By Andrew Cohen Amvesi
ARUA
His Royal Majesty Phillip Olarker Rauni III, the King of Alur is expected to grace the 6th edition of the Alur community Arua (ACA) gala.
The three-day gala will be held at Awindiri primary school playground in Arua city from January 26 to January 28, 2024 under the theme: “Educate a girl-child; she can be a best leader of the country.”
Speaking to journalists on Saturday (January 13, 2024), Gilbert Donge, the chairman organizing committee of the gala, said the King has already confirmed attendance.
He said His Royal Majesty Olarker will arrive in Arua on the second day of the gala to officially open the different Alur cultural activities during the function.
“The first day, on the 26th January, as one of the activities, we shall have cleaning of the city. We shall clean Awindiri market, clean Arua main market and then Lobidra market and that will mark the end of the first day. On the second day, we shall match from Awindiri to Arua city center and back. Then at around 2:00pm, the King will arrive at the venue to address his subjects. His speech will be followed by entertainment up to about 10:00pm and we shall crown the gala on the third day with different cultural dances like Agwara and Ndara,” Donge explained
Donge used the opportunity to invite Alur culture loving people to come and support the gala.
“We still need financial support, we need things like brooms, we need gloves for sweeping and we need anything that will support people who are going to participate in the gala,” Donge said.
He assured the public of their security during the three days of the gala, saying local security personnel, police and UPDF officers will be deployed to safeguard the occasion.
Onson Sinamakosa, the ACA General Secretary observed that the main objective of the gala is to bring together all the Alur speaking people across Arua city and the neighboring districts including well-wishers of the Alur culture.
“The Alur community annual cultural gala is one of the activities that we hold annually as the subjects of Obim (the King) in Arua here. In the first five editions that we have been holding, the cultural gala is one of the activities that brings together the Alur speaking people or the Alur loving people in Arua or the greater Arua together. So, the cultural gala has in one way or the other created a bond between the Alur people to come together and be unified,” Sinamakosa said.
“The cultural gala again has showcased things to do with cultural activities such as the dance like Agwara, things like the cultural regalia, which the youth don’t know these days and the local food Alur cook which the cultural gala has been bringing people together to learn about,” Sinamakosa added.
Meanwhile Juliet Ongiera, a member of the community said the theme of the gala this time round will help them to educate the girls on the need to embrace their culture and also encourage parents to send their girls to school as opposed to marrying them off at a tender age.
“If you go right now down in the villages, people don’t mind about girl-child education. So, we want to use this gala to tell people that it is the right time for them to open their eyes and see that girls are also very important in society. We want to tell the world as Alur that we should educate the girl-child so that the society is changed. We should change people’s mindset of thinking that women are useless, no! Instead, women are very important and that is the core essence of this upcoming gala,” Ongiera stated.
Hophins Jakwonga, the ACA Public Relations Officer said so far, organizations like Plan International, RETE Uganda and ICoD have come to support the gala. He appealed to other organizations to also come and support the cause of creating awareness about Alur culture and meet its relevance so as to empower the people.
