The Observer (Kampala)
Simon Musasizi
4 November 2009
Kampala — It is Wednesday evening. Everyone is rushing home to prepare for the following day, but some people have to meet at the National Theatre for the bonfire night. The night usually starts at 8.30p.m but preparations begin as early as 7p.m.
A small stage is erected on the dance floor behind the theatre. It is covered with artist Rolands Tibirusya's Bayimba paintings. Next to the stage, two young boys pile logs on huge rocks. But they will not light it until the official time clocks.
Soon revelers - mainly young boys and girls begin to flock in. Some carry rucksacks and many would pass for school children who had escaped from school or home.
To them, Wednesday is a night to bond.
Youths gather around the fire place, the fire is lit and the emcee Sandra Akello, a first year Makerere student of Mass Communication, takes to the stage.
"Bonfire!" she screams as revelers reply: "More fire".
She introduces the first poet, Emmy Ainomugisha, a young Kyambogo University graduate of Art and Design.
"I long to belong," he rolls off his poem. "To a place that feels like home; a place where love is bestowed; a place where hope is restored; a place where faults are pointed out but never ignored; a place where roses have no thorns; where book covers tell the story; where aid is not bait, where everything is as it seems..."
According to Akello, poetry is used by young people to express their feelings.
"Some of them are street children," Akello told The Observer. "They use this platform to express how they feel and when they do that they feel better," she said.
Poetry is done in several languages; Acholi, Lusoga, Luganda and Runyankore.
It is a refreshing way to get out of the hustle and bustle of the week.
Bonfires were special in the African tradition where young and old gathered around a fire to eat, make merry and above all, tell stories. But with modernity, the culture of meeting around a fire has disappeared.
However, of recent, bonfires are beginning to assume their places in hotels, restaurants, bars and cultural centres. If you have been to Blue Haze on Lumumba Avenue, then you know what I am talking about.
At Katch The Sun in Bugolobi, the first thing that catches your attention as you enter the gardens for an evening is the bonfire. The bonfire coupled with the lamps on either side of the gardens make Katch The Sun the appropriate venue for quiet evenings with natural ambience. Perhaps that explains why it is one of the favourite places for tourists.
With its soft music, you find patrons basking in sofas feeling the radiant heat of the fire. It is even more interesting on Tuesday and Thursday as Qwela Band performs in the gardens.
Allan Piper, a tourist from Norway says: "You simply will lose the meaning of going out with nature if you do not use nature as your source of fire. It can be pretty boring if you use fluorescent light out there."
According to Olivia Maureen, Katch The Sun's Administrator, the bonfire nights at the restaurant are a response to their clients' needs.
"It's for warmth," she says.
But according to Chris Mpisi, the Production Manager of the National Theatre's Bonfire Night, their bonfire is more than just warmth.
"Ours is about celebrating diversity. The idea is to tap into our roots; what makes us human," he said.
According to Mpisi, the bonfire night at the National Theatre started as a poetry night where youths meet to recite poems. But it has since grown to accommodate music and acrobatics.
A group called Famous Friends treats revelers to frightening acrobatics -doing it on bare tarmac. These self-taught acrobats form a tower atop each other at the fire place.
Then they light a stick wrapped with a cloth soaked in kerosene and rub it over their bare skins as they dance around the bonfire.
At Gaetano Kagwa's Zone 7 in Bugolobi, the fire is served in pots. The pots which are artistically designed with chimneys use charcoal and are stationed in the gardens where patrons drink on different tables arranged around the pots. The other places with bonfires include; Blue Haze bar on Lumumba Avenue, Emin Pasha Hotel and Ndere Centre.
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