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. 

ORIMOYOLE MOYOSORE AND SANYA NOEL JOINTLY WIN THE #BABISHAI2016 POETRY PRIZE

Orimoyole Moyosore

Isaac Tibasiima, judge

Ambassador Ngesu Chief Guest from the Kenya High Commission

Leave a commentEdit

Sanya Noel from Kenya,for his poem, What would we have called you had you lived, emerged joint winner with Orimoloye Moyosore from Nigeria for his poem Love is a Plot Device but your insecticide is not. In the middle of an evening filled with poetry,music, Babishai festivity and conversations from all over Africa, Ambassador Ngesu from the Kenyan High Commission in Kampala, announced the two winners. They  both win 700 USD, participation in the 6-month Babishai mentorshsip scheme and fully paid for attendance and selected festivals around Africa.

Here is Sanya’s winning poem.

What we would have called you if you had lived

The fat graduand. The laughing ugly girl.
But you would have laughed it off.
And your father wouldn’t have stormed into college,
with plain clothes policemen.

No arresting a teacher for having struck you.
No epileptic attacks, Maggie.
No collapsing at your own graduation
fourteen years later.

We watch you walk to be given the power to read.
You’re not a baby now, Maggie.
You’re not a fat spoilt baby at all.
You’re not ugly anymore, Maggie.
You don’t twist your mouth when you speak.

We’re not envious of your having gotten an epilepsy attack
just when the teacher was about to strike you, Maggie.
But no epilepsy protects us from the teacher’s cruelty.
No disease prevents us from going to school, unlike you.
Not even simple Malaria, Maggie.
And our fathers won’t come to school with policemen
because a teacher struck us.

But you’re dead now.
We buried you, Maggie.
And we never took it back;
the fat, the ugly, the twisted mouth.

We just wanted your epilepsy.

We just wanted a father
who would not beat us because teachers beat us, Maggie.
We just wanted a disease, a condition, the police, a mother, anything,
to protect us from the cruelty of the math teacher.

And you had them.
Won’t you just understand that, Maggie?

Sanya Noel
Kenya

 

Duduile za Mabaso from South Africa, reading her poetry         and      Oswald Okaitei from Ghana, in performance

Here is Orimoyole’s winning poem,

Love is a Plot Device and your Insecticide is not

And when you design

The ultimate insecticide,

You’ll tell me about malaria,

And how I never have to worry

About artemether,

About lumefantrine,

Ever again.

And I’ll tell you about my lover,

How she runs her fingers

Through these bumps at night.

How she pretends these mosquito bites

Are nothing but bullet wounds.

How she asks with feigned concern,

Where did you get these?

How I wince as I say Kosovo-

’98-

We were outnumbered…

Orimoyole Moyosore   (Nigeria)

 Kakinda Maria Birungi frrom Uganda and Kyle Allan from South Africa, were the poets amongst the top five.

Agnes Kabaungi from Uganda ,performing.

Ngartia from Kenya, performing

The #Babishai2016 team thanks you and congratulates the winners.

RULES TO THE TOASTMASTERS CHALLENGE

THE TOASMASTERS CHALLENGE AT THE #BABISHAI2016 POETRY FESTIVAL

THURSDAY 25 AUGUST 5:30PM AT MARIA’S PLACE NTINDA ENTRY FEE IS 5,000/-

The Toastmasters Challenge is an intellectual battle of words between Kampala Toastmasters and poets. Poets in Kampala have created a positive shift in the creative industry. Through their inventiveness, Kampala flourishes with rich verse. Kampala Toastmasters Club is part of an international organization that trains in public speaking and effective communication. They meet every last Tuesday and every second Friday of the month at Protea Hotel in Kampala.

Tom Jalio,astmasters challenge judge

Meet the contestants:-

Moderator: Phillip Matogo

Poets

1.       L-Ness  Lydia  (Kenya)

2.       Winnie Apio (Uganda)

3.       Fahima Kimbugwe  (Uganda)

4.       Mark Gordon Slam Poet (Uganda)

5.       Jordey Lonyo (Uganda)

Kampala Toastmasters

1.       Connie Nshemereirwe (Uganda)

2.       Abubakar Matanda (Uganda

3.       Davis Tashobya (Uganda)

4.       Stephano Kiyemba (Uganda)

5.       Paul Kavuma (Uganda)

Meet the Judges

Lekpele Nyamalon (Liberia)
Doreen Baingana (Uganda)

Tom Jalio (Kenya)

THE RULES TO THE GAME

ROUND ONE is a knock-out round where two toastmasters and two poets will leave

Each of the ten contestants has between 3-5 minutes to present their speech or poem on any topic of their choice. Their presentations will be timed and any piece below 2 and a half minutes or above 5 and a half minutes, will be immediately disqualified.

There will be time cards.

Green time card will flag at 3 minutes

Yellow time card will flag at 4 minutes

Red time card will flag at 5 minutes

Judging Criteria:

        I.            Relevance of message

      II.            Eloquence and Enunciation

    III.            Creativity

    IV.            Connection with audience

      V.            The oomph factor/originality

ROUND TWO is also a knock-out round where two toastmasters and two poets will also leave

In round two, each of the 6 contestants has between 3-5 minutes to present their speech or poem on any topic of their choice. This time they are permitted to use a prop of their choice to enhance their presentation. Their presentations will be timed and any piece below 2 and a half minutes or above 5 and a half minutes, will be immediately disqualified.

