Tumaini Arts Festival set for 5th anniversary

As Malawi continues to celebrate arts and music festivals season, the Tumaini Arts Festival is set for its 5th anniversary celebrations scheduled for this weekend.

In an interview on Wednesday, the event’s founder Tresor Mpauni, popularly known as Menes la Plume in arts spheres, said this year the event will take place from November 2 to 3.

“We are 100 percent set for the festival this weekend. The world should expect to grace another impressive festival with diverse intercultural displays at one spot for two solid days.

“There will be two stages, namely main and youth stages. This is done to give our youth unlimited experience and interact with fellow members of the society through art and music,” said Mpauni.

He said there will also be poetry and theatre corners besides a cultural ground for traditional dances during the festival.

According to Mpauni, some of the notable local music artists expected to perform during this year’s event are Patience Namadingo, Erik Paliani, Theo Thomson, Code Sangala, The Great Angels Choir, and the Amahoro Drummers.

“Tumaini is a Swahili word meaning ‘hope’, hence; ,the event has the core value of bringing back the lost hope in most of the refugees who have heart-breaking stories captured in transition from their respective homes to Dzaleka Camp,” he said.

One of the regular performers at the event and self-styled poet Robert Chiwamba said the event has grown with time, adding its setup and composition are unique and adorable.

According to Chiwamba who has performed at the festival three times, the festival is here to stay as it is a pillar and symbol of joy and peace.

Meanwhile, a member of Vilipanganga Poetry Group, Yankho Seunda, has promised patrons fireworks as their group joins another poet Nyamalikiti Nthiwatiwa to mentor young poets at Dzaleka camp and entertain patrons during the festival.

Founded by refugees at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa, the event, which is free of charge, has been a pillar for enhancing intercultural understanding between refugees at Dzaleka. It is also a platform for selling talents and cultures of Dzaleka residents to Malawians and the international community at large.

Dzaleka Refugee Camp was set up in 1994 and is home to about 34 000 refugees and asylum seekers mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and others.