Umubano mu Bantu: Love Among People
Ornella U. Baganizi
During one of our interviews, I asked my father what his favorite song was. He answered, Umubano mu Bantu by Francois Nkurunziza. The song inspired this work. “Umubano mu Bantu: Love among People” is a multimedia collection of nine short stories from oral history life interviews I conducted with my parents combined into a continuous documentary. They portray a glimpse into the lives they lived in Rwanda and their loved ones. My goal is to generate (internal) dialogue as to what love among people means against the backdrop of so much hatred in the world. The song, Umubano mu Bantu, is the soundtrack of the documentary, and the short stories highlight the family my parents lost during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. You can watch the documentary at https://vimeo.com/user183252033
Ornella Uwase Baganizi is a graduate of Columbia University’s Oral History Masters of Arts and American University (class of 2019) where she studied International Relations with a concentration in Africa. Her research interest include Africana Studies, colonial and post-colonial histories of Africa, and decolonial theory. Ornella also studies Swahili intensively and is interested in Swahili cultures and the East African region. She writes poetry both in English and Swahili. For Ornella, love is a central part of all her practices.