By Isaac Tugume
The History and Heritage Uganda campaign, aimed at promoting cultural tourism across the country, is officially on, after being launched at Ewaffe Cultural Village on Saturday, by Top Cloud Rwenzori Adventures Limited!
The campaign, which was unveiled at a function that was attended by among others, representatives from Buganda and Busoga kingdoms, Miss Tourism Buganda, Jackie Nanyonga, plus journalists from various media houses, was started to highlight the unique cultural attractions and experiences of different regions and cultures in Uganda.
Speaking at the event, Amon Baita, the Team Leader at Top Cloud Rwenzori Adventures, noted that this campaign aims at driving tourism traffic to all traditional and historical sites in the country, plus creating awareness about the cultures of the different tribes in Uganda.
“We aim to document, promote, and revitalize local history, culture and traditions. In these regional tours, we shall showcase historical artefacts, record Uganda’s unique historical sites, cultural landmarks, and traditional heritage as well as market these sites globally in the digital space,” Baita said.
He added that; “Our tours are designed to educate and inspire both local and international visitors, celebrating Uganda’s vibrant history while contributing to the preservation of our historical and cultural treasures, especially during these current times when cultural erosion is at its peak across African societies.”
To effectively achieve this, he revealed that the company intends to build a digital museum for African History and Cultural heritage where the generations to come can be referred to learn more about their past and traditions and that the museum will be a platform for research about cultural tourism in the future.
Godfrey Luyombya Nswa Zaluguudo, the representative from Buganda Kingdom, hailed the team at Top Cloud Rwenzori Adventures for having come up with such a great initiative, noting that it’s not unique but will also benefit the cultural institutions in Uganda by promoting their cultural values and tourism sites.
“I commend the management and team at Top Cloud Rwenzori Adventures for having started this campaign because it’s timely because it was lacking in our societies. We have so many tourism sites in our various kingdoms but very few people know about them because no one takes the initiative to inform them about these sites,” Luyombya said.
“A tree or well that has been in a place for over 100 years is a tourist site but most people don’t know that,” he added, noting that; “That’s why the people who started up Ewaffe Cultural Village had the dream in the mind of reminding us about our roots. To always make us remember that culture is our roots and that a nation without culture is like a tree without roots.”
He emphasized that although there are many aspects or branches of tourism, history and heritage are key, because they are the ones that connect culturally as Ugandans, even though we hail from different regions.
On his part, Owek. Andrew Kigenyi Wansolo, the State Minister for Culture and Tourism in Busoga Kingdom, tasked the team at Top Cloud Rwenzori Adventures to focus on the institution of marriage and teaching children their culture in the History and Heritage Ugandan campaign.
He highlighted the fact that civilization has contributed greatly to cultural erosion and because of this, many of the educated and or religious people confuse observing cultural norms and values with practising witchcraft.
“We the Basoga are religiously cultural. Most people think that observing your culture and practising traditions is witchcraft; that’s false! I am a born -again Christian but at the same time someone who believes and practices my culture,” Wasolo said.
He added that; “What this campaign should focus on most is teaching the children and youth about their cultures, names, languages, clans, tribes and traditions because most of them don’t know and have been taken over by the influence of western cultures.”
He gave an example of the bark clothes, which he said were traditionally produced in Buganda, Busoga and Bunyoro kingdoms in past centuries, but is now being neglected by people from those kingdoms yet a country like Germany wanted to secure patent rights for its production after realising it’s durability and high value.
In his final remarks, Wansolo hailed the management of Ewaffe Cultural Village for having started up a facility that not only promotes cultural but also ecotourism, and urged all Ugandans to protect the environment by planting as many trees as they can, warning about the adverse effects of global warming and climate change.
About Ewaffe Cultural Village
Located along Nagalama Road, in Mukono District, Ewaffe Cultural Village is a leading cultural and culinary tourism site in Uganda.
The Cultural Village offers visitors an opportunity to taste all Ugandan traditional dishes, plus other activities like farm tours, cooking lessons, fishing experience, pottery workshops, storytelling, and traditional board games among others, giving everyone an unforgettable experience.
