nileflow network

"It was such an eye opener for me, learning more about the world of drama, the world I love so deeply I can dream of it in broad daylight. I never thought theatre could do so much until I worked with this Uni lecturer from Chile who goes by the name Haimi"

 

I spent the whole of last week at Massey University in Palmerston North. It was a very busy week, spending hours and hours working with really motivated lecturers and a bunch of very pleasant students from around the country. It was such an eye opener for me, learning more about the world of drama, the world I love so deeply I can dream of it in broad daylight. I never thought theatre could do so much until I worked with this Uni lecturer from Chile who goes by the name Haimi (something like that). This guy knows his thing and he can take theatre to never reached before levels. What a blessing meeting him!

The reason I opened with my recent experience is to open the discussion about the carrier parts we can follow as Africans in New Zealand. About three months ago I was in Africa where I was privileged to give a talk to high school students at the school where I was educated as a little teenager, my beloved Gamwa secondary school. I found myself standing in front of form 3 and 4 students who are about to find life in the real world, the world of adulthood and its challenges. I never had the time to prepare my speech but what came straight into my mind was the choice of carrier parts these not so exposed students could follow. My heart was so pained to realise that all they have in their minds is to be school teacher or police officers. That’s how far they could go with their dreams. That’s the world they are exposed to, nothing further than this because all they see around them for motivation is their school teacher or a policeman coming to arrest someone for stealing someone’s cattle or goats. Can we blame them? No. At least they can dream.

I went on to challenge them to open their minds further and dig deeper inside themselves to find other career parts they could follow. I told them I didn’t want to hear anything to do with teaching or being a policeman. I wanted something further up the carrier ladder. It took a while for them to find the courage to start dreaming of carriers such as being doctors, pilots, presidents, flight attendants, engineers and the like. From there on we started talking! I asked them if they had heard of something like being a makeup artist on a movie set or being actors or cameramen or set designers or costume designers. It was like talking Greek to them. They had never heard of anything of the sort.

You see guys, this is what I was saying last week that my focus is on the younger ones. It is time for African parents to start exposing the children to so many avenues as far as choosing carriers is concerned. So many avenue- or let me say highways are open here in NZ. Let’s allow the younger ones to dream bigger and wider. One of my favourite saying is, aim for the stars and you will hit the clouds. Let’s do it. Let’s talk of huge carriers- the next Obamas, the next Smiths (as in Will Smith), the next Washingtons (Denzel), the next Mandelas. The list is long. I wish to see an African child growing up in NZ to be a movie director, producer, costume designer for big movies, medical consultant, film star, All Black star, cricket star, scientist, mathematician, you can name it. The doors are wide open. Let’s be there when the cream of New Zealand stars is picked. Let’s be counted among them. The days of being back benchers are now in the past. No more dreaming of being a nurse or a school teacher. Those are no longer dreams. They are now easily achievable carriers any Jack and Jill can enrol themselves in any moment. Let’s go big where not many can believe they can make it. Haimi taught me to push limits, to go beyond the ordinary, and that’s what I wish to share with you.

My friend rang me the other day and he was saying his 9 year old son is so much into science fiction writing and he can create a story about the unknown world. My advice to him was to nature this talent and make it big for the future. His worry was his wife was against this young son of theirs spending his time on writing crazy fiction instead of reading his books. We want the next writer of Avatar to be from our own African community. The next Peter Jackson should be from us. In 30 years time why not have an African running for a high position in NZ government? We have kids being born here, which makes them eligible to be in top New Zealand ranks but this can never happen if we are not ready to take risks and push the limits, dig holes in boundaries and find our way in, driving ourselves beyond what we believe are capable to do.

I hate to see an African story being told by a white New Zealander who has never set his big toe in Africa. Sad when our stories are being so twisted and misrepresented while we stand and watch. Let’s put that in the dustbin and be masters of our own destiny, as good old Mugabe would put it.

Let’s catch up again next week. For now feel free to send your comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .