LANGO HERITAGE VILLAGES

A father of 5 biological children, Food technologist and born to ethnic Lango parents in Northern Uganda, I have devoted the remainder of my life to correct our distorted and unappreciated cultural heritage, and weaponize it for radical social and economic transformation. To do this, I lead a team of transformational personalities, older and younger than myself, men and women, under the not-for-profit organization Lango Heritage Villages Ltd, which existed as a project under Green and White Enterprises since 2018, but was legally incorporated in 2020.

With 17-plus years of formal employment experience as Trade Promotion Officer with a Government parastatal Uganda Export Promotion Board (2004-2009) and as CEO of ApiTrade Africa Co. Ltd (2009-todate), I am now dedicated to a life-long passion inspired and drilled into me by my 96-year-old grandmother, Imat Rukia, whose life and tongue ooze social and economic values of our eroding cultural heritage.

Lango, Uganda's 6th largest ethnicity, is grappling with a major cultural identity crisis. The British colonial masters in the late 1800s and early 1900s implemented policies that dis-empowered  Lango and favored the neighboring Acholi people, hence leading to loss of Lango's identity markers: culture and language. These were further compounded after independence. Milton Obote, a Lango man who twice led Uganda,was twice deposed through military coups. Political stereotypes continue to impact the younger generation, as Lango leaders are wrongly portrayed as evil. Without a properly recognized language and cultural identity, and just recovering from the 20-year old war of Lord's Resistance Army, inevitably Lango struggles with low self-esteem, social and economic woes.

Our work focuses on correcting negative historical distortions and restoring the cultural symbols, heritage sites and pride of Lango people by engaging elderly men, women and youth in social learning and economic empowerment projects. 

Lango's 2.3 million people grapple with a major cultural identity crisis. The British colonial masters implemented policies that dis-empowered Lango and favored the neighboring Acholi people, leading to weakening of Lango's culture. Lango also lacked a central organization unlike Acholi, Baganda and other tribes. During Uganda's independence attainment, Milton Obote, a Lango man, became Prime Minister and later President but was twice deposed through military coups. Consequently, political stereotypes about Lango became rampant, gravely impacting on the self-esteem of the young generation and their ability to find rewarding jobs and demonstrate their cultural identity.   The 20-year old war of Lord's Resistance Army (1987 - 2007) capped the problem: people were displaced from their homes and their livestock, crops, cultural sites, homes and symbols were decimated. To date, Lango sub-region lags behind in almost all development indicators. Recent data from the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development indicates that 54% of Lango population is under 18 years. Under-utilization of the youth labor force is at 38%, with 50% of female youth unemployed compared to 33% of males.

Our work focuses on Lango social and economic renaissance, founded on an affirmation of and appreciation for our unique cultural heritage. 

We have launched the work of Lango Heritage Village, some 3 kilometers from Lira town, as the first cultural heritage apprenticeship and tourism center in northern Uganda. According to ancient history, Ngetta was the last settlement of Lango people in the 16th Century before they finally scattered all over the present-day 13,000sqKm land. The purpose of LHV is to provide an undisputed cultural display of the true identity of Lango people, reflecting its history, preserving its legacy and shaping its destiny. Once completed, LHV will be ideal for tourists, pilgrims, students, youth events, party-goers, picnics, religious worshipers, social functions and our monthly Wii Otem.

Besides creating jobs for the local community and restoring cultural pride, LHV will host the first commercial craft apprenticeship centre in northern Uganda, skilling youth and women in making crafts for the domestic market and export.  Our Artshop in Lira Town showcases these products. This will help Lango people benefit from tourism, Uganda's fastest growing economic sector. 

Related work:

1. Wii Otem: a monthly social learning event for young and elderly people
2. Lango Heritage Festival: a 3-day annual event held from October 7th-9th
3. Erecting rhino statues at Lango border posts to promote cultural awareness and tourism.

Our project primarily targets the youthful Lango people of Uganda.  Since we launched Wii Otem in January 2019, we have learnt through the monthly events the desire by the young generation to re-capture their lost pride in their heritage and use it as a spring board for economic development.  The youth also regularly visit our Artshop and express their frustrations (verbatim, and in our guests book) with the elderly generation, whom they accuse of letting them down by not documenting their history or setting historical monuments to remind them of their history.

