UGX20,000
“No speaking Vernacular was beautifully performed; humourous, witty, revealing. I thought the play clearly brought out the shortcomings of an education system that wholly demonizes the use of native languages in schools. No Speaking Vernacular pits Mr. Full stop, the John Speke High School Headteacher against Dambya, (Nsubuga Muhammad) a renegade vernacular speaker. Dambya’s sin is using the Luganda word ‘gwe’ which Mr Full stop considers an unforgivable breach of Article 23 of the school Regulations.
In punishment, Dambya suffers the minimum punishment prescribed by the regulations. He is caned. He is forced to wear old sisal sackcloth, a bone around his neck, and a placard bearing the words: “I am stupid. I speak Vernacular.”
– Herbert Okello Andrew, Lawyer, teacher.
Aha! It’s you Dambya
Today I have caught you!
Today you are not escaping me!
Dambya, I have heard you
Today I have heard you
With my own ears
You have said GWE
Get out, get out,
Get out of dorm!
Come outside here
You let him pass;
Come, come; come!
Every day, every single day,
They report to me
That you use vernacular
And every time I ask you
You deny, you say they lie,
And you can deny, Dambya-
You are so good at denying
But today I have caught you
With my own ears
Full Stop! Full?
I have heard you
Speaking vernacular.
Today, no denying!
Today no?
Kagayi Ngobi is a Ugandan performance poet and a Team Leader at Kitara Nation, a poetry company. He is also the author of THE (NEW) HEADLINE THAT MORNING, PUPU POEMS (2018, Kitara Nation) and FOR MY NEGATIVITY (2019, Kitara Nation). His works have featured in a number of theatre productions and have also appeared in a number of poetry anthologies. Kagayi enjoys performing poetry and plays and he lives in Kampala.
ISBN: 9-798654-861160
Format: Paperback & Kindle
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 44
Published: 2020
Publisher: Kitara Nation
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“The young writers have vehemently demonstrated their frustrations, puzzles and hopes in a society with adults swallowed in know-it-all snobbery. The poetic arrows in this poetry collection declare war on societal silence on things that matter most and draw lines to proper order of the ideal society, a society in which they would love to dwell now as children and tomorrow as adults. It is a reflective collection of thoughts with thousands of options of solutions to our fears. It is work you wouldn’t abandon to dust.”
-Kened. B. Ngiise iii, teacher, poet/writer.
“This anthology also highlights important conversations that need to be had; rape, defilement, female oppression, global warming, politics, discrimination among others. We hear a generation that is worried for the state of our nation, and for the generations to come. You will feel the anger, sadness and mixed emotions through lyrical puns and some of the vividly descriptive pieces, and you will never get enough. I especially loved the ‘Ungodly Hour’ for its ability to speak on these important matters unbiased and while making great stories and songs from some equally tragic experiences.”
-Aanyu O. Deborah, Former President, Writers’ Club, Mt. St. Mary’s College, Namagunga.
DECOUNTRYRIZED is a tale of a lonely African soul seeking refuge from war. Having left her country as a child in search for peace, Acha and her family eventually settled in Uganda and this is where Acha tells her story. The poems are a painful reminder of the effects of war on Africa’s children but the books also filly the reader with hope that someday peace shall be achieved and the writer and her family will be able to go back and settle home.
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