By Our Reporter
Friday was International Women’s Day, and to celebrate the day, Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) hosted a mega festival dubbed “Girls Fest” which was held at the Lugogo Hockey Grounds. The all-day event brought together young people, artistes, and women leaders among others to celebrate girl and women empowerment under the theme, “Gains from Equality”.
From board games to yard games to dance competitions to music performances, revelers who started streaming early in the morning were kept well entertained throughout the day.
Performances kicked off shortly after 2pm with some of Uganda’s top artistes including Eddy Kenzo, Spice Diana, Jackie Chandiru, Naava Grey, Lydia Jazmine, Geosteady, Navio and Beenie Gunter among others taking to the stage, much to the delight of the crowd who cheered on every act. There was also a showcase from international artists, Micheal Franti and SWrap.
To keep the audience engaged, the artiste performances were interluded with dance showcases and deejay sets which saw deejays like Kathy, Karo among others take over the turntables and had crowd dancing away to their favorite songs.
The Girls’ Festival provided a platform for partners to share their interventions, good practices and successes emerging from their work on gender equality. They exhibited products and services, discussing key topics like Gender Based Violence, Life skills, and male involvement in women empowerment.
Speaking at the Festival, Humphrey Nabimanya, the Founder & Team Leader of RAHU, highlighted the positive strides that have been made towards women and girl empowerment and called for continued championing of gender equality.
“Our hope for this Girls’ Festival, is that it will stimulate the much needed discussion on gender issues. This Girl Fest should serve as a reminder that we need to take a holistic approach to Women and Girl empowerment, including preventing violence against women and girls, protecting their sexual and reproductive health rights, improving girls’ access to education, and enabling women to participate in political processes.” Nabimanya said.