On 27/08/2019, a Community Dialogue meeting was held at Ngetta Hills with the communities, cultural leaders and Lira District authorities to discuss the idea of setting up a cultural heritage village. The meeting resolved that Government grants the land to Lango Heritage, which was ratified on 9/3/2020 through a formal letter issued by the Local Government.  Work has commenced accordingly with the erection of a symbolic signage.

All the project work employs 70-80% young people in planning, construction works, making crafts, Wii Otem events, etc.  The crafts apprenticeship centre at the Village will engage youths and women already engaged in production, and also train new ones.

Our project provides renewed hope and green jobs in the cultural tourism arena in northern Uganda. Cultural and eco-tourism are novel and unappreciated and yet the opportunities are immense.

Because of the 20-year old war which ended about 12 years ago, northern Uganda remains the poorest region of Uganda, but with millions of illiterate, semi-illiterate, unemployed or under-employed youthful population, hungry for a change of fortunes. This project strategically promises to re-energize their cultural heritage hopes and pride while engaging them, men and women, to work towards that vision, by doing work that becomes their source of livelihoods and wealth.

My grandmother Imat Rukia has been my major inspiration since childhood. As I grew up in Okano-idero village, Lira district, I saw her making pots; I watched her build local storage vats for millet; she engaged me and my cousins in making bee hives from local reeds. She narrated to us life stories about Lango's native foods, hunting episodes, how her late husband Mzee Jackson Obong worked and sometimes abandoned her to work; and so much more.  She made me love work and love my heritage.  As I grew up and went through University education, I loved bees and beekeeping - one of the things she taught me.  My first project at Uganda Export Promotion Board, in 2004, was to develop an Export Strategy for bee products from Uganda.  I greatly enjoyed it.

On Saturday 27th February 2016, I received a spiritual revelation at a Prayer breakfast in Kampala at a friend's (Mr. Kamunuga's) house.  In the revelation, I was destined to build on what Imat Rukia had taught me at childhood.  The revelation was about my role in working and influencing the current generation to embrace and benefit from our heritage, through work. This is what I now do.

I am hungry to see our cultural heritage change for the better.  It pains me when my children learn that the language their mother and I teach them is not their true mother tongue but for the neighbors. I cannot stand the continued embarrassment, aware that my children will find it even more difficult to explain to their own children, if nothing changes. I care because every time foreigners visit our beautiful land, we the hosts have nowhere to take them to feel our cultural heritage.    I care because I know that cultural heritage is our wealth but yet untapped.  To date, no one is doing anything to change the status quo, not even the cultural leaders. To make it worse, Ngetta Hills have been inappropriately parceled out by the local authorities to two quarrying companies who are indiscriminately harvesting the rocks, which have been symbolic of our cultural heritage. So, this project is good, at least for my 5 children. It will salvage whatever has remained of our culture and heritage sites while restoring hope, dignity, livelihood and wealth to Lango. I must do it while I still live.  At 41 years, I am moved into action.  

A son of Lango, I am poised to defend my heritage.  It is my calling and I have traveled and worked with many people from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds.  They value their heritage and tell you proud histories of their people.  Who will tell others about mine? It starts with me.

I am a leader.  I have led several teams at work to achieve many objectives here in Uganda and beyond.  At 41, this is time to do it here at home. 

When we opened the Artshop (Lango Heritage Centre), which houses Lango's first museum showcasing crafts, musical instruments, costumes, literature and heritage symbols, we faced life-threatening oppositions.

The 60+ year olds and elite class undermined our efforts and called me a masquerader, too young to understand Lango history and culture.  They confronted and belittled me. My response was: this is my humble contribution as a Lango son; it doesn't have to be great. Consequently, they were embarrassed.  Today, unbelievably, they are my friends and advisers.

A second group was Lango cultural chiefs, against the backdrop that currently there are two rival factions feuding over supremacy, one led by the rightfully elected Paramount Chief Yosam Odur Ebii, and another led by Engineer Michael Odongo Okune, who once served under Yosam. They spied on me and my team, each suspecting that our work was financed by their rivals.  They, too, were wrong.  I remained focused. After 8 months of espionage, His Highness Yosam Odur Ebii, invited my team to his Cabinet meeting to request us to work with them. In October 2019, they joined us to organize the first ever Lango Heritage Festival. We now have a Memorandum of Understanding with his office.

