The Kyangwali Singing Tree of Healing the Trauma of War

The Kyangwali Refugee camp is all too familiar with leaving one's homeland because of war. 95% of the refugees who live in the UN's settlement in northern Uganda have come from the Congo. The trauma of war has stayed with them for decades and the need for healing is intense. The Singing Tree process is a collective way for feelings to be expressed and stories to be shared - a necessary step in healing.

Kanizius Nsabimana is the Lead Organizer who came up with the theme for the Singing Tree of Healing the Trauma of War. He fled the Congo to the refugee camp when he was seven in 1996. As a visionary educator, he founded Youth Challenge 4 Change which supports entrepreneurial projects by high school students and teaches Peace Building Through Sport. He has won a number of awards including the Saville Foundation Pan-African Award for Entrepreneurship in Education.

Emma Kavuma is a world-renown Lead Artist, lives in Kampala, 6 hours away from the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement. He follows in his artist father's footsteps, even though he lost him and his mother as a young child. 4 year-old Emma picked up charcoal from the fireplace when his parents died and started drawing. Sharing the principle that creativity is a birthright, Emma brought art-making to Syrian refugees in the Netherlands.

We need your help to launch The Kyangwali Refugee Settlement Singing Tree Project for Healing the Trauma of War. This community-involved, collaborative art 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 living at Kyangwali in Northern Uganda.

You will give the youth, adults, and elders of Kyangwali a foundational experience in practical peace-building. Participants will gain tools to become creative peace leaders to engage this refugee community in healing the trauma of war and addressing other challenges in their community.

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