In a performance rife with color, rhythm and movement, Children of Uganda will share the vibrant performing arts of East Africa as part of the Tour of Light 2000 presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures on Tuesday, April 25 at 8 p.m. in UCSB Campbell Hall. Winners of the best performers award at the Children’s Festival at Wolf Trap in Washington, D.C. in 1993, this company of 18 gifted young artists under the direction of Frank Katoola, is on tour for the first time to major theaters throughout the United States. Extremely limited seating remains for this performance.

The ensemble comes from the Daughters of Charity Orphanage, founded and managed by Sister Rose Muyinza, the largest in Uganda’s capitol city of Kampala. Serving as good will ambassadors to the world for the 1.5 million orphans in their homeland, the company is touring to raise awareness of the epidemic of orphans as a result of the AIDS crisis at home. Uganda has the highest number of reported HIV cases in all of Africa, and AIDS is the number one cause of death among adults in that country. The epidemic has nearly decimated the population between the ages of 25 and 40. UNICEF predicts a rising rate of 120,000 to 140,000 new orphans each year due primarily to AIDS deaths.

Alexis D. Hefley, president and director of the Uganda Children’s Charity Foundation (UCCF), initially went to Uganda in 1993 at the invitation of Ugandan First Lady Janet Museveni. Hefley lived and worked with AIDS orphans for 18 months in Kampala. She returned to the United States in 1994, having organized the first national tour of the Daughters of Charity Dance Troupe, in which 17 orphans performed traditional African songs and dance. She then formed UCCF in response to the overwhelming need for international humanitarian assistance to address the AIDS and orphan crisis.

The mission of UCCF is to enhance the ability of Ugandan orphans to address their own economic and social needs by providing them with the opportunity to obtain an education. The organization was formed in response to the following needs identified by the Daughters of Charity Orphanage and other service groups: education, food and shelter for the AIDS-related orphans in Uganda; U.S. scholarships for this population; help for Ugandans to overcome the AIDS crisis at home; and increasing global awareness of the AIDS related crisis in Uganda.

The Tour of Light program began in 1996; a new tour is produced every two years. Each Tour of Light produced by the UCCF has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide education, food, clothing and housing for over 600 children both within and outside the Daughters of Charity Orphanage.

Uganda is a landlocked plateau country straddling the equator. It is bordered by Sudan to the north, Congo to the west, Rwanda and Tanzania to the south and Kenya to the east. The region receives abundant rainfall and is rich in tillable land; major products include coffee, sugar, cotton and building materials. During the last decade while the country’s government, religious and community leaders have been occupied with the primary needs of infrastructure, HIV emerged as an overwhelming threat.

The nation of Uganda is the result of the unification of ancient kingdoms as well as many smaller, independent chieftainances. In all, the country has 52 different ethnic groups, each with its own language and rich traditions of music, dance, storytelling and folklore. The largest cultural group is the Buganda people, speakers of Luganda; it has always been heavily influential in Ugandan affairs. Other major ethnic groups include the Acholi, Batoro, Karamajong, Banyankole, Banyoro, Basoga, Basamia, Bagisu and the Lugbara.

Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, this event is supported in part with funds from the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) which receives critical support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. This residency includes two performances for local school children at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Monday, April 24 sponsored by the Children’s Creative Project.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2080.