When Uganda got listed to export honey to the EU market in 2005, it became apparent that Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Uganda Export Promotion Board needed to invest heavily in chemical residue motioning of bee farmers and honey processors and exporters.  Unfortunately, as it is the case in most African countries, general elections were looming in 2006 and as such funds were limited. Government, then considered withdrawing from this seemingly expensive activity, arguing that Ugandan companies were actually not exporting much honey to the EU and thus there were no much benefits.  I, while serving as a staff of UEPB on Government payroll, mobilized and galvanized support from the private sector through The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organization (TUNADO). Simultaneously, we joined forces with Zambians, Tanzanians, Ethiopians and Kenyans who were heavily interested in exporting honey to the EU.  ApiTrade Africa was thus formed at the 39th global Apimondia Congress in Dublin in September 2005, to provide a voice for African honey traders.  In 2007, I became the Coordinator and in 2009 the CEO of ApiTrade Africa, now headquartered in Kampala. Uganda, alongside Ethiopia, is now a model country for commercial beekeeping in Africa.

Lango people generally hold the idea that any cultural revival work should be led by cultural leaders, an illusion that has remained for centuries and does not work. 

Our project is a private-sector-led initiative, something everyone fears to try because it is perceived as a preserve of the cultural entities, something against the norm. And yet the Constitution of Uganda does not even say so.

We have boldly approached this work from the tourism angle - projecting our work to hinge on promoting eco- and cultural tourism in Lango sub-region, by showcasing and commercializing Lango cultural resources. We started with a pilot project - where Lango Heritage Centre was embedded within our current business, Green and White Enterprises, which itself focuses on trading in beekeeping inputs and products in northern Uganda. We created a Lango museum, which then became a magnet for the community, to the extent that His Highness, the Paramount Chief had to preside over its grand opening on 9/10/2019.  This was when people realized that our work had taken a centre stage. Since then, The Paramount Chief has twice hosted his guests from neighboring tribes at our facility - his de facto seat.  Amazing!

Lango Heritage Villages Ltd works to eliminate cultural insecurity among Lango people by positively showcasing Lango's various heritage wealth and helping the people develop capacity for income security. 

We are committed to helping current and future generations of Lango people achieve their full potential. Our services help young people to discover their unique true cultural identity and long term employment through establishing and restoring our cultural heritage sites and practices, and providing skills necessary for the production of market-oriented cultural goods (e.g. crafts, books, films, food) and services (e.g. music, dance nd drama) which create jobs and wealth.

The success of our work is heavily dependent on community engagements and maintaining the support of cultural leaders, religious leaders, Local and Central governments as well as local businesses, educational institutions and young people.

Our work targets the entire Lango sub-region of 2.3 million people.  However, we have set realistic targets as follows:

Current (2019-2020):

• Using our monthly Wii Otem events, we targeted and grew our fan base from a mere 200 people in January 2019 (first Wii Otem), to over 10,000 in October 2019 (10th Wii Otem, also 1st Lango Heritage Festival).
• Crafts suppliers: 40 people in Lango and other regions
• Lango Heritage Village: 10 workers in construction works at Ngetta Hills   

2021:

• Due to COVID19, we have not held any public event since January 2020. However, we continue to receive hundreds of walk-ins,on-phone and online inquiries and compliments. Many of these contacts are crafts customers who buy crafts and souvenirs from our Artshop. We estimate that our current fans, contacts and partners number in the region of 50,000 and will reach 100,000 people (engaged and informed).
• Crafts suppliers: 100 trained to improve (their quality) or start making commercial crafts at our apprenticeship centre - LHV.
• Lango Heritage Village: 30 workers in construction works at Ngetta Hills 

2025:

• Target reaching 1 million people directly and indirectly through multiple programs. Some will be employed through our projects; others will be engaged and / or informed through our out-reach activities and many more will be affected within Lango and neighboring tribes by our work, including future cultural exchange programs and inter-tribal dance competitions at regional and national levels. We also plan to set up Lango Heritage Troupe to export Lango's cultural influence beyond our borders.

2021: We have just launched the construction works of Lango Heritage Village at Ngetta Hills.  We intend to establish the first and a world-class man-made cultural tourism wonder in Uganda, so that when the Government ratifies the proposed Lira City status on 1/7/2021, this facility will validate that decision. The Heritage village will provide un-rivalled touristic and recreational services to the native and foreign guests.

