Welcome to TAKS

TAKS – Through Art Keep Smiling – is an organisation, which a group in Oxford and Gulu in Northern Uganda have established in order to help children find hope through art.

When life gets as bad as it can possibly be, how do you sustain the will to live? Children in North Uganda have suffered greatly from the civil unrest that separated families for over twenty years. Many have seen their families slain, abducted and bruised to become soldiers. The lucky ones escaped were rescued. Most are so traumatised by their experience that they struggled     . Yet, with immense courage and much help from others around them, they can help this healing process.

Each time David Lukani Odwar returns to his native Gulu district in North Uganda .    

Our Mission

To engage the people of Northern Uganda in the creative Arts so that they can reaffirm the richness of their culture, reassert their humanity, re-establish the value of their education, take pride in themselves and develop the skills which will help them find new options for their lives and eventually employment.

We plan to do this by:

•  Providing a useable, safe art space and facilities

•  Using arts as a tool to create cultural exchanges

•  Working with schools in Northern Uganda to encourage the arts

•  Creating friendship and better understanding between schools in Uganda and elsewhere

•  Giving children in Northern Uganda the option for a bright and positive future

•  Creating a wider understanding of the issues facing Northern Uganda and their needs

•  Helping to restore morale and a peaceful atmosphere in Northern Uganda