Limpopo Writing Project Day 9

So many of us wanted to share our journals this morning! We write all the time, we’re truly a community of writers. It was also wonderful to have Dr. Makalela back with us. Thoko shared her demo on genealogy, and had us develop family trees. This led to a discussion about how there are all kinds of families, and we need to add extra lines to accommodate step-children, step-parents, step-families and other kinds of families.
We looked at Sean’s demo today and were amazed by his detailed Prezi. He shared poems, pictures, letters, writing and writing exercises. Later when we were on Skype, Modkadi complimented him on his demo and noted that it was more detailed than the ones we are doing here. Sean explained that his demo was for 90 minutes, a much longer time period. When we Skyped, Barry invited Joyce to Skype his classroom to watch him teach. We were also able to talk with Dorothy and Vicki about their demos. It was great seeing Pam, Aurelia, Shannon, Justin and the others if only for a moment.
The filmmaker Teko Sgegede Nhlapho and his friend joined us today. He’s making a film that will be shown on TV stations about the Limpopo Writing Project. He was able to film us writing lunes (from Sean’s demo, and Skyping with the SAWP Summer Institute. He brought us a surprise, a bag of gifts promoting the South African Census which will take place in October. We took pictures of all the LWP teachers in the yellow shirts and hats that were in the bags.
Teko shared that he had spent time in the United States and that he graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio, where I met him as did Ngokoana and Dr. Makalela, when they visited San Antonio. All three of us were so excited to see him and very grateful for his support. We ended the day with dancing to song This Time for Africa. The theatrical students who have been performing for us at night came and joined in and soon Teko was filming all of us dancing together. Teko even joined us in the dancing. Later he commented that when he visited SAWP, he never saw us dancing. We were dancing with delight, we were dancing with happiness, we were dancing because we knew this was a special moment that might never come again. For one magical moment, we were unified and all was right with the world.

I’m sharing Nteveleni’s journal to end this blog:

What I Have Learned in 8 days So Far
By Ntevheleni

I never thought that talking through one’s pen could be healing and I never thought of myself as a writer. In a week’s time I have realized that I am a poet. Now I also know that I have the potential and that the only person who can unleash it is myself and no one else. I have also realized that all people belong to one big family. I have also learned that one must make a remarkable contribution in life. I have been to various academic institutions, but most of the things I have acquired within a few days. I had not known them for the longest periods that I have spent in those institutions. I am even thinking of going to “those” institutions for a refund. I have also realized that through sharing you tend to know the realities of life through other people’s experiences.