KINDERS VAN DIE WÊRELD!

 

Wat sien jy meneer?

Wat sien u mevrou?

As ek aankom in die straat

Sonder sakdoek of sneusie

Op ‘n koue winter’s oggend

Met my honger lyfie

En my keine eina stap?

Sien jy ‘n kind van die wêreld;

‘n Kind met ‘n toekoms

‘n Kind wat liefde wil hê

‘n Kind van die wêreld

“n Kind vir wie groot mense moet omgee?

Hoek bleek is die toekoms

Sonder opvoeding en onderwys

Sonder kennies en hoop?

Gee vir my ‘n kans

Om die heelal te beskou

Om te dink van meer as net stof

Gee vir my ‘n kans

Om bo in die boom te sit

En die wêreld, my wêreld te beskou

Want ek is ‘n kind van die wêreld,

Asseblief meneer, asseblief mevrou

Gee my ‘n kans.

Easter blessings and donations

The arts project has received a big boost over the past few days. Firstly, the fundraising performance by Derek Gripper and Udai Mazumdar was a huge success, bringing a total of R500 which will be used to purchase additional supplies with the balance being carried over for investment in the publication and distribution of the project outcomes.

Nieu Bethesda resident Theresa Hardman donated a box of art supplies including paints, dye, glue, and brushes and guests Marlise Richter and Marc Lewis also donated stationary including colored paper, scissors, glue colored pencils and wax crayons. These donations while seemingly insignificant to some make a huge difference to the arts project which was started with no resources other than borrowed scissors, discarded cardboard boxes and a notepad. Benoit Know from BK Publishing also donated 130 copies of a book of short stories entitled ‘Metz and Bop’.

My thanks and the thanks of all the children involved are extended to these generous individuals.

Masks

Nieu Bethesda has a reputation as an idyllic Karoo town where artists go for inspiration and where more than a few have decided to stay to enjoy the quality of life, the light, the wide open spaces and the endless starry skies. But just down the road, in the adjoining township the children are destined to a life of hardship and squalor with many having alcoholic or unemployed parents. They attend a little school where everything is in short supply. I have started an arts project with 30 kids at the school and have appealed to businesses and individuals for resource support. I am volunteering my time while I am in Nieu Bethesda working on a novel and even though I would ideally love to identify a young person whom I can mentor to take over the project once I depart at the end of September, the call for support is not about money or cash donations. This is about resources and the lack thereof! Yet people seem not too concerned with what is happening to our children and make no mistake, these are own children! What are their prospevts? There is already no high school in the area and theose whose parents can afford to send them to Graaff Reinet to live with family or to boarding school will need the social and life skills to be able to adjust and achieve their dreams in an environment where they will have to be able to work independently. Now is the time to impact in these kids lives. There are many homes with boxes of old stationary, art supplies, and bits and pieces that will one day be discarded without a second thought. Or you could make a difference and post these to the Lettie de Klerk Primary School Arts Project, C/O The Principal, Barbara Vaaltyn. PO BOX 2 Nieu Bethesda 6286. These children need your support!

 Given the opportunity, all children would prefer to be kids and do the things that every child should have the opportunity to do...

 Playing and learning together in an enabling environment...

Learning from each other and about themselves...

Die Kranksinnige

In hierdie sel
agter die grense
van die vel
en die hoë
vensters van die oë
is twee mense:
die een is gek,
die ander, ek.

Dis hy wat kerm en gil
maar ek is bang en stil.

In elke klein uur van die nag
veg ek teen hom met minder krag
en as hy wen dan skree hy uit
sy wrok teen God en wêreld uit.

In hierdie klein vertrek
van vlees en been,
is twee.

Die een is gek,
die ander, Ek.

(SJ Pretorious)

Request for Sponsorship & Support

Lettie de Klerk Primary School Arts Project

Vywers Crescent, Nieu Bethesda

11 April 2011

To whom it may concern

REQUEST FOR SUPPORT

I am a writer, playwright, poet, director and independent theatre producer currently residing in Nieu Bethesda where I am working on my debut novel.

At the start of the new school term on the 11 April 2011, I will be implementing an arts project at the severely under-resourced Lettie de Klerk Primary School, situated in the impoverished local township. I will be volunteering my time and expertise over the next six months to conduct creative expression workshops with a total of 40 grade 6 & 7 pupils. The outcomes of these workshops will be compiled into a booklet which will be available for sale during the September Festival in Nieu Bethesda.

This project is supported by The Karoo Lamb Restaurant and Owl House Backpackers.

I would hereby like to appeal to you to support this project by donating or sponsoring resources as detailed in the list below.

