1st October is National Poetry Day! 

The theme for 2020 is vision.

We'd like to share some poetry and resources from our team and international project partners which demonstrate our vision: of arts, language and culture helping to build a greener, more equal and peaceful world.  

Chirikure Chirikure

UNESCO RILA Affiliate Artist Chirikure Chirikure is Director of LitFest Harare, a long-time friend and collaborator with our team. A national treasure in Zimbabwe, we were honoured to host him in Scotland during Black History Month 2017.

Chirikure wished to share "Directions" by artist Wolfgang Spahn. A Poem Performance Film based on the homonymous poem by Chirikure Chirikure performed alongside German beatboxer Mando. Spoken word, beats and projections form a thrilling mélange.

The poem uses the idea of directions to highlight how certain political instructions create absurd effects on everyday life, it comments on the "Look East" policy initiated in 2003 and refers to the (post-)colonial education system. 

Poetry readings by Alison Phipps and Tawona Sitholé 

See also

These readings were recorded to accompany the book Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community, edited by Lia Shimada, published by Jessica Kingsley.

This enlightening edited collection shows how migration shapes the lives of faith communities - and vice versa - through diverse prisms including diaspora, generational change, cultural conflict, conceptions of 'ministry' and artistic response. 

Cultures for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace

In the CUSP project we are working with IBBY Mexico, a non-profit organization which is a part of an international network of people who are committed to bringing books and children together. Our partners at IBBY Mexico have provided the following links where you can experience Mexican poetry and discover 10 Latino Poets Your Children Should Know!

Adinkra Links

In October the AdinkraLinks poetry collective, established by UNESCO RILA Artist in Residence Dr Gameli Tordzro, will release their next collection of poetry entitled AYA 'The Resilient'.

The collection contains 136 poems from 29 poets around the world, edited by Dr Gameli Tordzro and Maysura Asher Farzia, Illustrated by Senanau Adzo Tordzro with a foreword by Ugandan young poet Fiona Laker.

Aya is the Adinkra symbol for endurance and resilience. Aya is depicted by the fern, a hardy plant that thrives in difficult terrain. The symbol thus reflects the experience of protracted difficulties and adversity and flourishing despite such difficulties and challenges.

Three poems from AYA are reproduced below, with permission.

Recovery

The strength to recover
Doesn’t always lie within you.
Sometimes,
It lies within the voices
Of your loved ones.
Maybe,
It lingers within a smile
Of a stranger.
Or even,
The words of the people
That don’t want you to succeed.
Resilience
Doesn’t always lie within you
Sometimes,
It’s in the Love,
Kindness,
And in spite
Of the world around you.

Senanu Adzo Tordzro

Our Giftedness

we all
have a choice
to live in our world,
knowing
we are all able
to touch
each other’s life
differently
through our
giftedness,
and 
that's fulfilling!

Mercy Pepella 04/11/19

I Sing Rwanda

Not because we share the soil
and the melanin of African roots,
Nor because we share the port of Mombasa
and the connecting highways,
I sing Rwanda a lullaby in honesty
and purity of a rough history,
I sing Rwanda,

The story of insanity that shook and shocked the world,
Dismembered brethren scattered
on the green hills begging to understand,
Why a neighbour rose with a machete,
And cleared throats of children and parents
with a fierce animosity,
Death roamed the land
for a hundred days of a revisit to holocaust,
Screams of dying reverberated
along the baboon and gorilla country,
Sowing debris of utter horror to those who dared to survive,
Yet, today, i sing Rwanda,

O i sing Rwanda,
The land of minds healing minds,
I sing Rwanda,
In tearful accolades of a journey rough and tough,
I sing Rwanda,
For the willingness of shedding a lie and living a difficult truth, 
From the scorching hatreds sowed by a rogue divider,
A kingdom bowed to the demons of cleansing,
Not any longer,
The remnants carrying the stigma of a ruthless falsehood,
Rebuilds the land brick by brick,
I sing Rwanda,

From relationships to economics,
From schools to boardrooms,
From the rule of law to democratic processes,
I sing Rwanda,
A rhythm has emerged
of a people immersed in rebuilding lives again,
I sing Rwanda,
A people purposed to change mindsets and clean bigotry,
A people bent on remembering the hurtful past
by celebrating new outlooks with an eagles focus,
Yes. I sing Rwanda,

O i sing Rwanda,
A land that in these times and age,
Have lived resilience in its truest form,
Allowing healing to embrace the scars and scabs
of a hundred days of hell.
Yes. I sing Rwanda.

Nancy Ndeke

First published: 30 September 2020

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