The last day of the Kampala Geopolitics Conference at
Makerere University opened on a light note. In the Main
Hall, dancers and poets brought down the roof with their
performances. The homogeneity of body movement as
the three dancers twirled, jumped and swayed left many
in awe.
The interlude of poetry in between dance provided a
moment of reflection. Songa Bahati, who has lived in
Uganda for four years as a refugee from the Democratic
Republic of Congo, gripped the audience with his message
about climate change.
Do we know that future refugees
will be climate refugees?
Do we listen to the voice of the earth
crying about the trees we cut down?
Selfishness is our sickness.
I hope we listen to the voice
coming from this stage.
Let us plant trees
because future refugees
can be climate refugees.
When performance poet Patience Laker got on stage, she
appealed for personal responsibility for environmental
protection:
Would you cry as you watch
Mother Nature fall to her knees
because you’ve cut all the trees?
What happens when we wake up
one day and there’s nothing
but people – no trees, no rivers?
Let’s talk about climate change
for a change.
When we are done talking,
let’s walk the talk.
The poets and dancers concluded their performances to
cheers from the audience, paving way for the day’s panel
sessions.
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