Buganda Heritage and Tourism Board (BHTB) and Ewaffe Cultural Village are set to exhibit at Calsaar Cultural Initiative’s inaugural culture and heritage awareness marathon slated for Sunday July 27th at Kitante Primary School playground.
Calsaar Cultural Initiative is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) preserving and promoting Uganda’s diverse cultural heritage through community-driven approaches.
First of its kind on Uganda’s cultural preservation front, the Marathon is scheduled to be an annual event designed to celebrate Uganda’s rich and diverse cultural tradition by bringing together people from all walks of life through the universal language of sports.
The initiative is geared towards creating a sustainable resource stream that facilitates culture and heritage conservation strategies across Uganda.
According to Steven Sekajja, ED Calsaar Cultural Initiative, proceeds from the Marathon will support a documentation and storytelling project focused on collecting, preserving and archiving indigenous knowledge, oral traditions, and folklore from the Teso Region, Soroti District where a needs assessment has been conducted.
“This marathon is more than a race—it’s a collective statement that culture matters, that unity is possible, and that sustainable development must be rooted in our identity and heritage,” said Steven Sekajja, Executive Director, Calsaar Cultural Initiative.
Speaking about the move to exhibit at the event on Sunday, Buganda Heritage and Tourism Board ED Mr. Najib Nsubuga noted that the Board is thrilled to be part of the Marathon that’s creating interest in culture preservation among the youths.
“We commend the team headed by Mr. Sekajja (Steven) for this initiative aimed at creating publicity on the uniqueness that our diverse cultures offer,” Mr. Nsubuga said.
The event will be held at Kitante Primary School playground from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM, featuring a marathon with various races (5km, 10km, and 21km), a blend of cultural performances from various regions of Uganda, art and crafts exhibitions, a cultural awareness symposium and traditional story telling sessions.
Speaking to PrimeNews about their participation in the Marathon, Aisha Mayanja, CEO Ewaffe Cultural Village noted that beyond the races, the event is an awareness call for culture and heritage preservation – an aspect that feeds into Ewaffe’s ideals.
“It is an awareness event where we are going to showcase and take pride in our different cultures as Ugandans. As Ewaffe, we shall be exhibiting because it is an opportunity to show what Ewaffe does but also show the general public that we can still honor our cultures and utilize our rich norms and values to make a living,” Mayanja said.
She noted that the event is an ideal arrangement for people in the culture conservation sphere to meet and learn from one another as the country continues to tap into culture and heritage to enrich its tourism offerings.
Themed “Running for Culture, Unity, and Sustainable Development”, this maiden edition of the Culture and Heritage Awareness Marathon comes after a series of other events organized by Calsaar Cultural Initiatve to drum up interest for culture and heritage preservation including a symposium at Makerere University, an exhibition on International Museum Day in Kabale and a Greening campaign held in Kigezi region.