Tumaini Festival returns
Tumaini Festival has returned on the scene and is scheduled to take place on November 4 at Dzaleka Refugees Camp.
According to a press release, the festival aims at bringing joy and hope to refugees and also promotes the refugees camp as a place of unity, peace, coexistence and harmony.
“This year, the festival will be held on November 4 and will feature various activities, including music performances, poetry, theatre, traditional dances and art exhibitions,” read part of the release.
The festival will also have more international and local acts that will perform on five performance spaces; the main stage, the youth stage, poetry corner, theatre corner and the cultural ground.
“Tumaini Festival presents a unique opportunity to support an innovative cultural event, developed and delivered by refugees and Malawians to promote intercultural harmony through entertainment and artistic expression,” the release adds.
The inaugural Tumaini Festival took place in 2014 from 17 to 22 November at Dzaleka Refugee Camp. The festival was a week-long extravaganza of performances, workshops, and events.
Activities during the week took place throughout the community, celebrating diverse art forms. The festival culminated in a final day of performances on Saturday, November 22, 2014, featuring acts from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, as well as Blantyre, Dzaleka itself and villages surrounding the camp.
The second edition of the festival took place in 2015 on November 14 and brought together refugees, expatriates, business people and arts enthusiasts. Artists who performed included Lawi, Faith Mussa, Menes la Plume, Young Chilaga, Malaika Band, George Kalukusha, Amahoro Drummers and Vagina Monologues.
The third edition took place on November 5, 2016, and featured 46 acts which included Chimzy Kelly from Zambia, Faith Mussa, Waliko Makhala, Agorosso, Malala, Robert Chiwamba, Etoile de la Paix, Tigris, Mbanaye, Amahoro Drummers, Solomonic Peacocks.
Across the three previous editions, over 14,000 people have attended the event, and 86 acts from across Malawi, Africa and the world shared the stages with performers from Dzaleka. Tumaini Festival united 10 nationalities of performers: DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Belgium, UK, Italy and South Korea.
Tumaini Festival has over the years represented a unique opportunity for refugees to share aspects of their lives with interested visitors, to exhibit and sell their crafts and to feel the hope of connecting to a wider community.
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