Dr Erapu returns to Uganda’s book shelves

Feb 27, 2007

TALK about Uganda’s literary greats and the name Dr Laban Erapu will come up. And yet many people today can hardly recognise that name. That is understandable. Erapu has been off Uganda’s literary shelves for some time.

By Stephen Ssenkaaba

TALK about Uganda’s literary greats and the name Dr Laban Erapu will come up. And yet many people today can hardly recognise that name. That is understandable. Erapu has been off Uganda’s literary shelves for some time.

Apart from a couple of poems that appear in ‘Poems from East Africa’, an anthology of poems edited by David Rubadiri and David Cook, not much of his work has been going around the country. His career as a lecturer of English language and African literature at Makerere University and member of the writers’ club in the early 1970s came to an end when he went into exile in the mid 1970s. It has been 17 years now, but Erapu’s absence has not come to naught.

He has taught in different universities and managed publications and printing presses in different parts of Africa. And now, this holder of a doctorate in English from Rhodes University, is back home with a special package for schools.

Dr Erapu has dedicated his most recent work – a novel entitled Shared Lives to educating young people about HIV/AIDS.
Shared Lives is a serialised story of four young people, whose once promising lives are devastated by AIDS. Told in the first person, the novel highlights the challenges faced by Ugandan youth and their parents in understanding and tackling of the epidemic.

“Initially, I wanted it to be work of creative writing, but I later realised that it could be used to educate young people about AIDS,” he says.

As a work of art and an educative piece, the novel provides an interesting approach to a very serious social issue.

So far, samples of the book have been distributed to different schools and institutions. Erapu plans to talk to the Ministry of Education and Sports to incorporate the novel into the school syllabus. At Ntare School, the novel has been well-received.

“This book has been found to be vital to the students since it talks about the disease that has claimed their relatives and friends. It is popular among students of all classes,” said Gilbert Katushabe, the school librarian.

For a man with over 40 titles to his name, Shared Lives might just be an addition to a vast collection. More importantly though, it acts as a launch pad into a career that was snapped more than 30 years ago by Erapu’s unceremonious departure from the country.

“I had to flee for dear life as political tensions intensified. Today, I come back to continue where I left off,” he says.
Erapu has already established a publishing company, Millennium Press, on Plot 11 Shri Ganesh Plaza on Entebbe Road to promote upcoming writers.

“My desire has always been to help upcoming writers fulfill their dreams. This is after realising the dire need for training and developing the potential of many writers,” Erapu said.

Born in Aukot, Tororo district, Erapu was raised in a polygamous family. His father, Musa Ekiring, was a village elder and his mother, Priscilla Nyafono, a staunch Christian.

He attended Apokor Primary school, Ngora High School and Ntare School. He graduated from Makerere University with an honours degree in English and later attained a Masters degree in Literature at Edinburch University, UK. Thereafter, Erapu attained a doctorate in English from Rhodes University in South Africa.
Erapu is a widely published author of fiction, drama, poetry and literary criticism and has worked in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa.

He is one of the founders of Global Press, a publishing company in Kampala, among his enormous credits.

Despite his impressive profile, Erapu is not a very happy man. After spending most part of his life in exile, he comes back home to nothing.

“Coming back to Uganda feels like coming from prison to a society where I have to find my place once again. Although I have five children and grandchildren, I do not have a home. I am living with relatives who are helping me find my feet...” he says.

For all his woes, Erapu hopes that “my voice - through my pen – will find the right words to make a difference in someone’s life.”

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