Barefoot Workshop's relationship with the children of Northern Uganda began when singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur was invited by Barefoot founder Chandler Griffin to launch the project with a music, drama, and art festival which aimed to nurture and celebrate the creativity of the children in the camps. During the festival, Joseph and the children recorded his song A River Blue from which the project takes its name.

The River Blue Arts Festival took place in Alepdong camp and by the end of the week, the 100 youth participants had created approximately 250 pieces of artwork using supplies brought from the United States. Many of the images depicted acts of violence witnessed by the young artists and atrocities committed by the Lords Resistance Army in their villages. Others portrayed beautiful images of what they had lost with pictures depicting their houses, the sunshine, or a tree in the yard. Barefoot plans to publish a book of these images and proceeds from sales of the book will directly support the planned rehabilitation and vocational centre. In addition, Barefoot hopes that the book will create awareness of the continued suffering in Northern Uganda and encourage members of the international community to encourage peace in the region.

The festival also presented drama and choir performances. Joseph Arthur recorded twenty songs and several versions of the A River Blue song with the youth choir. During the festival, a film crew also recorded forty-five hours of footage including interviews with forty of the children, in order to create a documentary. Like other art projects emanating from the festival, the documentary, “A River Blue”, aims to increase awareness in the international community of the situation and strength of Ugandan children in the IDP camps.

Since the Festival, Barefoot has attained a building in Alepdong which will be developed into a rehabilitation and vocational centre for young people. The centre aims to both continue to use the arts as a method of healing and to offer training in occupational skills.

In the future, the project aims to invite visual and performing artists to participate both directly at the rehabilitation and vocational centre at camp Alepdong as well as to assist with awareness, fundraising, and outreach activities in the United States.

Click here to download the song and to view the artwork.

Children, Conflict, Youth, Rights.