others.

PRESS RELEASE-OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF #BABISHAIPOETRICKS

PRESS RELEASE-16 JUNE 2015, OFFICIAL BABISHAI POETRICKS LAUNCH ON THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD

Today, we are thrilled to officially launch #babishaipoetricks, the children’s adventure toolkit. Babishai Poetricks is the largest program under the Kampala based Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation. The Foundation runs the annual BN Poetry Award and publishes poetry.
Babishai Poetricks is a toolkit captured in eleven adventures, each of which increases a child’s ability to reach the highest creative and literary potential. By using very interactive exercises, a child engages in creative listening, speaking, describing and introspection. Each exercise enables a child to freely analyse their environments and relate them to their personalities, thus bringing a deeper understanding of themselves. Once they do this, their abilities to use poetry and prose to illustrate and observe are highly sharpened. Every child should experience Babishai Poetricks.

Currently, we are conducting Training of Trainers in Uganda and trainings within schools. These are charged at a reasonable fee, given the life-changing exercises. We will also train in Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa for the first three years. The Babishai Poetricks toolkit, produced by Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva, Ugandan writer, poet and Founder of the Babishai Niwe Poetricks Foundation is a program that is timeless, memorable and is the essential means for children to grow from where they are to where they can be.

Big Bear Kindergarten children sharing their #babishaipoetricks experience

Teacher Joyce, who underwent a Training of Trainers says,
 “This is so important because it helps teachers to learn various adaptations to use in classroom exercises. It is so much broader than what our teacher-centered system provides. It’s a true experience.”
Teachers, Parents and schools are particularly going to benefit from this model as they witness their children growing into articulate and confident wordsmiths, poets, speakers and individuals. Many thanks to Ayodele Olofintuade, a writer from Nigeria and Paul Kisakye, a writer from Uganda, for contributing their invaluable poetry to this toolkit. Many Thanks to Gilgal Media Arts for publishing and to the schools that have already embraced it.

The full story is here, http://www.bnpoetryaward.co.ug/download/newest-brochure.pdf
For more information, contact

Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva
Head Trainer and Director Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation
Email: bnpoetryaward@bnpoetryaward.co.ug
Tel: +256 751 703226

#babishaipoetricks Training of Trainers at Big Bear Kindergarten, Kampala

On 9th June, the first Training of Trainers of the #babishaipoetricks children’s adventure toolkit took place. Our hosts, Big Bear Kindergarten in Kampala, were absolutely thrilled at the opportunity. There were four trainees namely Teacher Joyce the proprietor, Teacher Rinju the Director, Teacher Nakiganda the Headmistress and Teacher Diana a teacher. The objectives of the training were to share skills from the toolkit on how to guide children into understanding and appreciating #babishaipoetricks. The Babishai Poetricks toolkit is an experience for children aged 4 to 11 years. In it are eleven adventures which aim to instill life-skills, sharpen observation skills, creatively engage a child to interact, listen, speak from the heart, use images to relate and become introspective. The training covered three of the eleven adventures.

In the first adventure, the trainees drew pictures of their faces, allowing others to describe what they saw. Through this, we are able to see ourselves in other people’s eyes and also analyse how we see ourselves. Children will most likely laugh at the funny shaped noses and mouths but the trainers should use that for children to appreciate their own looks. By doing that, the creative space opens up for them, along with their confidence. The pictures turned out hilarious but on a deeper level, reflected a lot about the personalities that day.

Next, we matched moods to colours. Interestingly, while black was considered sorrowful, it was also considered adventurous. You see, in this toolkit there is no wrong answer. Instead, children are encouraged to articulate, analyse and reflect. An adventure may either take 1 hour or 1 week, depending on the group dynamics. That is what #babishaioetricks is about. It’s an experience.

When it came to tackling the five senses, we had to end there because our 2 hours were up. There are many uses of the mouth and nose that many people are unaware of. It was a true life-changing training.

Testimonials

Teacher Rinju, Director of Big Bear Kindergarten:

“This training of training was extremely helpful, practical, very interactive and enables children to really think.”

Teacher Joyce, Proprietor of Big Bear Kindergarten:

“This is so important because it helps teachers to learn various adaptations to use in their classroom exercises. It is so much broader than what our teacher-centered system provides. It’s a true experience.

 

These are the first certified Babishai Poetricks trainers. We look forward to training more trainers.

Note:

Training of Trainers are currently taking place in Uganda, after which we will branch to Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. In order to train from this toolkit, you must be certified. The Trainer fee is 50 USD per individual and takes from 2 to 3 hours. There are packages for schools as well. Join us and become certified.

Babishai Poetricks-Grand launch on June 16th

Babishai Poetricks is a poetry adventure toolkit for children, youth, adults and just about everyone.

It is a project that invites readers into a maze of stimulating, electrifying and fresh literary games and ideas. We’re officially launching it on June 16th, The Day of The African Child. Invite us for the Training of Trainers. Become a certified trainer. Let your children have a #babishaipoetricks experience.

Caption of a drawing by a 5 year old.

At GreenHill Academy

At Gayaza High School


Through it, we peek into our own lives, understand our various likes and dislikes, question different preferences of time, place and action and identify who we are in this vast world. You don’t have to be a poet to enjoy this; you just have to be available. The toolkit is better managed if an older facilitator takes the participants through it. We also offer trainings for trainers, like teachers in schools or we may conduct the trainings for the children. Get a feel of it before you teach. Laugh, participate and have fun.

By taking note of why we react to certain situations, we are able to better understand what it means to be alive today and how we are affect the person next to us. In this adventure toolkit, we are able to pick out the common sounds and images around us and ask what they mean and those that are not so common. It is packed with physical activity like tasting sweet and sour foods, just so that you can tell us what those tastes remind you of. We will look at many different colours and describe the mood that these colours put us in.
This poetry adventure toolkit was realized after touring many schools and realizing that there is a to huge need and want for poetry for children, written by poets they recognize and find relatable but also a simple guide for children to approach poetry with heady excitement and not fear.

“I hated poetry because of my teacher at school!”

“Poetry is so difficult. All those sonnets and iambic pentameters are impossible!”

How many times have we expressed this or heard our friends saying this?

While poetry may not always be easy to construct and not everyone is meant to be a poet, it still remains a very important tool for literary enrichment, improving your vocabulary and creativity. Reading poetry, learning new ways to articulate and finding your own personal space is what this toolkit is about.

You don’t have to be a poet to enjoy this; you just have to be available.

Contact bnpoetryaward@bnpoetryaward.co.ug for more details.