[caption id="attachment_37687" align="alignright" width="405"] UPRISING REMEMBERED: Young actors from Diaz Primary School in Algoa Park, Port Elizabeth rehearse the Hector Peterson scene for their 'I Am an African' production. Reuben Mzizi plays Peterson, carried by Lutho Peter, while Cleo Naidoo, as Antoinette Peterson, weeps for her brother.
Picture: JUDY DE VEGA[/caption]
I WOULD like to share my absolute admiration of the Diaz Primary School interpretation and performance of the I Am an African musical at the Athenaeum on Friday. I don't think there was a dry eye in the theatre and if there was, it could not have been a human.
The talent, hard work and dedication it has taken from three devoted teachers and 130 pupils to produce this kind of magic is evident. The love for music, children and the essence of nation-building flowed effortlessly from the production!
Every South African should watch a snippet of this show to be inspired, to reconnect to our fellow beings and feel proud of what we have achieved as a nation, but most importantly never to lose that feeling! It was an honour to explain certain aspects of the show to my 12-year-old daughter, to point out the quality of production despite the school serving predominantly disadvantaged and impoverished pupils. That status however did not impede their talent at all.
It was an honour to see how moved to tears our German visitors were by the performance.
If we can get busy foreigners to travel 10000km to watch the show, what excuse do we as South Africans have not to try a bit harder to understand each other?
I sincerely hope that the school will be supported to be able to provide more performances to our city.
This show is meant for all South Africans as Tata Madiba shared his life with all of us.
Ellen Fischat, Port Elizabeth