2025: Over the next 5 years:

• Two more Lango Heritage Villages (Otuke Hills and Owiny Akullu's Home) will have been added to that of Ngetta. Otuke Hills are the first entry point into Lango from the East, while Owiny Akulu is the exit point from Lango to the West, linking with Bunyoro land.
• With Lango Heritage Villages established, we shall stop the
  indiscriminate quarrying of Ngetta rocks and restore the green ecosystem of the site. We shall strongly advocate for the non-renewal of quarrying licenses of companies currently destroying our beautiful heritage site.
• We shall also erect rhino (locally known as Amuka) statues on all 5 major border points of Lango.  Rhino is one of the Big-5 touristic wildlife attractions of Africa/Uganda as well as Lango's cultural symbol.
• Lango Heritage Festival will also morph into an international event attracting the world to Lira City. 
• We will partner with organizations such as Mango Tree Educational Lab and Government to ensure that Leblango is taught in all schools across Lango sub-region as well as other schools in Uganda, just as other native languages e.g. Luganda. 

Financial: We are a young organization with no guaranteed source of funding. Currently, we rely entirely on the financial support of Green and White Enterprises (GWE) to undertake some basic activities mentioned before. GWE is a small, growing business entity which supports our work on the basis of the unquestionable passion of our Director, who holds 50% shares in the business. Currently, they accommodate our Artshop and office.

Marketing: Whereas we are quickly gaining local traction in Lango sub-region, but who really knows us? We are still obscure by national and global standards.  We plan to build strategic partnerships to achieve visibility and invest in media publicity at local, national and international levels. 

Cultural: The current rivalry between the two factions of Lango Cultural Foundation (LCF) is a big threat to our effort.  There is a general apathy among the local Lango community regarding cultural activities to the extent that people are quick to switch off whenever one talks about Lango cultural work.  Another element to this is that since we have signed an MoU with the legally recognized faction led by His Highness Yosam Odur Ebii, the rival faction may target our work with a negative smear campaign. Although this is unlikely, we will not be surprised if it happened.

Financial barrier: GWE has pledged to continue providing some limited funding to Lango Heritage Villages. Lango Heritage Villages Ltd as an organization is also applying for grant funding in collaboration with like-minded organisations like Mango Tree Education Lab, etc. LHV will organise events such as Lango Heritage Festivals, which attract corporate sponsors e.g. CocalCola. In 2019, for instance, Cocacola, Plan International and Africell Telecom provided about USD15,000 worth of funding towards the festival. Individual Lango cultural enthusiasts are also providing private donations, especially to construct the cultural heritage site in Ngetta.

Marketing: Although COVID19 has disrupted all our public events for 2020, we will focus more on setting up monumental rhino statutes across Lango sub-region over the near future.  We will also publicize our work through our newly developed online platforms, namely, website www.langoheritage.org, facebook account and YouTube channel. When the threat of COVID19 pandemic subsides, we shall resume our monthly Wii Otem and the annual Lango Heritage Festival. We actually, plan to do aggressive branding and promotion of ourselves and work. Relatedly, we plan to expand our partnerships with like-minded organizations who already have a global following and network.

Cultural: We have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with LCF to promote harmony between our work and that of the cultural institution. We further believe that the current peace-talks between the two rival factions of the cultural institution will succeed and order will be restored.  This will create more confidence in what we are working to achieve. 

Plan International: Plan International has since 2019 supported the planning, organization and financing of Lango Heritage Festival.  They provide co-funding for forums like LHF to promote girl child education in Lango and to strengthen the cultural institutions to guide families in these areas.

Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC) under the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development: UNCC is supporting the work of identifying and profiling cultural sites of Lango sub-region to become part of the national development agenda. No one has done this work before.  A maiden Lango Cultural Tourism Guide will be produced by December 2020.

Mango Tree Educational Lab: To commercialize the production of Leblango books and publications, alongside other cultural resources in Lango e.g. crafts, souvenirs, music, dance, drama, etc.

Local Government in Lira district and Ngetta sub-county: Supporting the acquisition of over 25 acres of land at Ngetta Hills for construction of the first Lango Heritage Village. They have provided the technical, legal and political authorization for the project since July 2019.

We operate an integrated business model; our business is created as a sustainable funding mechanism and to expand our mission.  We are aware that Lango community desperately hunger for the revival of their cultural practices and sites which have generally been eroded over the years.  As such, events (e.g. music and dance) and the display of their cultural products such as crafts, literature, food, etc easily trigger them to buy the products or attend social cultural events. We have therefore tailored our products and services to meet the expressed demand. 

Cultural products: at our museum, we showcase crafts, costumes, souvenirs, household tools, marriage and hunting items, which people regularly use during cultural ceremonies.  We are the only providers of such in the entire sub-region.  Individuals, churches and schools buy from us.

