Dolwe children discover rock art

PIC: Some of the children who visited Dolwe Island

By Linda Neruba

Do you know about rock art? Uganda has many rock art sites which show drawings by our ancestors many years ago. The art includes paintings and engravings or scratch marks on the rock surfaces.

We have rock paintings in places like Nyero Rock in Kumi District and in the Karamoja region.

There is also rock art in a place called Dolwe Island, on the eastern side of Lake Victoria. Recently, primary school children from Dolwe Island learnt about ancient rock art in their community. Historians think the rock art in Dolwe was done by Batwa people who might have lived there many years ago.

This was part of the activities carried out by the Uganda Museum and Trust for African Rock Art in Africa (TARA) whose work is to record the rock art heritage of Africa.

The children learnt why it is important to save rock art. They were taught how to identify rock art and to protect the art by not breaking rocks, not writing over the rocks (graffiti) or littering around rock art sites.

Joshua Kabiru, a coordinator of community projects from TARA, says that children are future guardians of our heritage and this is why educating them about rock art is a good way to make sure the rock art is kept safe.

Children learn about rock art

 
Schools that participated in the outreach activity included; Kandege Primary school, Butanira Primary school, Golofa Primary School and Lolwe Island Primary school.

Rock art at Dolwe island