Pulling the right strings
THROUGH the magical art of puppetry, a Walmer Heights resident is teaching valuable life-skill messages to children.
EduPuppets coordinator Stacey Kay, 29, held a "fun raiser" programme during the recent school holidays to assist in raising funds for the Isithembiso Babies Haven.
The programme included EduPuppets's Story Time puppet shows and their custom production on safe behaviour.
The shows took place at the newly built venue, Fairy Hollow, at Kings Court.
"We are so excited to finally branch out and assist the community through our puppetry," Kay said. "Our safe behaviour production is ideal for this cause and is far more effective when parents watch the show too, as we teach techniques that need family support."
Kay grew up surrounded by puppets. Her mother, Angie Waugh, started doing puppetry when Kay was an infant. She performed for birthday parties using glove puppets, and in 1985 she was asked to perform at the PE Opera House.
Waugh qualified as an early childhood development educator and opened two nursery schools in Gauteng, which she ran simultaneously.
Throughout Waugh's teachings, puppetry remained a necessary tool for delivering important messages. This led to a safe behaviour puppetry production that she researched, produced and toured the Eastern Cape and Gauteng from 1997 to 1999.
It was also the only production at the time to be highly reviewed and approved by the Education Department as it dealt with private parts, "stranger danger" and paedophilia in a child-friendly manner.
Kay joined the EduPuppet team last year.
"I was blessed to be given the opportunity to join my mother and help her rebuild the educational aspect of her puppetry once more," Kay said.
"As a girl I grew up at my mother's nursery schools. I hosted puppetry birthday parties by the age of 12 and I travelled to perform puppet shows at festivals whenever I could."
She said she knew the potential of her mother's puppets and its benefits to the children of their community, but she also knew that in order to take it to that next level, her mother could not do it on her own.
Puppetry is one of the most magical things to a child, Kay said. She said it is a visual aid that cannot be compared to any human, book, computer, or television in trying to relay an important message.
"To the child, it is a real, live magical being that is able to talk to them. We have already had one child come out and tell of a bad secret she had been keeping regarding sexual abuse. What we do genuinely works."
EduPuppets started an audition workshop last week for high school drama pupils for their new fantasy production next month – The Frog Puppet Prince.
The workshop is in aid of training up puppeteers for their regular shows.
A qualified teacher from Stageworld will be training up Walmer High drama pupils to assist with getting their puppet shows into the Xhosa community.