There will be time cards.

Green time card will flag at 3 minutes

Yellow time card will flag at 4 minutes

Red time card will flag at 5 minutes

Criteria:

        I.            Relevance of message

      II.            Eloquence and Enunciation

    III.            Appropriate and creative usage of prop

    IV.            Connection with audience

      V.            The oomph factor/originality

FINAL ROUND THREE is AUDIENCE SELECTION.

In round three, each of the 2 final contestants has between 3-5 minutes to present their speech or poem on any topic selected by the audience. This time the two finalists will leave the area while the audience selects a topic. The finalists will then pick a random number in a hat to decide who goes first. Their presentations must be based on the given topic chosen by the audience and they will have minimal time to prepare. They will be timed and any piece below 2 and a half minutes or above 5 and a half minutes, will be immediately disqualified.

There will be time cards.

Green time card will flag at 3 minutes

Yellow time card will flag at 4 minutes

Red time card will flag at 5 minutes

The audience will then select the winner.

The winner will receive a card to the award-giving  dinner on Friday 26 August at Fang Fang Restaurant and a book of their choice.

Our festival programme is available on our website www.babishainiwe.com and we can be reached via email at babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com.

THE #BABISHAI2016 POETRY SHORTLIST

And here we are with the #Babishai2016 Poetry shortlist. The shimmering of verse upon verse and conversations with trusted unknowns; the readers. This shortlist is their gift, an addition to the journey of those who have graciously embellished life with their own creativity.

Congratulations to each one. We’ll be holding a discussion on the shortlist at Femrite offices in Kampala  on Monday 22nd August from 5:30 pm. Please join us. Last year, Harriet Anena and Prof Rem Raj lead the same fiery discussion.

SHORTLIST:-

http://babishainiwe.com/2016/08/03/babishai2016-poetry-shortlist/

SINCERELY,

The Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation Team

Vision: A Society immersed in poetry

Email address:    babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com

Tel:                         +256 751 703226

Website:               www.babishainiwe.com

Twitter:                @BNPoetryAward

The #Babishai2016 Poetry Festival runs from 24 to 26 August 2016  in Kampala Ntinda at Maria's Place opposite the Froebel stage, near Victory City Church.

ABIGAIL ARUNGA ASKS WHY EVERYONE IS AFRAID OF TALKING ABOUT SEX; #BABISHAI2016 GUEST

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

LILLIAN AUJO, BABISHAI FESTIVAL GUEST AND PRIZE WINNER OF FICTION AND POETRY

Lillian Akampurira Aujo is a Ugandan writer and a member of Femrite. In 2009, she won the inaugural BN Award with the poem 'Soft Tonight'. In 2015, she won the inaugural Jalada Prize for Literature with her short story "Where pumpkin leaves dwell.” During the 

 During the #Babishai2016 Poetry Festival, she will Participate in a panel, "What are Ugandan women poets poeting about?"

Which one of your written poems do you constantly refer to and why?

1.      People ask me about ‘Soft tonight’, so I find that I keep referring to it a lot. 

 What is your relationship with poetry on the stage?

  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am comfortable on the page, and really uneasy on stage. So my relationship with poetry on stage is pretty novice.  I might change that soon, because for long I have toyed with the idea of being a performance poet.

 At the #Babishai2016 poetry festival, you'll participate in a panel entitled, What are Ugandan poets 'poeting' about? so, what are Ugandan women 'poeting' about?

3.    Politics! And I am glad that people like Anena have found un ignorable ways of putting it in Ugandan’s faces; a title like ‘I bow for my boobs’ is really hard to ignore.

 How would you define a successful poetry festival?

4.    A successful poetry festival has to have a buzz. (Yeah to Babishai on that!). Good performers to draw a crowd. And by crowd I categorically exclude poets, and include the other public. Good organisation of events, so that there aren’t too many similar things going on at the same time; that way guests don’t feel like they’ll have to miss out on something to attend another event. Then it has to have attendance from the public; otherwise who is it for?

 How has academiia influenced poetry, in your opinion?

5.   Has it? In my opinion there’s no clear cut distinction between academia and poetry. Even poets who don’t have degrees in literature and English or MFAs tend to invariably teach themselves the rules of poetry. So the two ‘worlds’ tend to co-exist in poetry..

6.  Parting remarks? 

F

6.   Memes like ‘poetry is for the elite’ need to die like yesterday! All our local languages are rich in poetry, the hawker on the street peddling his wares does so poetically, the touts calling to passengers do so poetically. So we need to stop lambasting ‘poetry’ with ‘elite’.

  Thank you.

   The Babishai Festival programme is here.
 http://babishainiwe.com/2016/07/21/babishai2016-poetry-festival-programme/

THE #BABISHAI2016 POETRY FESTIVAL PROGRAMME IS HERE

Dear Friends,

The #Babishai2016 Poetry Festival programme is here. Follow the link below.

#Babishai2016 Poetry Festival Programme

Contact festival@babishainiwe.com
or  +256 751 703226 for any inquiry.