Creating connections in Uganda
Lacey Lazare sipping traditional fermented beer with locals - the straws were made of natural reed, and all participants shared. Courtesy Lacey Lazare
Entebbe, Uganda, is more than 11,000 KM away from Kahnawake, but when Lacey and Lanny Lazare touched down there for the International Conference on Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Restorative Development in Africa, they realized that the two Indigenous communities had more in common than one might expect.
“We felt like we were at home, like a lot of these people were our cousins from across the pond,” said Lacey. “To see the similarities in our cultures and our communities was a really beautiful thing.”
Lacey Lazare (centre) with Dr. Hope Ogedegbe (left) and Dr. Patience Sirah (right), both from Nigeria, at the conference.
From the way that locals treated their elders to the crops of corn, beans, and squash growing in gardens all over, the couple said that despite being a continent away, they were constantly reminded of Kahnawake.
“To see the similarities in our cultures and our communities was a really beautiful thing,” Lacey said.
The duo had been invited to the conference by Kahente Horn-Miller, the associate vice president of Indigenous teaching, learning, and research at Carleton University.
Her colleagues at Carleton’s Institute for African Studies had been working as part of the Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN) on organizing the conference alongside Kyambogo University and other partners, with the goal of bringing scholars, elders, youth, and community members to Entebbe to discuss sustainable development.
Lanny Lazare (centre) showing members of the Batwa tribe pictures from Kahnawake.
“We’re learning from each other and having Indigenous meet Indigenous across the globe and find commonalities and support each other,” said Horn-Miller.
Lacey and Lanny own local business Thrifting the Night Away, a project they root in sustainability. Horn-Miller said she felt Lacey and Lanny’s sustainable business model is one that many fellow Indigenous entrepreneurs can learn from.
“I think it’s really valuable for our community to be re-sourcing, and reusing, we’re Indigenous people, our original instructions are all about caretaking the earth, and that’s what their business is all about,” Horn-Miller said.
“It’s a valuable example for over in Africa, where we can show them, ‘Okay, we might be living in the West, but we’re still Indigenous, and this is how we’re doing it.’”
Traditional baskets made by the Batwa tribe, that Lacey and Lanny brought home to sell at Thrifting the Night Away - proceeds will be sent back to Uganda to the basket makers.
Lacey and Lanny shared their experience on a panel, alongside representatives from the First Nations University of Canada.
They also learned from others at the conference, hearing about topics such as sustainable weaving practices for making sleeping mats.
“It was really interesting and beautiful to see not just the youth engagement but also the acknowledgement of elder knowledge that’s not necessarily always captured,” Lacey said.
Also, a feature of the conference was the sharing of traditional dance - Lanny said it was a highlight to watch the Batwa dancers perform.
“When the dancers came out and they started the music, it was so similar to our music with the war-cries, the singing, the drums, and their dancing was so similar, it drew me to them,” he said. “We immediately made that connection with them and it was so incredible to know that so far away from us the culture is the same, Indigenous people have that the same around the world.”
Lacey and Lanny got acquainted with the sights and sounds of Uganda on their trip.
The couple had brought a large amount of school supplies with them to the conference, figuring they would work out where to donate them to once they arrived. Seeing the Batwa dancers and feeling that instant connection, they knew they wanted to donate the supplies to them.
“They’re so connected with the land, and it just felt like we were family already,” Lacey said.
Lacey and Lanny also learned that many in the Batwa community are basket makers, and the two brought home 40 sturdy grass baskets to sell at Thrifting the Night Away, with the proceeds being wired back to the makers themselves.
Already, more than half of the baskets have been sold.
After the conference, Lacey and Lanny stayed in Uganda a little longer, taking in sights like the Entebbe Botanical Garden and enjoying the work of local vendors, even visiting a rhino sanctuary and Murchison Falls National Park, where they saw hundreds of baboons, monkeys, butterflies, giraffes, water buffalo, antelopes, and hippos.
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From giraffes to elephants to hippos, Lacey and Lanny saw all types of wildlife in Uganda.
At one point, they even had the chance to try traditional fermented African beer, after passing a group of young men sitting around a bucket. Their guide asked if they could pull up a chair and share what they were doing with Lacey and Lanny.
“It was just one pail, with these long straws made out of some kind of reed, and you sit around with everyone sharing out of the same pail,” Lanny said. “It was such a welcoming feeling, with everybody laughing, it was just incredible to have that opportunity and be welcomed like that.”
The duo said that they’ll cherish every moment of their Uganda trip - even the nearly 30 hours of travel it took to get back home to Kahnawake.
“Everybody was so beyond kind, it was an amazing experience all the way through,” Lacey said.
