Just before the second Eastern Africa youth conference that took place in mid February, 2012 in Uganda, Zak Muturi, who is a committed Initiatives of Change volunteer, had a thought to make positive change using his musical and disc jockey skills and talent. He shared the idea with a few young people from his church in Subukia. They embraced the idea. What was to be a one-off occasion on the theme of peace has now become a regular event attracting and impacting many young people’s lives.   

Since February, Zak has been able to organize three very successful peace forums dubbed THE EXTRAVAGANZA, since they are artistic events that bring young people together to share on how to develop our country, with ever increasing numbers with the last one in June attracting 300.  

Speakers at the event included a Member of Parliament, Mrs Isabella and the representative of the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Kinyana. 

In the most recent event, Zachariah compiled a message about PEACE which he shared with the youths in attendance. In his sharing, he brought out important points on what is needed to create peace. He said that for peace to be found, we must have P-rinciples, E-nthusiasm, A-cceptance, C-onfidence and E-ngagement.”  

‘We hope to continue making a difference in the lives of young people through what they love, music.’ says Zak. ‘And I appreciate the support from Initiatives of Change to enable these events to continue. We hope to make a major positive difference among the youths of Subukia.’ he concludes.