The town / township, white / black divide born of the apartheid era is as stark and as well defined as ever, and still very much a reality. It's a blunt pencil line drawn between haves and have-nots.
Yet again I'm privy to the boundless creativity, talent, yes-to-life 'joie de vivre' that prevades the township in rejection of the odds ... probably because of the odds. It's an overwhelming energy that renders the potholes, rubble, the poverty invisible.
I'm in a small church hall (one of many in Emgwenya) where the roof's about to be lifted by a youth choir so new that they're still without a name. But despite the winter cold tonight, they're resonating with love, energy and rhythm.
Later this year (November to be exact) they'll be mourning - through song and dance - the sixty or so Mozambican migrant workers who died in a horrific train crash just outside Waterval-Boven in November 1949.
The miners were on their way home after a year of labouring in the Reef's gold mines. Most of their families didn't even know what had happened to their husbands, brothers, fathers or lovers who never returned home.
A memorial, where they were buried, was erected a few years ago in the old cemetry in Emgwenya. Emgwenya was originally the old railway compound for the train town of Waterval Boven.
The choir is hoping, nay expecting, Nelson Mandela's wife Graca Machel (former First Lady of Mozambique) to grace the anniversary of the tragedy later this year.
Trina Matheson (+27 82 8921364 / ian.trina@imaginet.co.za) of the Emakhazeni Tourism Association is doing her utmost to raise money for the choir... to get a teacher, skills and training assistance from the Youth Orchestra, as well as transport, and whatever else she can get to empower these talented youth.
Do you know of anyone who can help this exceptional cause ... a cause that has the potential to attract international attention?
1 comment:
Hey you.. Who exact is Trina? Which Youth Orchestra is it?
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