Nehoya and the Crocodile

Using a Namibian tale as written in the children's book Nehoya & The Crocodile by Helvi Itenge, we are creating a musical drama this week with our primary school children.  We use a modified Orff-Schulwerk process to develop the story and present the performing arts.  

Musical Instruments hanging on the wall outside the concert hall, where the teachers are stretching out and the choir is practicing; all in preparation for this week's main event, which is teaching children grades 5-7.  The performance will include setting the scene for a Namibian Village, where the story of Nehoya and the Crocodile unfolds. 

   

Setting the scene involved many decisions about staging our story with music, drama and dance.  For instance, should it be a village from yesteryear, or should it reflect a more modern and familiar context for the children and the audience?  And, should the performers wear traditional African dress, or matching T-shirts or what?  And, should we use western instruments like the recorders we are learning to play, or stick to African instruments, like the drums and mbira?  

                                                                       

The drummer above here is Lahia, who's music creates the perfect rhythms for getting us moving and dancing.   

                                                                  
Photos by Ukumbuavi Muatjetjeja, whom we call Jeremia.

I have to get home somehow! 

Mandela Washington Project Underway in Windhoek, Namibia!

I arrived in Windhoek on Wednesday afternoon and have been meeting and getting acquainted with project staff from ChiNamibia.  You can check out ChiNamibia, an Arts Education for Development and empowerment trust that works with children and young people in child development and Arts Education.  

Next week, we will begin teaching our adult learners, who are teachers from the local area, students from Windhoek's College of the Arts, and (wait for it.....) a gospel choir!  Imagine my excitement when I learned that an entire gospel choir signed up!  Thanks to everyone at Appalachian State University, St. Luke's Episcopal Church Choir, my family, and friends in the Boone community who sent me off with blessings and well wishes.  I am here to offer friendship through music on behalf of us all.  

The College of the Arts is a city college, and you can see that we are located in the city center, near the various embassies and a bustling buzz of capitol city activity.  Hallways and courtyards are filled with works in progress created by the visual arts students, and our classrooms are stocked with percussion instruments, marimbas and a dance studio. 

 


We are developing pedagogy for an integrated arts curriculum, so I will have to learn how to play and sing Namibian music brought to the workshop by the participants.  The college students will bring the marimba music, the teachers will bring children's songs and folk tales, and the gospel choir will bring choral songs.  We are putting it all together with African stories, and the ChiNamibia performing arts specialists will contribute the important ingredients of drama and dance. 

The grand finale is a public performance on June 29, at the end of the second week.  The adult participants will teach middle school aged children during the second week of the workshop, as the staff and I facilitate and evaluate their teaching.  Upon completion, they will earn a certificate towards a teaching qualification for arts and culture in Namibian public schools. 

Although our University of Johannesburg International project is in hiatus at the end of a busy week of performances, master classes and interviews; we will continue through publication and documentary development as we look forward to the future.  Meanwhile, Dennis and I headed over to Windhoek, Namibia for a short weekend of fellowship and a meeting with Ms. Kapena Vetira.  Kapenangutjiua Vetira is the founder and director of Children of Namibia (ChiNamibia) Arts Education for Development, a non-profit organization founded in 2013, which educates, develops, and empowers children and young people through arts and culture. 

Kapena is a Mandela Washington Fellow who completed her fellowship at Appalachian State University this past summer. She is writing a grant proposal for continuation of the ChiNamibia organization, headquartered in Windhoek.

Kapena and I headed out to a game ranch to clear our heads and ride through the bush looking for rhinos and giraffes.  Some people close their best deals on the golf course, but I like to get the job done over a nice afternoon game drive.