PEN Uganda

 

Uganda PEN in Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee (TLRC)

I had the pleasure to meet with Danson Kahyana of PEN Uganda on the last day of November 2021, at the Jolly Court Hotel on Ggaba Road, Kampala.


Sylvester Danson Kahyana is former President of Ugandan PEN. He holds a Ph.D. in Literature from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He teaches literature at Makerere University. He writes poetry, short stories and children’s books.

Besides my personal wish to meet Danson in person I met with him as the representative of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee Working Group (TLRC) of International PEN, carrying with me an invitation to Danson to join the Working Group of TLRC, representing partly Pen Uganda, partly representing the many local languages of Eastern Africa. And there are, believe me, many.

Fortunately for us, Danson accepted. Danson also declared his willingness to produce one or two or three short videos in local languages to be shown in relation to International Mother Language Day and Poetry Day. As for tutorials, Danson strongly recommends the idea to produce online tutorials about translating literature and poetry. By the way, thank you for the books.


I discussed with Danson the situation of the many local languages in Uganda. The Government does support an increased effort to strengthen the languages and to give them more visibility and better status. In principle. One thing is political declarations in favour, another thing is execution, which is difficult.

Also, we talked about the situation concerning freedom of expression, which is difficult and, in many cases, causes selfcensorship. “I’m not a coward”, Danson exclaimed as we both hurried on in the compact traffic of Kampala.

I very much look forward to working with Danson in activities related to languages and language rights, which is a focal point for TLRC and International PEN. Also, I look forward to meeting Danson again next time in Uganda.

On December 5th, Pen Uganda held its general assembly. The new elected board is constituted as follows:

1. President: Beatrice Lamwaka
2. Vice President (Fundraising and Finance): Ernest Ndyamuhaki
3. Vice President (Communications and Public Relations): Taban Nasur
4. General Secretary: Bob G. Kisiki
5. Treasurer: Lairah Nakimera
6. Committee Members: The Writers in Prison Committee: Kakwenza Rukirabashaija
7. The Women's Committee: Nakisanze Segawa
8. The Translations and Linguistic Rights Committee: Jackson Oyugi and
9. The Peace Committee: Prince Mukombe

Last time I was in Uganda, I made an interview with Beatrice Lamwaka, now President. Read it here/.



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