"We are people": Ugandan Students React to 'The Book of Mormon' Musical

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

A group of Ugandan students has written a letter to the creators of the musical, ‘The Book of Mormon’, after researching the show for a class project. The letter details their hurt and confusion over being made punchlines and gross mischaracterizations of Uganda which they found “offensive and abusive.”

The Love Uganda Foundation is a charitable non-government organization based in Uganda working tirelessly to change the lives of children, especially orphans who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.

For a class project, a group of students from the foundation researched the musical, ‘The Book of Mormon’, since it centered on their country. Even though the show opened in 2009, these students had never seen it, and hadn’t listened to its cast recording.

When they did, they did not find it funny at all.

Their teacher, Sohani Das, explained to me,

“I think we owe it to the group being lampooned every night on Broadway to at least listen to their perspectives and weigh them, especially since the musical uses AIDS as a central punchline and many of my students actually have HIV.”

I agree. Here is their letter:

“Thank you for listening to us. We are orphans from the Love Uganda Foundation writing this letter together. We recently heard about the musical ‘The Book of Mormon’. We were interested to learn about how Uganda was portrayed on Broadway. It is not what we were expecting.

We were disturbed by the offensive and abusive lyrics towards our beloved country. The musical portrays Uganda as a land of poverty, disease, and violence - where people live in primitive and uncivilized conditions. It depicts Africans as ignorant and gullible. The stereotypes presented in the musical are not only untrue, but they are also extremely hurtful and damaging to the reputation of Uganda. It presents Uganda as a backward and uncivilized place, which couldn't be further from the truth. The songs don’t describe the way we live as Ugandans at all.

To take just one example, think about the song “Hasa Diga Eebowai.” It is supposed to translate to “Fuck God.” But the words are fake and not from any language in our country. One of the lyrics in the song is “We've had no rain in several days, and "80% of us have AIDS.” This is probably supposed to be ridiculous because it is a joke. But why is this line funny?

In truth, some of us here at the orphanage have HIV. But so many of us find strength in God here. We all do not act like this and use so many bad and abusive words in our daily language. God is someone who protects and saves us, and gives us shelter and warmth. That is what we believe. We love our lives and we praise God. He is not someone we curse because we are dissatisfied with our current state.

We feel very sad and embarrassed to know that this is the way part of the world sees us and laughs at us. Some of us are angry and upset too. This is seen every night on Broadway? This has gotten so many awards? It is such a stereotypical view of what Africa is. The writers do not understand what it means to be Ugandan or live here. And it is not brave to make fun of people who have no way of answering back.

We are not animals. We are people. Not all Africans live in the forest or live in the jungle. Though we are dark-skinned, we are not mules. It is not good to show us this way. We have families we take care of, people we protect and hold and care for every single day. We also have families, we also love, we also wish to protect and fight for and care after each other.

Please don’t believe these lies about us.”

Sincerely,

KYEYUNE ROBERT PAUL

JOAN NANTALE

RITAH NAKISUYI

PROSSY KAMUSIIME

SANDRA ABER

ESTHER TUKAHIRWA

Das explains further, “Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been described as equal opportunity offenders, famous for making fun of every group. But at least in the eyes of my students, the jokes toward Uganda are different because they punch down.”

It should be noted that what these students are feeling is far from invalid. Yes, the show is satire. But it also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and portrayals of Uganda and its people. I wrote about this back in 2021 following the pandemic, where I asked if the show should return at all. Even cast members from the show have brought up concerns about its depiction of Africans, so much so a special workshop was called to potentially rework the show and make it less offensive. I have not seen it since it reopened, so I’m not entirely sure what changes have been made.

But it’s important to note that whatever changes that have been made, are not reflected on the original cast recording, which is how many people will experience the show for the first time.

Das explained that the students were not calling for censorship or demanding that the show close. They are simply asking to be heard. At the very least, we can do that.