Ugandan animated folktales adopted for the classroom

The story in Lia and Origa is about a girl called Lia, a prototypical headstrong girl, who does things her own way, and has a problem following instructions from adults, like her mother. 

Lia’s disobedience and refusal to do things with her peers led to her bringing home Origa, the ogre, who clung onto her back after helping her lift a water-pot onto her head, at the well. 

How can Lia be liberated from the blood-sucking Origa who finds her back comfortable?

In Njabala, a young girl is brought up in a pampering manner by a mother who failed to give her life-skills for responsible adulthood, expected of a cultures female. As she is beautiful in looks, she finds it easy to get a husband.

However, Njabala is totally ignorant of the roles of a wife and has to invoke her mother’s ghost to help her in these. One fateful day, her husband finds her mother’s ghost doing the work on her behalf. Can Njabala survive this marriage?

Sense of solidarity 

The central feature in Hidden Riches is a productive land. 

And old man, Katusiime, is on his death-bed. He calls his family to receive his ‘Will’: that he has left for all of them as hidden treasure in the land. 

After a long, futile search for some hidden treasure, the children gradually gain wisdom and sense of solidarity. The hidden treasure, they finally discover, is the Land, that has the key to their prosperity as a family and community.

 Opiyo and Odongo is about the twin brothers Opiyo and Odongo whose mother survived the terror of the Monster when they were still in her womb. The Monster had attacked their community and devoured every living thing in it, except the pregnant woman who had outwitted it!

 Opiyo and Odongo grow up into young men who determinately seek answers to their many questions, including why they were the only humans on earth. When they know of the existence of the Monster, they are determined to face it, whether their terrified mother agreed to this or not.

The project is premised on making folktales from Uganda accessible in time and space, through multimedia formatting.

It is one of the projects that has received funding under the Research Innovation Fund (RIF) initiated by Uganda Government in collaboration with Makerere University. 

It is the first of this kind of collaborative initiatives that was rolled out in 2019. The RIF is a competitive fund, meant to support innovative researches that address Uganda’s development agenda.  

According to the head of the project, Rev. Sister Dr. Dominica Dipio from the Makerere University Literature Department, this project addresses the need to generate local content for Ugandan/African children who have largely been alienated from our local contents.

NCDC involvement 

“Thus, we are adapting folktales from Uganda/Africa into 3D animation films of approximately 10 minutes that can be adapted to classroom teaching as well. We intend to share our products with the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) for assessment for classroom use. But above all, we want to put our storybooks adapted into drama, in the hands of our children. 

We hope this will also ignite the creativity of our children as they read and act out the folktale roles in a manner suited to contemporary contexts; and of course, eventually, try their hands in creative writing too. This is how ambitious the project is.” 

Sr Dipio told Daily Monitor that the project that started in 2019, could run for three years. “We hope it will. The fund is given on yearly basis, depending on performance. We think we have performed very well in our first year phase, Covid-19 notwithstanding. We therefore hope to qualify for the second phase.” 

Although the project targets primary school children, it can also be used for lower secondary school level (up to Senior 2), and even further, Sr Dipio said. 

Children’s feedback

“The amazing thing with our African folktales is that they embed deep philosophies of a people; and depending on who is reading them, so much meaning can be teased out of. It teaches and gives to the child in lower primary what is due, but it can also yield to the professor the deeper sense she is looking for to understand a community. So it is quite elastic!”  

According to Sr Dipio, the pilot project has been positively received the areas where it has been rolled out.

 “We have had the pleasure of having different categories of both young people and adults interacting with the stories. it is amazing they understand it, and generate so many meanings from them. 

The most fascinating feedback we got was from a children’s book-club in Kiwatule Recreation Centre, where the ages ranged between 5-13. The kids were fascinated by the stories. they watched the animation version and they were glued to the story of Lia and Origa the ogre. 

Later, the teacher asked each to speak of, and then draw the part of the story that they related with most. It was an animated discussion.”

“As for our interactions with adults, they all expressed how they would like their children to read such storybooks. Nearly all said they have not watched animation films (in 3D) adapted from our folktales as the ones we have.”

 She further adds: “Another interesting realisation is, how all Ugandans wish to see their local folktales made into animations films like the 4 we have that come from Ankole, Buganda, Jopadhola and Ma’di. 

The adult we have interacted with all identify more with the stories that come from their region. Indeed, those whose stories are not yet documented have expressed interest to share their ethnic folktales with us for adaptation into animation films.  These are overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received from Ugandan and beyond, when we did an online dissemination workshop of the stories in October 2020.”