DailyNews Online Edition

Staging community theatre challenges all

The Tanzania Community Civic Initiatives (TACCI) troupe of actors present their “Ni Tanzania Yetu ((Haina Spea...!)” - “This is our Tanzania (It has no spare...!)” to residents of Kidabaga Village in Kilolo District, Iringa Region earlier this year. (Photo by Iman Mani)

AS one of the stakeholders of the Tanzania Community Civic Initiatives (TACCI), the Cultural Officer for Mufindi District in Iringa Rregion, Kenneth Kawiya, says he wouldn’t miss the opportunity of being present at their last meeting in Dar es Salaam earlier this month.

He had got the opportunity of going out with a group of theatre performers throughout the district and was pleased to get the opportunity to give his verbal and written report of their visit through the district. “From my observation I could
see that villagers were very pleased with the play “Ni Tanzania Yetu ((Haina Spea...!)”, which translate into English as “This is our Tanzania (It has no spare...!).” All those who I spoke to were curious to know why they did have the chance to see this play, which resembles the reality of their lives, more often,” Kawiya said.

He also explained how villagers he spoke to talked about having identified the points made in the play, as being three. The first one was to encourage members of the audience, whether man or woman, young or old, who feel they have enough support, not to be afraid of running for office. Added to this it shows how witchcraft is being used by some people to secure leadership positions, which the play chastises.

Another point villagers said they had noted in the play, according to Kawiya, was the strong warnings that residents should not depend on leaders to do everything for them, without they themselves being part of these efforts. It was emphasised that at all levels of local and national leadership, success could only be achieved when all concerned parties work as a team.

Kawiya’s colleague from Lindi Rural District, Mohamed Othman, said he had the pleasure of being part of the audience for this play a few months past and the one that preceded it: “Miche ya Demokrasia” - “Seedlings of democratisation,” last year. “Both plays are fit for such an audience like ours, so I was not surprised to see that the villagers accepted them in the way they did.

I think it would be better to have another play built round the theme to work hard towards building the community. TACCI, as an organization are supposed to educate members of the community so that they can move onto a more physical active stage, as expressed in the two plays,” Othman said. He had come to Dar es Salaam the day before specifically to attend the meeting and told the ‘Star’ that his time was well spent.

This view was echoed by Julius Masubo, the Cultural Officer for Bukombe District in Shinyanga Region. He had also come to the commercial capital just for this meeting. Masubo had gone round with the TACCI theatre troupe to six villages in his district then accompanied them to neighbouring Kahama District. He feels these plays have helped to take the ordinary person from a position of ignorance, to one of knowledge.

Having the evaluation meeting he believes was very useful, for it will help to show the way forward from here. “TACCI has tried to show the people they must choose leaders on the ability they feel that individual has. This would help bring development to the villages, districts, regions and the entire country. The voter also has to accept the reality that those persons elected can only succeed when they are ready to work with them as one towards that goal,” Masubo said.

The retired theatre arts tutor, Fumbuki Lubasa, was also present at the meeting, in his capacity as one of the evaluators on the project entitled, “Healing the Wounds of Discord.” He explained that the meeting was to assess the impact of the project, as part of a final assessment towards finding out how it has been implemented and the effects it had within the communities, where the plays were staged.

Since the stakeholders, who attended the meeting had come from the four regions where the plays were staged, they were called-up to give their opinions and recommendations, as to what can be done next. Most people thought that the project should go on, although they requested that the number of performances should be increased and staged over a longer time span, so that more people could see it in the country.

“The time of performances should be intensified and some of the people thought that four regions were not enough because the project should be extended to all sections of the country. Also, something should be done on the modality of performing, maybe considering the cultural background of the particular society, so that it can allow people to attend,” Lubasa said.

He could not say what would be the next play they are likely to produce because it’s not until the TACCI organizers have sat and assess all the findings that hopefully they will come up with another play for staging within communities country-wide.