The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Tsavo Heritage Foundation and the Sarova Group have launched the World War 1 Memorialization Project and Kariakor Festival ahead of Novembers World War 1 Africa festival seeking to honour the contribution of Africans in the war.
The initiative also seeks to set up a museum as well as environmental restoration in the Taita area. The launch commences the journey to remember and memorialize the Carrier Corps and African soldiers who shaped the East African Campaign of WW1, as part of an effort to recover Africa’s place in global history.
Speaking during the launch, Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’oei said with the launch, they want to memorialise restorative justice through festivals, tournaments and environmental activities.
“The first World War is understood as how our colonial masters were engaged in Europe. But Africa was also at the theatre in that conflict. So part of what we seek to recover is an understanding of what role Kenyans and Africans played in the First World War. They were porters, soldiers and acted in all sorts of ways.
“They died in battlefields, they were maimed, they were displaced but they also offered ideas,” Korir said.
The initiative of the Life Club anchored by the State Department of Foreign Affairs, Tsavo Heritage Foundation, Sarova Hotels, Saracen Media and Marketing Africa will feature tree planting, a commemorative marathon, a museum, and community dialogues that celebrate heritage, justice, and environmental stewardship, he noted.
Luis Gabriel Franceschi, Assistant Secretary General of the Commonwealth, noted that the festival seeks to make sure that history is not forgotten.
“If we don’t know yesterday, we cannot understand today and we cannot predict the world… We are putting together a painful past, a colonial oppressive past and looking into the future. And that is what the Commonwealth is, an organisation that was born from a painaqnd make a strong force of united nations,” Franceschi said.
Sarova Hotels MD Saveer Vohra committed to continue supporting the course as they had done for over 15 years.
The Tsavo Trust called for more support from the corporate world towards the construction of a museum as well as establishing an advanced tree nursery to assist in environmental recovery in the region.
Also present were Air Force Commander Maj Gen Bernard Waliaula, China Ambassador Guo Haiyan, Belgium Ambassador Peter Maddens, Rwanda’s Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo and Nation Media Group CEO Geoffrey Odundo.
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