On a trip to the Kyangwali Refugee Camp in N.W. Uganda shooting for the charity Theatre versus Oppression (TvO) - and travelling with Jennifer Hartley, Jason Camilleri, & George Fearnehough to deliver applied theatre workshops.
Lots of images in this last part of the Africa blog all about the school, the workshops and performances with the New Hope Theatre Group.
If you like them please share the link.
When I first look through a group of new images it's a bit like opening Christmas presents as a kid - on to the next one, tearing the wrapping off each and not really appreciating the gift, which is what the images are really . . gifts. So I've been going back through the files to have another look . . another day you feel different and see things in a different way, remember things.
I found some gems previously overlooked.
This afternoon I rediscovered a picture . . . . . .
. . . it was a while before I noticed she has different earrings - I wonder if she's a rebel?
This girl was at the Coburwas Primary School every day where I was performing my clown show and running workshops for the 180 children. Except she was outside the building looking in, through the same window every day, wishing she could go to school.
Like these children . .
TvO raised the £10,000 pounds to build the school which was occupied as soon as the roof went on. These pictures show it before the floor and windows were finished.
TvO runs the Right to Learn Programme sponsoring some of the children in the school
(seen in the background below).
As well as an education they get 2 meals a day . .
and regular health checks at a clinic in Hoima, an hour and a half's ride by boda-boda motorbike from the camp.
Or you can make a donation however small here :)
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The Workshops
New Hope Theatre Group. Every year TvO visits the camp to deliver Applied Theatre workshops to the group to develop skills to make theatre in the villages around the camp about relevant social issues such as domestic violence and health matters. It was during these workshops that I got to know a truly inspiring group of people.
We started by playing games - lots of them.
every single day was joyful
and just like children the world over, this lot picked up the vibe . .
Below, Janvier is in the thick of it . . .
After each game session Jen led a discussion about what people had learned from the activities. I wish I had recorded the comments. I was astounded by their insight. Everything was related to the land, the people, family, working together, harmony, taking care of each other, inclusion, everyone playing their part to their strengths, hard work, perseverence, humility - all the more poignant as there were Hutus & Tutsis in the same group.
The photo above is one of my favourites of the 3,000 I returned to Cardiff with. It captures only a tenth of the joy in that room at that moment. The group succeeded in a challenge which took over an hour to complete. It was a 'Victory Dance'. Let nobody underestimate the determination, power & inventiveness of Africans when they are able to work together with a common goal, unhindered by, or in spite of, self-serving individuals within & without that beautiful continent.
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Janvier's Story
As I promised at the end of Part I - (Janvier is right in the middle of the picture above)
More than anything else on the whole trip, meeting this man got to me.
I am not able to tell the traumatic story of how Janvier arrived at Kyangwali refugee camp.
I don't have his permission to tell it and you probably wouldn't want to hear it - but the story of what he has devoted his time to since his arrival is inspiring.
He was trained in first-aid by the Red Cross a few years ago. On last year's visit Jen noticed he carried a Red Cross pouch on his belt, a mini First Aid Kit - everyone knows he has first-aid skills.
There is one ambulance on the camp serving more than 23,000 people - and if it rains, the roads are a quagmire and there is even less chance of reaching people.
Janvier is one of a very few trained people within reach and is often visited by people who walk for hours to his house in the middle of the night asking for help, but . . .
the Red Cross pouch he carried was always empty. . .
no resources - it was just a badge really . . .
but it said, "I can do something."
Jen made him a promise, that this year she would bring him a big, fully stocked kit that she would never allow to be empty - and she kept her promise.
What happened in the group on the second morning when she presented the new kit to Janvier was humbling - to everyone present, because of what followed.
He quietly accepted the gift with tears of joy while the rest of the group danced. He made a short speech about how much help he would now be able to give others and then Benson Wereje got to his feet to speak about Janvier . . . . .
Benson told how recently a man had been involved in an horrific accident, breaking both his legs so badly the bones were showing. Janvier knew how to splint them using only branches and banana leaves, and how to stem the flow of blood long enough for the man to be taken to hospital on the back of a motorbike an hour and a half journey away. The man survived and is now able to ride a bicycle very slowly - he is a schoolteacher.
As well as the first aid kit Jen brought a supply of paracetomol tablets. For the people who live in Kyangwali this is really a wonder-drug. We can buy them in the UK for as little as 16p a packet; they are very expensive in Uganda. One of the benefits is they lessen the incredible headaches that malaria inflicts, allowing sufferers to either, attend school, or in the case of 3 members of the New Hope Theatre group, continue working the land AND also attend and function well in all of the workshops.
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The First Performance
At the end of the the first week we walked to a local village - The new Hope Theatre Group were to perform their play about domestic violence; my clown show was the support act.
The dressing room was an animal pen (empty). I'm not an expert in animal smells but the pen had recently been vacated by either 20 chickens or a small pig.
Janvier and I walked ahead of the group to attract the crowd who then followed us into the village: Janvier with a megaphone; me with a red nose repeating Janvier's Kiswahili into gibberish. It was great fun.
The crowd grew to 10-deep all around - more than 300 people jostling for a good view.
The man bottom right of the picture above was in a lot of pain - during my performance I borrowed his walking stick to balance it on my head. Later that evening during dinner, Jen asked me several times if I was feeling alright. Then she told me the man had leprosy. When I eventually looked up from my meal, Jen, Jason & George had moved (plates and all) to the far end of the table. This dinner charade continued for days after.
I watched the reactions of the crowd to the play - it was mesmerising for many.
The story - the wife, tired of years of abuse from her alcoholic husband summons the courage to leave him, taking all the furniture with her. He comes home to an empty house.
(Below) The husband is being consoled by his drinking pals.
The clown workshops began in the second week - a variety of activities including slapstick, improvisation & communication skills. It was a lot of fun.
Benson seen here above is practising a slapping routine - you can follow the link shortly down the page or here - it is very funny.
At the end of the second week, at the COBURWAS Centre, with improved crowd control, a second performance incorporating new skills from the workshops. It was top drawer.
The audience were totally engaged.
There were poignant moments in the play but humour also served to keep the audience entertained. Benson and his partner wove a slapping routine into the narrative.
In the video HERE they are arguing about which of them was stupid enough to allow their alcoholic brother to marry a woman who would leave him and take all the furniture! You can also see the audience laughing their heads off - well worth a look!
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The last day . . . . . .
started with a visit to the local church - everyone we saw was dressed in their Sunday best.
Christmas decorations stood in for fresh flowers - the prayers were for people who had died, those too weak to work and the hungry.
Then we set off on a 6-hour walk deeper into the camp to visit the homes of 4 of the New Hope members, stopping off on the way to do some weeding on the small plot land which New Hope had been given to grow crops . . . . .
then further on into the camp, passing the well - many people were living in difficult conditions
over 30 degrees, a long road - this is an incongruous picture of affluence
We arrive at Robos' house, (he plays the drunken husband in the play). His father (below) visits and speaks proudly of his son's academic achievements and involvement with New Hope . . .
. . . whilst Robos waits respectfully outside his own house listening to his father - his mother can be seen in the background.
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For a Mancunian, a six-hour walk? No sweat!
And finally . . . . . . ..
To say thank you for reading to the end . . . . . . . . . . .
Two of my favourite photos which I saved for last
and finally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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'The "Beautiful Game" has two halves'
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If you would like to support the work of Theatre Versus Oppression in the Kyangwali Refugee Camp you can make a donation here. Or you can use this fantastic link when you shop for stuff online - as they donate a little to the charity and IT DOESN'T COST YOU A PENNY. Thank you.
all images are copyright panopticphotography 2012
if you would like to lift any images to re-post please get in touch first
paddy@panopticphotography.co.uk or leave a comment below thanks
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