Acclaimed British-Ugandan spoken-word artist, George the poet, real names George Mpanga, confessed that in Uganda, he “comes alive in a way I have never experienced anywhere else in the world”.
The London based poet, rapper and podcast host opened up to BBC about his identity, how going back to Uganda makes him feel and his obsession with Ugandan food.
Asked about his favorite alcohol, George said it is Uganda Waragi, Pineapple flavor given that it contains the taste of a pineapple. Uganda’s organic fruits, particularly the pineapple have come high on the favorites list for many foreigners who have chanced at visiting Uganda.
George was asked what his choice for a last meal on earth would be. He said traditional Ugandan food.
A testament perhaps to the thick bond the celebrated poet whose parents left Uganda in the 1980s for exile in London, still has with his heritage.
He visited Uganda recently as he recorded for a BBC Today Program edition where he was guest editor.
He narrated how his parents ed the violent change in government in Uganda. On his recent visit in Kampala, he spoke to his paternal grand mom, Joyce Mpanga, a former Minister. She was the first Women’s Minister in Uganda.
In 1966, Joyce narrowly escaped imprisonment being the brutal regime of Milton Obote. He ed with her two children following the untimely death of George’s grandfather, Andrew Fredrick Mpanga. It was Britain that took her in. It was there that she took her kids to school.
At the end of last year, Joyce Mpanga released her autobiography, a book titled “It’s a Pity She’s not a Boy’, which details her journey from the obscurity of rural Uganda, to her groundbreaking role in what began as a revolutionary government.
“Uganda existed in my childhood as a mystical land, far far away. This came in handy during the darker days of any city life. Here (in Uganda), I come alive here, I really do. In a way I have never experienced anywhere else in the world,” George said
On the BBC Today Program, Joyce or ‘Jajja’ as George calls her, narrates to
George that she wanted to ensure she was in Uganda when it attained
Independence. And she did. “I saw the Union Jack coming down and the Uganda “Music and lyrics have been my tools for change for half my life and these are
the gifts I’m bringing home”. He adds; “We all have unique