Resource List:

·         A4 and/or A5 Notebooks

·         A3 and/or A4 Plain Paper (White and/or Colored)

·         Pens

·         Pencils

·         Colored Pencils

·         Colored Chalk

·         Koki’s

·         Water Paints

·         Brushes

·         Erasers

·         String

·         Photocopying

·         Printing

·         Framing

To confirm your support or sponsorship and to arrange for collection of supplies, please call me on 084 797 4098 or email at mikeywentworth@hotmail.com or mail directly to the Principal, Mrs. Barbara Vaaltyn., PO Box 2, Nieu Bethesda, 6286; Tel: 049 841 1639.

I thank you kindly in anticipation.

Yours sincerely

Michael Wentworth

Coordinating Facilitator

Fundraising Performance

The Karoo Lamb Restaurant Presents

 A New Cape Records Production

DEREK GRIPPER (Guitar) and UDAI MAZUMDAR (Tabla)

Live in Nieu Bethesda

In Support of the Lettie de Klerk Primary School Arts Project

South African guitarist Derek Gripper and Indian tabla master Udai Mazumdar began their collaboration with a spontaneous performance in a Basel (Switzerland) jazz club in 2009. They met again in 2010 to perform in the Western Cape of South Africa, and to record their CD "Rising," an epic exploration of the possibilities presented by the combination of a highly original guitar style, and the language of the Classical Indian "tabla," a set of two drums played by the hands and capable of a wide range of pitches and sounds. Their subsequent work together has initiated a cross-cultural dialogue of spontaneous music-making combining the complex rhythmic structures of Indian classical music with the sounds of Malian kora, African guitar, contemporary Brazilian music, Western Cape Koortjie, and the techniques of classical guitar. Udai's many years of study and performances with some of India's greatest musicians (including Pandit Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain), and Derek's "New Cape" guitar music make for an unlikely combination, but the musical affinity between these highly trained and perfectly matched musicians speaks for itself. 

Their 2011 tour sees Derek and Udai collaborating with a diverse array of musicians at different points in their schedule. In KZN they play with acoustic guitar wizard Guy Buttery, in Johannesburg they team up with trumpet legend Marcus Wyatt, and in Pretoria they perform a double bill with Greg Georgiades and Ashish Joshi. After duo shows in Swaziland, PE, Grahamstown, and Cape Town they will continue their collaboration with shows in Switzerland, accompanied by classical Indian vocalist and harmonium player Piu Nandi. The South African leg of Udai and Derek's tour is sponsored by Pro Helvetia with the help of Arts On Main. 

This dynamic duo will be performing at the Karoo Lamb Restaurant in Nieu Bethesda on Thursday, the 21^st of April for a brief stopover gig between their PE and Cape Town performances. A percentage of all proceeds (door and CD sales) will be donated to the Lettie De Klerk Primary School Arts Project.

Entrance for the performance is R60. Food and drinks will be available.

The Karoo Lamb Restaurant is diagonally across from the historic Owl House on New Street, Nieu Bethesda. For more information and to book please call Katrien on 072 742 7113.

For more information and to order their CD visit www.newcape.co.za, the home of Cape Town's New Cape Records. New Cape's catalogue will be on sale at all shows for the discount price of R100. 

Participants

1.       Zenobia Barry

2.       Diane Makwena

3.       Urasmia Swiers

4.       Ethel Swartz

5.       Sharo Jacobus

6.       Suraya Malgas

7.       Chantez Oudshoorn

8.       Ilse Baaitjies

9.       Edwina Hendricks

10.   Maria van Rensburg

11.   Angelo Makwena

12.   Genevieve Jacobs

13.   Bronwin Webster

14.   Monique Riet

15.   Robyn Haas

16.   Lucrisha Hendricks

17.   Androlene Jacobs

18.   Angelique Smit

19.   Jamie-Lee Maart

20.   Lucrisha Hecter

21.   Bianca Williams

22.   Chamoeda Maswan

23.   Berenice Borens

24.   Clanonique Borens

25.   Jenny Jonkers

26.   Maryka Hartlief

27.   Elsmarie Tromp

28.   Elvona Williams

29.   Christopher Makwena

30.   Ryan Jacobs

31.   Marnus van der Merwe

Creative Intervention

Lettie de Klerk Primary School is situated in the impoverished township of Pienaar's Sig adjoining Nieu Bethesda. The school is the only one in the town and is home to almost 300 learners with a permanent staff of just six qualified teachers. The recently initiated Arts Project is currently being run on a volunteer basis by myself and I am in the process of identifying a suitable assistant who will be mentored to take over once I leave Nieu Bethesda at the end of September. The project makes use of creative writing, drawing, drama, dance and music to engage the current group of 31 learners from grades 4 to 7. Resource and financial sponsorship is being sought that will enable this initiative to become a permanent part of the extra curricula activities at the school. A management committee is being set up that will be comprised of the principal Barbara Vaaltyn, local writer and bookshop owner Nico Zaverdinos, municipal manager Phillip Olifant and businesswoman Katrien Alleman.