Okot p’Bitek (1931-1982) tops our list of favorite historical figures of all time.

His ancestral origin is Gulu in Greater Northern Uganda, our strategic area of operation.

He was he Winner of the 1972 Kenyatta Prize for Literature and at the time of his death he was a Professor of Creative Writing.

He was a footballer and part of Uganda’s football team that played barefoot and defeated the English Olympic soccer team 2-0 in England.

Yes, irrespective of his high level of academic intellectual achievement he stayed true to his ancestry and mother land.

“He was ready to cast aside his bookish intellectual supremacy and associate as freely as possible with his own kind.” Opiro Wirefred George

Bequeathing us a significant legacy of wisdom.

“Africa must re-examine herself critically. She must discover her true self, and rid herself of all ‘apemanship’. For only then can she begin to develop a culture of her own. Africa must redefine all cultural terms according to her own interests. There is a growing tendency in Africa for people to believe that most of our ills are imported, that the real source of our problems lives outside. We blame colonialists, imperialists, mercenaries, and neo-colonialists. Another but contradictory phenomenon is the belief that solutions to our social ills can be imported.” Okot p’Bitek

This priceless history of Okot p’Bitek we have extracted from “Okot p’Bitek’s literary candle burns on,” published in the Monitor. A highly recommended read.

Mission

CPAR Uganda is on a mission to stimulate the development. dissemination, and widespread application of technologies suitable for conditions in developing countries, in order to contribute to building healthy communities.

This is exactly what Okot p’Bitek achieved greatly with his writing, especially so his timeless “Song of Lawino.”