Female hip hop talent in the refugee camp wants to unite people
My brothers were killed in the civil war in Uganda and we therefore fled to Kakuma Refugee Camp. I got inspired by American rapper, Nicky Minaj. Music is important because it is used it can bring unity, peace and harmony to the community.
My name is Oyella Alice Odyek, in music I'm Nicky Linch. I'm 18 years old, Ugandan by nationality. I'm single. I fled from my country of origin in 2003 when I was one year old and move to the Kakuma refugee camp together with my mother and two sisters. I left my country because of the civil war. As told by my parents, my village was attacked by the militiamen and consequently, my two brothers, the first and second-born were killed. It was a tough moment for my mother, she got traumatized. My father was not with us during the attack, he was a soldier and was in the army. My mother escaped with us to Kakuma. I was too young and I did not know anything about Kakuma. But later, I grew up and realized that Kakuma is a nice place because of protection and free education. Everyone feels safe in Kakuma. Besides, the major challenge in Kakuma is the climate, being hot and dry, and also the feeding is poor. For instance, I do not get all the basic needs of the girl. In my family, we are all jobless and life becomes hard sometimes for us. But the most important thing is that we have security and peace of mind. Nevertheless, in 2014, I realized my potential in music, I got inspired by American rapper, Nicky Minaj. I often watched the songs and videos of Nicky Minaj and eventually I developed an interest in music. Thereafter, I started writing songs at the age of 12 in 2014. I was in grade 4 by then. In 2016, I started writing gospel songs because I was in a boarding school, Angelina Jolie and teachers could not allow me to perform Hip-hop songs in school. So the best option was to change the category for the time being. From there, I used to write gospel songs and later perform in front of my classmates and teachers. However, in 2018, I completed primary school and I had the freedom to pursue my career of becoming a great musician. My wish was to be like Nicky Minaj, so I started composing hip-hop songs. So far I have three albums, one Rnb and two hip-hop. I chose music in my life because of various reasons, firstly, music is important to me because it makes me known in my community and to the rest of the world. Besides, before the Coronavirus outbreak, I used to perform in events like Kakuma Got Talents, World Refugee Day, and other important occasions and I earned some money. This was a great opportunity for me to support myself and my family. Moreover, music is important because it is used to pass important information, for instance, advice, unity, peace, and harmony to the community. It is easy to understand the information passed through music and it unites the people. Additionally, music is a great tool for entertainment and this relieves people from stress or any kind of condition. Uniquely, when I launched some of my songs, the youth from my community began to realize their potentials in music and they stopped getting involved in drug abuse and other immoral social activities. Therefore, music keeps the youth busy and can make their dreams come true. Lastly, my dream is to become a professional musician and to be known worldwide through music.
Interested to get into contact? Email: info@i-am-kakuma.online
