L-R: Graham Boyle, Baay Musa, Dumi Right, Stacy Willyard, and Magee McIlvaine.
Thursday, November 12 the star of the show was the Bavubuka Foundation, pronounced ba-voo-boo-kah - a Luganda word for youth.
The Bavubuka Foundation is a nonprofit organization that connects youth with music and arts in hopes to transform their lives and unify communities. Members of Voices Organizing for International Change, Empowerment, and Support (V.O.I.C.E.S.) all have a special affinity and admiration for the Bavubuka Foundation, especially Magee McIlaine of Nomadic Wax and Stacy Willyard of the US Institute for Peace. Magee McIlvaine, a Canadian born filmmaker and hip-hop aficionado, has traveled extensively throughout Africa and has witness the power and influence of hip-hop in African youth. He aimed “to bring different worlds together” for the V.O.I.C.E.S. event series where art, music, political and cultural education converge in an entertaining and informal format.
Stacy Willyard is particularly passionate in her accolades for the Bavubuka Foundation. She’s visited the organization’s facilities in Uganda and is involved with its fundraising and development. She recounts the uniqueness of the organization as she shares it is currently supported by individual donors only. She hopes the organization will be in a place to accept institutional grants soon. In true generation-Y styled, people-to-people giving, she made sure to let event attendees know where their donations would be going, youth in Uganda. She recalls a young Ugandan woman’s hopes to be Betty Bigombe, a renowned mediator and scholar, when she grew up. A huge fan of Bigombe, Willyard is thrilled as she feels “the world could use more peacemakers”.
The event was a true multimedia experience; art lined the walls and floors at the Hillyer Art Space, a video showed background on the Foundation, Ugandan hip-hop, Magee spun on the 1s and 2s and Dumi Right hyped-up the audience and preformed.
V.O.I.C.E.S. takes pride in forming their collective and shinning light on organizations important to them. They feel like DC is the perfect location given its think tanks, US government and multilateral agencies, and NGOs to hosts these interactive events for the international development and policy communities. Their hope is that influential Washingtonians can learn about grassroots organizations in Africa that they might not have learned about otherwise and be inspired to support them.
V.O.I.C.E.S. plans to host these events the second Thursday of every month at the Hillyer Art Space, 9 Hillyer Court NW. On Thursday, December 10th, they will spotlight Magamba Project based in Harare, Zimbabwe, an organization trying to use arts and culture to achieve social justice and protect human rights.
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