By Sam Banda Junior and Jimmy Chazama
From Thursday through to the early hours of Sunday, when the curtain closed on the Elikva main stage, fun lovers were treated to extensive artistic ‘meals’ during the 2024 edition of Tumaini Festival at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa District.
For three-days, organisers of the festival stepped up the gear to continue from last year’s fruitful edition.
They dished out poetry, music, traditional dances, fashion show, film, visual art, acrobatics and visual art at different stages during the free-of charge annual gathering.
Despite the country experiencing acute fuel shortage, people still showed up for the festival, which climaxed on Saturday with performances of artists such as Jetu, who attracted attention; Lawi, Seven O More, ethno-musician Waliko Makhala, Tigris and reggae artist Born Afrikan, who is based in South Africa.
Others, who included Amahoro Drummers, Gule Wamkulu, Maveriq Mevo from South Africa—who has already made a song with local acts— Apana Arts from Zimbabwe, Ntunja from South Africa and Dunstan Kapitapita also showed the world that they are made of sterner stuff.
Kapitapita performed classic hits during his set on Friday.
They included ‘Ndilondore Yesu’ and ‘Ndifuna Yesu’. He expressed excitement about participating in Tumaini Festival activities.
“Music brings people together, regardless of background. I am grateful to share my music with members of the new generation,” Kapitapita said.
Other notable performances on Friday included those of Malita and Luso Band, Brightos Dance Crew, Black Snake Dance Crew and poet Nyota, better known as The Shining Star, who received a thunderous applause for her emotional poem.
There were also discussions and conversations on issues such as music business at the festival, which saw people making a kill through business ventures.
Ahead of the closure on Saturday night, founder of Tumaini, Menes la Plume, led his organising team and the huge audience in attendance to celebrate the festival’s 10th anniversary with fireworks.
“In general, it has been great. When we started, it was just a dream to do something once and bring refugees together as well as promote existence but, today, we have made it 10 years and built a strong brand,” Menes, who is also a poet, said.
He said they tried their best to arrange transportation to have more people attend the festival.
“The challenge of fuel this year made us develop a thick skin. This is a festival of Malawi and we are grateful to all people for embracing the festival, which is there to give hope and also advocate for unity,” Menes said.
The festival suffered a setback on Friday, when a technical glitch led to Lulu’s performance ending prematurely.
The problem extended to the last day, contributing to delays in starting activities, but once everything was rectified, the performances went non-stop, with people moving from one stage to the other to experience everything in full measure.
While some savored the acts, others found pleasure in foods such as chapatti and drinks.
“I had challenges getting fuel but I could not manage to miss this festival. You get to interact with people from the camp but, most of all, I loved poetry,” Bernard Mkandawire, who travelled all the way from Blantyre, said.
Miss Culture Dzaleka, Shakira Clementine Phillimon, who participated in fashion in the dust, said Tumaini Festival would always stand out in that “it shares culture, explores and connects”.
Festival Manager Tammy Mbendera highlighted the event’s significance.
“Tumaini Festival is the only festival held within a refugee camp. We are proud to bring people together, celebrating unity and diversity through music and art. As such, reaching this 10-year milestone is thrilling,” Mbendera said.
