Unfortunately due to me having to be hands on in alot of the dramas we dont have so many good pictures of our world cup exploits on the streets and stages of Joburg and Pretoria.
We gathered a group of young people from the age of 12 -18 (many who had never done any drama before) and performed in a wide ranging variety of places.
We performed twice in churches in different locations where they had set up larger screens for the public in township areas. These performances really were a blast! In one church they were already having revival meetings so the people were pretty geed up by the time we performed and the atmosphere just became electric! Explosive and dynamite, are other words that come to mind. Great for the young people to experience the effect of a simple drama done well to music.
(We do mimes to music that I have mostly copied from youtube basically as it requires the least dramatic ability and has an enormous power and effect over the viewing audiences) We then had the pleasure of watching South African games with the local people with all their ups and downs and enthusiastic reactions.
We performed twice on the street leading to the main Pretoria stadium Loftus Park. This on concrete with a little battery power system. It was fun with lots of people passing by on their way to the stadium or just soaking up the atmosphere. What a privilege it was to be in Africa at this time. The boundless optimism of the people is really awe inspiring and puts to shame my British reserve and rather frequent cynicism!
We performed three times at a Fan Fest in New Town (central Joburg) Twice we performed on concrete at the back of the Fan Fest. The highlight was a group of thirty or so high school students who loved the combination of dance and drama that we did at half time. So much so they refused to watch the game when it restarted and begged us to carry on. We were all armed with loads of Gospel tracts and magazines and so everyone took something away with them.
The theme of our message was an appealing one. "Every great team has a great coach. If you want to be great you need a great coach too. Here we have a message for you from your coach, Coach Jesus. He wants you on His team. He will always encourage you and help you to become a world beater and a champion, with the sure knowledge of ultimate victory in the end!" So it was fun to have a relevant message to go along with the football frenzy that also gripped us all.
On the third New Town visit we were booked on the big stage only to be replaced by the Minister of Health doing an Aids initiative. We took it all in our stride and encouraged the young ones to go out of the Fan Fest and distribute masses of tracts etc. We were suitably rewarded on the next visit with an appearance on the big stage and loud sound system, It was grrrreat!!! As we came off the stage, people were obviously really moved. "That was amazing. it was just like a movie!" one chap said. What we were doing really gripped people and that was encouraging.
Finally we did some performances at township venues where there was no stage and no concrete even and sometimes at first no people! We all felt "What are we doing here?". However we hung in there and were rewarded as the crowds showed up and the Lords Spirit moved in the unlikeliest of settings. Praise the Lord!
Our conclusion has been that we have something powerful to offer and that we need to perform a more professional team to reach the high schools in the area..... this is somethign I am very much looking forward to.
We already have a weekly Student Christian Meeting at Diepsloot Highschool and the young people there are such jewels. We look forward to opening up other such meetings at many more local high schools as a follow up to drama and dance performances.
Lets hope and pray we can make the most of this opportunity!
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