Lukenya Cultural Week Festival

Culture is defined as a people’s way of life, food, clothing, language, festivities etc.

It is such a time that the Lukenya university family, that draws its membership from the 47 counties and beyond the Kenyan borders came together for the purposes of sharing, learning, competing as well as celebrating their different cultural trends.

The theme of this year’s event was; SHOWCASING TALENT AND PROMOTING OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE’

Background to the Lukenya Cultural festivals

The Lukenya University cultural festivals- commonly known as, The Lukenya Culfest, have been running since 2018. Each year, the festival gets better, more encompassing as well as very captivating.

The previous cultural festivals held in the University are as follows;

  1. 1st Culture week was held in March 2018
  2. The 2nd Cultural festivals were held in March, between Monday 18th and Saturday 23rd The theme that year was; Embracing cultural diversity and education
  3. The third festival was held between March 2nd and March 7th The theme of the festival was, Promoting peace and Cohesion through Culture.
  4. This year’s festival (4th edition) ran from Monday March 15th –March 20th 2021 and the theme was, Showcasing talent and promoting cultural heritage.

As a tradition, the events of this year’s cultural event were built on previous experiences and events that made the participation livelier and larger.

The culmination of this year’s events was, The Kasanga Mulwa marathon (2nd Edition), Sports finals and an unforgettable run of events in the evening that saw the crowing of Mr. and Miss Lukenya in the pageantry category.

Objectives of the culture week

Every year the festival has objectives to achieve and like previous years, the organizing committee worked hard  to  ensure the objectives were achieved.

  1. To promote talent in diversity throughout the university and beyond.
  2. To conserve the environment and create awareness.
  3. To Preserve culture and respect divergent cultural aspects.
  4. To impart knowledge through sharing of cultural skills.

The events calendar

The event took place for a whole week 15th to 20th March, 2021. Each day had its own uniqueness with different activities lined up that culminated in the finals on Saturday the 20th of March.

The calendar of events is as shown below;

DAY/DATE

EVENT(S)/ACTIVITIES

PARTICIPANTS

Outcome

MONDAY

15/3/2021

  1. ENVIRONMENTAL DAY- tree planting and cleaning
  2. Professional wear (all day)
  3. Sports in the afternoon (after classes)

Students

Staff

Guests

Tree planting was postponed to the May 2021 environmental day. It was not possible with the dry weather that had made water scarce.

TUESDAY

16/3/2021

  1. Casual wear (smart casual dressing)
  2. Sports in the afternoon

Done

WEDNESDAY

17/3/2021

  1. Color clashing/mixing clothing
  2. Sports in the afternoon (after classes)

Done

THURSDAY

18/3/2020

  1. TBT- going back in time- clothing fashionable in the 60s to 90s.
  2. Sports in the afternoon (after classes)

Done

FRIDAY

19/3/2020

  1. Exhibition of artefacts, drawings, paintings, pictures and marketing material
  2. Competitions of own compositions of chants, poetry, music and special talents
  3. Corporate colors- dressing in University corporate clothing or colors- green white and yellow.

Done

SATURDAY

20/3/2020

  1. Exhibition of artefacts, drawings, paintings, pictures and marketing material
  2. Exhibition and adjudication of traditional foods.
  3. Adjudication of traditional dances and performances
  4. Sports-Morning (6-11) Marathon
  5. Afternoon, 2-4 pm, other sports
  6. Evening performances of traditional dances and beauty pageantry.
  7. Speech by guest speaker and other invited guests.
  8. Awarding ceremony
  9. Dressing
    Day – sportswear,
    Evening – African wear.

Done

List of culture week winners

The following are some of the categories that were awarded as individuals and as groups. The winners of these categories were given some cash tokens and will also receive certificates. All other students who participated through the organization of the event, competitions as well as exhibitions will receive a certificate each. About 500 students are set to receive their certificates.

CULTURE WEEK AWARDS MARCH 2021 FESTIVALS

ACTIVITY

WINNERS

 

FOOTBALL

POSITION 1

 SHARKS FC

POSITION 2

 RANGERS FC

 BEST PLAYER

 MERIC OUMA

   

TABLE TENNIS

LADIES

MERCY KATOLE                         

 

BENEDETTER KING’OO

  

MEN

MUTINDA VUNDI                      

 

PATRICK KYALO                   

   

RUGBY

TEAM

 ALL STARS

 BEST PLAYER

 BRIAN KIPROTICH

VOLLEYBALL

TEAM

 COMBINED MEN’S TEAM

   

HANDBALL

TEAM

 KIFARU HC

   

TRADITIONAL FOOD

EXHIBITIONS

POSITION 1

 MIJIKENDA

POSITION 2

 LUHYA

 

 POSITION 3

 KALENJIN

   

TRADITIONAL DANCE

POSITION 1

 MIJIKENDA

POSITION 2

 LUHYA

POSITION 3

 KAMBA

   

ART DISPLAY

POSITION 1

 CLIFFORD OKAKA

   

MR. LUKENYA

POSITION 1

 DESMOND MOKUA

POSITION 2

  VICTOR OTIENO

POSITION 3

 BRIAN SIMIYU

   

MISS LUKENYA

POSITION 1

 PASCALYNE AKINYI

POSITION 2

 CYNTHIA KERING

 

POSITION 3

 LILIAN  NJERI

   

BODY BUILDING

POSITION 1

 COLLINS OTIENO

POSITION 2

 STANLEY WAFULA

   
   

OWN COMPOSITION-SONG

POSITION 1

MARK KYALO

POSITION 2

MULWA STEWARD

   

COVER SONG

POSITION 1

  CAROLYNE MAHENZO

   

SHAIRI

POSITION 1

  JOSHUA KALIMBO

   

POEM

POSITION 1

  ZENA KWAMBOKA

   

RAP

POSITION 1

  YASIN

   

COMEDY

POSITION 1

  OGETO/OKAKA

   

MODERN DANCE

POSITION 1

  SNAPPERS (GROUP)

   

MARATHON ( MEN)

 ( 21KM)

POSITION 1

 BOAZ LOTOM

POSITION 2

 RICHARD MUTATI

POSITION 3

 EVANS KIMEU

   

LADIES – CROSS CIRCUIT

POSITION 1

 ALPHINE JEPKIRUI

 

POSITION 2

 FAITH JEPCHUMBA

 

POSITION 3

 DEBORAH CHEBET

Guests and Attendees

The festival was a success with various guests attending the finale of the festival.

The chief guest for the occasion was Professor Phillip Kaloki, Chairman of the Kenya Medical Training Colleges Board, B.O.T representative Mr. Wilson Mutunga(MOSU), Stephen Mukiti-the KCB-BANK Mtito-Andei Branch manager, Mtito police station ocs- Mr. Daniel Nyakako, country security team members, Representatives from the Family bank- Kenya and a host of other dignitaries.