Cultural services: Lango people socialize through dances such as okeme, ekoce, etc. Historically, people gathered at Wii Otem (bon fire) where the young people learnt riddles, folk tales and entertained themselves. Today, people crave such events.  To meet that demand, we reinvented Wii Otem as a monthly event that happens every last Friday of the month, initially for free. Subsequently, people will pay to attend. We also invented Lango Heritage Festival, an annual event scheduled for Uganda's independence day. The independence day is popularly celebrated in Lango because Dr. Milton Obote, who received the instrument of power on 9/10/1962 from the British was a Lango son. Lango Heritage Festival is therefore strategic to attract corporate sponsorships and large audiences.

GWE: Currently, GWE provides the much-needed working capital - the seed money to help lay a foundation of our work and weather the start-up challenges of our young organization. We are aware that this is not sustainable in the long run.

Grants: Lango Heritage Villages Ltd is actively involved in developing grant project proposals, which it hopes will provide capital for the assets which will sustain the business model we have put in place.  Assets such as stock (crafts and souvenirs) and Lango Heritage Village at Ngetta will greatly help create a cash flow - which will cover our operational costs, pay rent and staff wages and yield some profits, which will be re-invested into our work.

Selling services and products: Our greatest source of revenues will be the products and services e.g. recreational cultural sites, museums, crafts, Lango Heritage Festivals, Wii Otem, etc.  We target the local communities as well as corporate sponsors (such as Cocacola) as well as not-for-profit partners, whose work benefit from our work e.g. Plan International and Government departments which support cultural tourism e.g. Ministry of tourism, etc.

Local and foreign investors: We shall develop an investment model that allows people to co-invest with us in building cottages, low-cost residential houses and other recreational facilities linked to our cultural and tourist sites, in the wake of Lira Town becoming a City on 1/7/2021. Lira City is premised to become an agro-industrial hub of northern Uganda, hence will require these facilities.

Lango Heritage Villages Ltd was just recently incorporated (2020) but operated as a project under Green and White Enterprises in 2019. It has no historical record of its own financial dealings.

Local grants and donations (GWE and local community): for the next two years. We are aware that this is not sustainable in the long run.

Foreign grants: Lango Heritage Villages Ltd is actively involved in developing grant project proposals, which it hopes will provide capital for the assets which will generate cash-flows to sustain the business model we have put in place.  For instance, in partnership with Mango Tree Educational Lab, we have requested UNESCO for USD100,000 to commercialize Lango's cultural products and services for a period of 2 years, 2021-2022. 

Local and foreign investors (equity): We shall develop an investment model that allows individuals and companies to co-invest in building cottages, low-cost residential houses and other recreational or touristic facilities linked to  in the wake of Lira Town becoming a City in 2021.

Financial: The Elevate Prize will help us raise the much-needed capital to develop our productive assets required to generate cashflows which will in turn sustain this vision. The Prize money will help pay for the construction costs of Lango Heritage Village at Ngetta Hills, hire the much needed technical and professional personnel and consultants to set up the business infrastructure and do all such things necessary to guarantee growth, success, sustainability and impact.

Marketing: The Elevate Prize is a global forum with an international reputation, network and publicity. We would like to benefit from the tailored media and marketing campaigns aimed at amplifying our work, building recognition and expanding our fan-base around our work.  That way, our work, and I, will ultimately inspire others to contribute to the public good.

Lango Heritage Villages will become a 5-star Cultural group of facilities whose impact stirs up action among many ethnic communities and minority groups across the globe, which face the problem of cultural insecurity, and those ethnic communities who  would simply cease opportunities to make wealth out of their heritage.

Funding and revenue model: Not-for-profit work requires careful thought of financial stability and sustainability. We are establishing business activities to drive our work and will work towards an optimum revenue model.  To do this, we need experienced personnel, people we can employ for a year or two. We don't have such skills nor the funds to hire them.

Board members and advisors: Wisdom from experts for proper governance of the organization, especially given the business model we are adopting.  We want to avoid any conflict between the notion of social development vis a vis economic exploitation of our heritage wealth.

Marketing, media and exposure: LHV is premised to become a global brand of international repute, that inspires and spurs actions across the globe. We therefore need experts and a proper choice of media platforms which will enable us achieve that status. We also need to learn from similar projects elsewhere.

We don't have any partner of choice and would openly welcome useful suggestions from the Prize Team or its associates / partners.