Art is now becoming a vital tool for promoting and accentuating community development, and many organisations are using edutainment as an approach to community development.
Many organisations have been formulated on the basis of providing edutainment initiatives to wider communities, and they work with ensembles that use different art forms such as theatre, poetry, dance and music to accentuate the voices of development that seek to instigate community development and change.
Over the past years, I have been ardently following Bambelela Arts Ensemble (BAE) based in Bulawayo, which is an edutainment oriented group. It uses the power of art as a tool to actualise community development and growth.
Bambelela Arts Ensemble director Witness Tavarwisa tells The Standard Style that BAE is a community theatre organisation that uses arts for socio-economic and political transformation.
"BAE was established on June 20, 1992 at Matshobana suburb in Bulawayo. The Ensemble’s key founders were the late Aldof Phiri, the late Liwena Mathe and Naison Dube who now lives in Eswatini,” he said.
Tavarwisa says the ensemble's founding principles are hinged on the theme 'to create arts for the people by the people'.
He says the group uses the power of creativity to mirror issues that affect communities and to encourage people to actively participate in all the processes that promote the spirit of Ubuntu and facilitate the overall well-being and community development.
“Edutainment is the core of BAE, and the key thematic areas that the group addresses include the championing of human rights, the promotion of service delivery issues in communities and capacity building which is a stepping stone to sustainability,” Tavarwisa said.
This shows the critical aspects of the role of artists as individuals that have to be pro-active in the promotion of community based advocacy and accountability.
In a great many cases, community members have no voice and artists by virtue of their creativity have a voice that can be heard. In this regard, Bambelela Arts Ensemble has played a critical and influential role in that regard.
Current members of BAE include Khumbulani Mathe, Nomvelo Bhehane, Nyarai Chakwana Ncube, Tawanda Mukoma, Silethemba Moyo, Bongelani Ncube, Josphat Ndlovu, Leonard Phiri and Witness Tavarwisa who are all based in Bulawayo.
The group has a bias towards the theatre genre which is inclusive of acting as a key way to express their messages.
BAE has done notable projects in the country, and they are one of the most consistent theatre groups in Zimbabwe. Recently, they celebrated 30 years in the field of edutainment.
Adding onto their big project is the role they have played working in partnership with Patsime Trust in the Theatre in Schools project in Bulawayo.
“Some projects we have worked on are my Body my Rights, a Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) initiative in partnership with Amnesty International ZImbabwe (AIZ), which targeted the Cowdray park Area, the Human Rights Education program in Ngozi mine and Killarney slum Communities in Bulawayo in partnership with Amnesty International Zimbabwe.
Umtshado Wezinja Radio project which aired on Skyz FM in 2019 was supported by Amnesty International Zimbabwe.
MBambelela Arts On Radio aired on Khulumani FM supported by Culture Fund ZImbabwe. We were also part of the National Family Planning of Zimbabwe Matabeleland North regions’ Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health championship from 2022 to date,” Tavarwisa said.
For three decades the ensemble has been involved in community engagement dialogue sessions. They have also been a major feature in arts festivals such as Inxusa, Linkfest Arts Festival, Ibumba Arts Festival, Harare International Festival of the Arts, PAIFA arts festival, Hurungwe Arts Festival, Intwasa, and the Bulawayo Arts Festival.
One of the ensemble members, Bhebhane says they have offered edutainment services in schools, tertiary colleges and universities, community-based organisations, civic society organizations, the corporate world and the wider community.
“We use a high-breed approach whereby it can be us approaching our clientele with our concepts or the other way round. We also offer these services physically (live interaction) or as digital content audio, visual or video formats,” Bhebhane said.
Major Theatre Productions that Bambelela Arts ensemble has worked on include Look Listen and Decide, which highlighted the plight of street children, and another production titled Just Because which reflected on the impact of gender based violence in the family, community and nation at large.
By the Roadside is another prominent production which mirrored the need for land redistribution as one of the fundamental issues that led to the liberation struggle. Naked Truth is a production which tackled on the issue of incest and the impact of sweeping the issues under the Capet. A shout for Help was a theatre piece which raised calls for decentralization of national resources as a way of championing community development.
The other production, Responsible Citizens was a play which challenged citizens to be accountable for their deeds, while the play Civil Servant highlighted the plight of the civil servant and the negative impact of their incapacitation. Without a State recapitulated on the plight of descendants of migration; that is people from Malawi, Zambia, Mozambican nationalities, survivors of Murambatsvina and the Gukurahundi massacres.
One can comment that the plays by BAE have been premised on telling stories of the plight of the suffering masses in the country, and on edutaining of communities on various social ills that they are constantly exposed to in their everyday living.
“BAE was appointed to be National Family Planning Council of Zimbabwe Matabeleland North’s Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health champions. We also got recognition by National AIDS Council Bulawayo for our impact on the fight against HIV/ AIDS through theatre.
Adding to this, the ensemble also got recognition from Amnesty International Zimbabwe on our impact on championing gender issues for more than a Decade 2011-2021. This was also characterised by one of our members receiving the Outstanding Young human rights activist’s award 2008-2022 from Amnesty International Zimbabwe.
And recently we got recognition from the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe for our effort in the development of the arts for the past three decades.”
The edutainment journey as per the case of Bambelela Arts ensemble remains of key importance as it shows the impact of art within communities and that with adequate support from key stakeholders, the arts can be a critical tool that can have impact in the actualisation of community development.
- Raymond Millagre Langa is a musician, orator, writer and the founder of Indebo Edutainment Trust Follow Millagre Ray Langa on Facebook #Millagre Ray L, e-mail millagrepapaito@gmail.com. You can reach out to Indebo Edutainment Trust on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter indebotrust@gmail.com