Irreecha 2019

AHEAD work closely with the Oromo community in the UK. On 5th October 2019, our trustees and volunteers took the opportunity to participate in the celebration of the Annual Irreechaa (The Oromo Thanksgiving Festival) organised by the London community.

The Oromo in the UK

The Oromo people celebrate various cultural festivals. The UK community is one of the longest standing black and minority ethnic groups in the country, with resident communities in Bolton, Brighton, London and Manchester since the early 1980s.

Oromo Culture & Language

Oromo people speak Afaan Oromo which is the third most widely indigenous African language on the continent. It’s a lingua franca in Ethiopia and also spoken in the Horn African countries such as Kenya, Somali and Djibouti. The Oromo socio-political system called Gada is also on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.