Kyangwali and the Trauma of War
The Kyangwali Refugee Settlement began as a camp for refugees from Rwanda in the 1960s.
An enormous number of cultural backgrounds and traditions are present in Kyangwali. There is conflict between nations and tribes. When you are a refugee, you are in crisis: Where am I safe? Whom can I trust? Where can I find a home? How can I make a living?
The logo for this project includes the leaf of Ukraine's national tree, the Viburnum. The Singing Tree facilitators in Uganda are sending love to those who are suffering from war and have become refugees.
The Kyangwali Refugee Settlement Singing Tree Project, led by Congolese refugee Kanizius Nsabimana and Ugandan artist Emmanuel Kavuma, will bring the Singing Tree Project to the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement.
The Kyangwali Singing Tree Project will address the traumas suffered by the more than 125,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, most from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, now at Kyangwali.
The Singing Tree Project is a community-involved Peace-Building-through-Art program that creates opportunities for communities to heal shared wounds.
Hi Laurie. What a wonderful project! When I was in Rwanda in 2010 to work with the Genocide Orphans there was an American couple staying at our motel who went to Kyangwali to see if they could bring more pure water to them. The owner of the motel was going to rent us their room for meetings because he said they would not come back alive. They did, with horror stories of how people were being treated. At that time there were still a fairly large number of Hutu Rwandans who wouldn't come back because they would be prosecuted for being leaders of the genocide. That may no longer be true. Any project that brings hope and creativity, especi…