Toonda (from Swahili “to create”) offers local people the opportunity to meet, to try out, to exchange art and culture in the rural environment of Western Uganda. It is an open space, a recreational area, a place for an exchange of ideas, for creative processes and cooperation between people of different cultures. Art and theater can have a positive influence on the self-confidence of everyone, but especially of young people, and promote other approaches to problem-solving. In this sense, the Cultural Community Centre is meant to offer a complement to the standard Ugandan school system. Toonda is a place for all age groups, independent of education, a place where different local groups can meet or where new groups can emerge. The focus lies on the need of the community, which we support in self-lead groups and skill-based training to foster innovative ideas and critical thinking.
Toonda consists of just under one hectare of land in Kyakataama, about 45 minutes from Fort Portal at the crater lakes. It includes a Toonda house for volunteers and artists, a community hub with library, a kitchen, toilets, a theatre stage, a volleyball pitch, a permacultural demonstration garden, a meadow with a campfire site and lots of outdoor area to meet and play.