Thursday, April 26, 2012

Lights, Camera, Action!!!!

April 24, 2012
Dumalang, my wonderful friends! I hope everyone is enjoying another week of Easter blessings. I know I certainly have. I love everything about the Easter season, and it is very different here where it is not springtime! You don’t get confused about what resurrection means (not new flowers and baby animals in the spring!)  when the weather is getting cooler and moving towards winter! It’s not a spring holiday here, and that changes the way we see it.  So, no matter what season it is in your life, the church sings, “Alleluia!”

   The children are back in school session at St.Peter’s after the Easter break,  and it’s been so good to hear their delightful giggles, squeals of excitement, and the wonderful sound of,  “Auntie Minda'',  “Auntie Minda'' , every 15-20 minutes.  Since my birthday came during the holidays, Mma Mudereri, the staff and the children wanted to put on a surprise birthday party for me afterwards. So this last Wednesday the kids went about the morning as usual, and I was greeted with the usual, “Dumela Auntie Minda”.  No clues that anything was different. But then at 10'0clock teatime everyone hurried into the dining hall. I stopped at the restroom, and when I came out, I found Mma Gladys and Father Andrew waiting for me. I thought that this odd, because Father Andrew rarely comes during teatime. They wheeled me in the dining hall as everyone stood up and started singing, Happy Birthday! They had a large colored sign over the kitchen counter saying, “Happy Birthday Auntie Minda.' ‘Gladys had made a beautiful cake with yellow icing. The kids made a precious birthday card, and gave me 2 lovely scarves. I asked Gladys if there would be enough cake for all the kids. She said she knew I would ask that question- so she made a cake big enough for everybody!  It was truly a wonderful gift and I was really surprised by it all! I love this place so much!
On Saturday night my friends, Rorisang and Kamogelo and I went to see the Italian opera Cavalleria Rusticana.  It was amazing to hear it sung in Setswana!  If you don’t know the story, it is typical opera: love story gone wrong, betrayal, anger, passion, drama, and beautiful music! This one is about a villager, Turiddu, just returned from military service, who finds that his fiancĂ©e, Lola, has married Alfio, a prosperous village.  In retaliation, Turiddu seduces a young peasant woman named Santuzza. As a result, Lola, overwhelmed by her jealousy of Santuzza, begins an adulterous affair with Turiddu. It’s a very intense and exciting all at the same time. Sandy was in charge of all the music for it – by which I mean she was the entire orchestra!  So obviously that has taken up all her spare time – and some time that was NOT spare!   It is being performed at “The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Opera House and Restaurant” which is very far out in the bush. It’s named in honor of the book series of the same name, set in Botswana – and much loved by my family and friends.   
Well anyway, my friends and I arrived early so that I could get situated in the front, because there is no wheelchair seating in that place. This was a lot of fun because we got to watch the singers do   their vocal warm ups before the performance. As I was watching them and how the conductor, David Slater, worked with each one on his or her voice, I could not help but smile. It reminded me that when I was little I listened to my big sister, Becca, rehearse just like that! My mom took me to every one of the many performances she was a part of – all the operas and musical events. I see how watching those stories come alive then, inspired a great deal of my own interest in theatre and drama.  
It was interesting to watch how this opera was staged. There was nothing on the stage at all except a large white cross to the left, indicating the church where some of the events take place. Everything else was solely determined by on the singers’ abilities to portray the characters. There was very little in way of costuming, and absolutely no makeup whatsoever. This made it a little difficult to distinguish some of the characters and therefore some scenes were a bit confusing – at least for me struggling to understand the sung Setswana!  The opera house would like to purchase some theatre cosmetics for future performances, but they just can’t afford that right now. I loved it all! The opera was amazing - and Sandy played the whole long thing beautifully!
Afterwards, the director and I talked some. He was very interested and pleased to know that I am also studying theatre.  When the opera has finished its run, we will get to together and talk about theatre and drama and our experiences with it all. It will be really cool to talk to him and get some ideas for the work I am doing – and want to do in the future using the arts in ministry.   I’m finding that I miss my drama classes a lot, especially now when I know they are about to perform “Women of Lockerbie” this weekend.  I am sorry to be missing that.
 After the show we all went back to the flat and had dinner and then Kamogelo spent the night. She and I talked and laughed about a lot of things, and watched 2 movies. She has promised to teach me how to make earrings using things her jewelry-making set!  It was just a great girl-night!  
Tomorrow I’m beginning my theologizing project with both children and the adults at Cheshire, the disabled community.  I am trying something new by working with scripture with both adults and children at the same time. We will be using drama and art as well as story-telling and discussion to see how God understands the lives of disabled persons and their families. This is huge here. We will be looking at various stories of disabled and sick persons in scripture - from Mephibosheth in the Old Testament to the man born blind in the gospel of John. We want to think about what it means to be human, to be made in God’s image – so that they can understand and trust that God created us as we are – and intends to do good in us and through us, to shine in our lives regardless of disability. Pray for us. It is a very important issue here, where many parents have been told that they are to blame for their child’s handicap, and we want to replace a sense of shame with hope and joy in Jesus.    
Well, for now my friends, Modimo tsegafasa (God bless you!) and Ke o Rata (I love you)!
Minda

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