Reflection on stay and writing process of Mentorship Programme for Upcoming Playwrights at The Jakes Gerwel Foundation – Xolisa Ngubelanga

My story with The Jakes Gerwel Foundation starts in 2018, at the time I was in the United States of America. I had received an email saying a new foundation from the Western Cape that does literacy and storytelling will be moving to Somerset East, Eastern Cape. At the time I had been working in a nearby town Pearston 67km from Somerset East teaching drama and storytelling.

 
Xolisa Ngubelanga

Being away presented itself with an opportunity that every facilitator wishes for. The opportunity to refer one of his mentees to a life-changing opportunity. That’s when I referred Ms. Nompumelelo Sokoyi and the rest as is said is history. Following Ms. Sokoyi provided the means for me to start knowing The Jakes Gerwel Foundation at a personal level.

Not surprising then that when I was selected for the Mentorship Programme for Upcoming Playwrights in Somerset East, writing as well as the human, personal aspect of the program were of importance to me. None of them disappointed.

I’ll start with the human aspect. I truly enjoyed the strange synergy between the staff members at Paulet House; Magogo, Gilbert, Alsie, Cae, and Donavon. Their presence and willingness to share the secrets of the Karoo, Somerset East community had a positive influence on my writing. Because when we write we strive to tell people’s stories, having seen them resonate with my topic during our conversations in the passages and kitchen inspired the truth out of my script. This truth was to be technically supported and enhanced by the critical reviews of my fellow writers and mentor in the program.

The writers I was honoured to be selected into the program with were a breath of fresh air. They are all too different and diverse for me to write on in a short reflection, so in summary, I’ll say – they revived my love and hope for storytelling, writing, and theatre. It was humbling to be in the presence of writers so committed to honesty and the truth of the story. Their influence on my work went beyond our review sessions and sustained through drinks and other activities and conversations.

The script interrogates the role of systematic father absenteeism that was afflicted through migrant labour. As someone who lived and worked in Pearston near Somerset East, I was convinced that Jakes Gerwel Foundation writers residency would be ideal to complete this script because the form of migrant labor portrayed in the script is not the typical Jozi gold mine labor but the hardly spoken about. The farm labour and how it continues to break families whose fathers have to stay in the farms away from their families.

My script grew in leaps and bounds during the program technically and in a human aspect. The scenery of the Karoo added so much to the script. During the first week of my arrival in Somerset East, I had the opportunity of traveling with Theo Kemp and Nompumelelo Sokoyi delivering bags to surrounding farm schools in Somerset and Cookhouse. This provided me with a rare perspective on farm schools and the young pupils that study there. During my stay, I was again triggered by a sight of seeing two women riding at the back of a bakkie shielded against the wind by men standing and holding on rails. All the sentiments triggered by these sights found their way into my script strengthening the character Precious at first then eventually the whole script as the plot grew.

Throughout the program, the words “this is a needed play, a story that must be told” was repeated by the mentor Abduragman Adams and fellow writers. As a collective we had formed strong bonds in the house and having spoken about each other’s plays often it was clear that we had started to understand each other’s intent in writing the scripts we wrote. A luxury that only people in the writer’s inner circle are afforded for the play script to live up to its potential it had to be bounced off a non-suspecting neutral audience. That is why the live reading on Saturday 19 September 2020 remains one of my program’s ultimate highlights as one audience member reflected “that’s a brave topic” in the midst of awkward silence.

Later after the live reading audience members came to me for a casual chat and expressed their shock at the truth of the script and how it had made them see their farming community with a new pair of eyes.

Xolisa Ngubelanga

Reflection on stay and writing process of Mentorship Programme for Upcoming Playwrights at The Jakes Gerwel Foundation

My story with The Jakes Gerwel Foundation starts in 2018, at the time I was in the United States of America. I had received an email saying a new foundation from the Western Cape that does literacy and storytelling will be moving to Somerset East, Eastern Cape. At the time I had been working in a nearby town Pearston 67km from Somerset East teaching drama and storytelling.

Being away presented itself with an opportunity that every facilitator wishes for. The opportunity to refer one of his mentees to a life-changing opportunity. That’s when I referred Ms. Nompumelelo Sokoyi and the rest as is said is history. Following Ms. Sokoyi provided the means for me to start knowing The Jakes Gerwel Foundation at a personal level.

Not surprising then that when I was selected for the Mentorship Programme for Upcoming Playwrights in Somerset East, writing as well as the human, personal aspect of the program were of importance to me. None of them disappointed.

I’ll start with the human aspect. I truly enjoyed the strange synergy between the staff members at Paulet House; Magogo, Gilbert, Alsie, Cae, and Donavon. Their presence and willingness to share the secrets of the Karoo, Somerset East community had a positive influence on my writing. Because when we write we strive to tell people’s stories, having seen them resonate with my topic during our conversations in the passages and kitchen inspired the truth out of my script. This truth was to be technically supported and enhanced by the critical reviews of my fellow writers and mentor in the program.

The writers I was honoured to be selected into the program with were a breath of fresh air. They are all too different and diverse for me to write on in a short reflection, so in summary, I’ll say – they revived my love and hope for storytelling, writing, and theatre. It was humbling to be in the presence of writers so committed to honesty and the truth of the story. Their influence on my work went beyond our review sessions and sustained through drinks and other activities and conversations.

The script interrogates the role of systematic father absenteeism that was afflicted through migrant labour. As someone who lived and worked in Pearston near Somerset East, I was convinced that Jakes Gerwel Foundation writers residency would be ideal to complete this script because the form of migrant labor portrayed in the script is not the typical Jozi gold mine labor but the hardly spoken about. The farm labour and how it continues to break families whose fathers have to stay in the farms away from their families.

My script grew in leaps and bounds during the program technically and in a human aspect. The scenery of the Karoo added so much to the script. During the first week of my arrival in Somerset East, I had the opportunity of traveling with Theo Kemp and Nompumelelo Sokoyi delivering bags to surrounding farm schools in Somerset and Cookhouse. This provided me with a rare perspective on farm schools and the young pupils that study there. During my stay, I was again triggered by a sight of seeing two women riding at the back of a bakkie shielded against the wind by men standing and holding on rails. All the sentiments triggered by these sights found their way into my script strengthening the character Precious at first then eventually the whole script as the plot grew.

Throughout the program, the words “this is a needed play, a story that must be told” was repeated by the mentor Abduragman Adams and fellow writers. As a collective we had formed strong bonds in the house and having spoken about each other’s plays often it was clear that we had started to understand each other’s intent in writing the scripts we wrote. A luxury that only people in the writer’s inner circle are afforded for the play script to live up to its potential it had to be bounced off a non-suspecting neutral audience. That is why the live reading on Saturday 19 September 2020 remains one of my program’s ultimate highlights as one audience member reflected “that’s a brave topic” in the midst of awkward silence.

Later after the live reading audience members came to me for a casual chat and expressed their shock at the truth of the script and how it had made them see their farming community with a new pair of eyes.

I am still working on my script changing an ‘is’ to ‘was’ here and there fine-tuning it but I must conclude by saying there couldn’t have been a more ideal place and company to work on my script with than that I was afforded at Paulet House. I am fulfilled mentally and spiritually about my time in the program!