Kwa Mashu 2
Regular readers may remember me mentioning a place called Kwa Mashu a good while ago, as it was a place I kept getting in my head randomly over a few days. The general reaction was to avoid it like the plague as it’s one of the worst townships around.
However, I didn’t want to let that put me off and when we discovered that the drama competition that my good friends Smilo, Nkonzo and Vincent were in was in the middle of Kwa Mashu, I agreed to drive them there!
And it’s not that bad, obviously we were only there for a few hours on a Saturday, drove on the main roads and parked securely at the arts centre where the competition was, then left asap without stopping for anything. You do the usual things like travelling with the windows closed, doors looked, nothing visible, and be very attentive at traffic lights and stop signs.
Just like in the valleys round here, some of the places were quite nice and some were just shacks. There must be some regeneration going on as there’s quite a big shopping centre in the middle, with the first ‘POWER SPAR’ – I’ve no idea what they stock to give them ‘power’, we didn’t stop to find out.
The guys had won a competition last weekend and were through to this final stage. Out of 22 groups, they came 4th (and possibly didn’t win as they weren’t from the community, as it was a community-based event) and Smilo got ‘Best Actor’ award, which he was pleased with. Their drama included rap, singing, high emotion and guns, and yet had a very positive approach in their remit of writing a piece of theatre that dealt with the issues of ‘just say no to crime’.
It was great to see the other performances too, there are a lot of talented South Africans who produce amazing works, although most of the performances were in Zulu, it was still possible to work out what was going on in most cases and it was definitely a different way to spend a drizzly Saturday. As the only white woman there, people thought I was a director! Nice. If only I was that good, I was actually only driver and official photographer!
Still don't know if there's more the the whole Kwa Mashu thing. Am still pondering the significance, if any, of it all...
However, I didn’t want to let that put me off and when we discovered that the drama competition that my good friends Smilo, Nkonzo and Vincent were in was in the middle of Kwa Mashu, I agreed to drive them there!
And it’s not that bad, obviously we were only there for a few hours on a Saturday, drove on the main roads and parked securely at the arts centre where the competition was, then left asap without stopping for anything. You do the usual things like travelling with the windows closed, doors looked, nothing visible, and be very attentive at traffic lights and stop signs.
Just like in the valleys round here, some of the places were quite nice and some were just shacks. There must be some regeneration going on as there’s quite a big shopping centre in the middle, with the first ‘POWER SPAR’ – I’ve no idea what they stock to give them ‘power’, we didn’t stop to find out.
The guys had won a competition last weekend and were through to this final stage. Out of 22 groups, they came 4th (and possibly didn’t win as they weren’t from the community, as it was a community-based event) and Smilo got ‘Best Actor’ award, which he was pleased with. Their drama included rap, singing, high emotion and guns, and yet had a very positive approach in their remit of writing a piece of theatre that dealt with the issues of ‘just say no to crime’.
It was great to see the other performances too, there are a lot of talented South Africans who produce amazing works, although most of the performances were in Zulu, it was still possible to work out what was going on in most cases and it was definitely a different way to spend a drizzly Saturday. As the only white woman there, people thought I was a director! Nice. If only I was that good, I was actually only driver and official photographer!
Still don't know if there's more the the whole Kwa Mashu thing. Am still pondering the significance, if any, of it all...
posted by Caroline @ 8:20 pm
2 Comments:
At Monday, 18 December, 2006,
Unknown said…
Hi there.. My name is Sheridan Jakins. I grew up in Durban, but I live in Bountiful Utah now.I read your article (on your blog) and noticed that you had an interest in Kwa Mashu. In 1980 I worked with missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Kwa Mashu and established a branch of the church there. We had a lot of good spiritually uplifting experiences during the 18 months I worked in Kwa Mashu. If you want further information on what we did there, and some details of our experiences, please feel free to contact me at sjakins@utah.gov and we can communicate on the matter.
At Friday, 29 December, 2006,
Martin said…
Glad you're getting some good experiences out of camp as well as in. Keep up all the good work!
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