The Azulato Children’s Festival attracted over 1000 excited children and their families in its first ever event on May 6th, 2018, making the statement that Kampala families understand the importance of giving their children innovative new ways to learn and develop skills at a young age.
With the vision of promoting active learning and inspiring children to discover new interests and talents, the festival was full of hands-on activities, interactive workshops and live performances offered by a variety of Ugandan organizations and schools. The children clearly enjoyed running from tent to tent to try out various arts and science activities, and schools proudly presented their performance troupes on the main stage.
Delilah Aisu of Save Street Children Uganda, an organization that participated in the Azulato Children’s Festival engaging children in arts and crafts skills, says that exposing the youngest Ugandans to try new things with other children should be taken more seriously in order to help children become creative thinkers, grow their soft skills like teamwork and problem solving, and ultimately prepare them to become better members of society – thus shaping a better future for Uganda.
At the Azulato Children’s Festival, Save Street Children Uganda taught children how to create photo frames, canvas painting, drawing on paper, shading and expressing emotions through pictures.
Esther Kalenzi, the director of another organization named 40 days over 40 smiles that participated in the festival, said: “we have come to inspire the youth and local communities to offer community–centred solutions in support of vulnerable children.” She explained that – in the same spirit of the Azulato Children’s Festival – her organization has partnered with the Breakdance Project Uganda (another organization that ran activities at the festival) to teach children hands on skills that keep them engaged, learning while having fun in the process.
The first Azulato Children’s Festival attracted an enthusiastic crowd of all ages, and was made possible through collaboration between very many Ugandan organizations in partnership with the organizers Goethe-Zentrum Kampala, the German Cultural Society.
The festival intends to come back next year with more activities that inspire creativity and exploration among Uganda’s children. Follow the Azulato Facebook page for updates at www.facebook.com/AzulatoChildrensFestival or visit the website at www.azulato.org as not to miss the next festival.
