In 2021 we celebrate 20 years of Edirisa and 10 years of its offspring, the Gorilla Highlands Initiative. We will take you through our colourful history with a weekly story, year by year, and we can’t start anywhere else but on the equator.
Here, at Uganda Martyrs University, Edirisa was born as a student club — to be extremely specific, in the building right in the centre of the photo. That was where the classroom of a group of Masters Degree students was found, doing Ethics and Development Studies. Coming from African and European countries, taught by lecturers from around the world, their minds were a fertile ground for something rather global and … unusual.
It’s only right we list this class of 2000-2001 in full: Abe Enosa, Adalbert Kamanzi, Alfred Lakwo, Charles Baluku, Charles Kanyesigye, Duncan Kalule, Evelyn Grace Ayot, Flavia Senoga Anglin, Grace Birabwa Isharaza, Lilian Muhungi, Miha Logar, Patrick Bamukunda Batukura, Robert Omara, Rose Kikobye Mulwanyi, Rosemary Nyirombe, Stella Kobwesigye, Stephen Katakanya, Suzanne van der Velden, Uli Mans.
I was the Edirisa ringleader, and I previously posted a story of how I eventually brought the idea to the whole campus, wearing lady clothes. The article includes a cool Edirisa history video!
Click here for Part II of the series or check all Edirisa/Gorilla Highlands history stories out.
📸 photography by:
Andrea Stultiens, the curator of the Edirisa Treasures exhibition, first got involved with Gorilla Highlands Experts back in 2007. That was, as always, a collaborative photography project — Andrea studies photographs, their past and present-day production and uses, and how they contribute to how images and imaginations of “Africa” have been constructed. In other words, she is an artistic researcher, and one who spends as much time as possible in Uganda. She can sometimes be found in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. [bio updated: 2026-06]
🖋️ text and 📸 photography by:
ML Rwebandira — formerly known as Miha Logar — is an adventure and cultural tourism expert, writer and multimedia producer who co-founded Gorilla Highlands Experts. His most recent publication is the Pocket Treasure. A national of both Uganda and Slovenia, ML resides with his son Lan in Musanze, Rwanda. Click for his personality-infused quarterly newsletters. [bio updated: 2026-05]