Durban — A Durban school received valuable lessons from the creative industry during a festival this week.
“Time of the Writer” held an outreach programme on Friday, at Sizimisele Senior Primary School in Molweni.
“Time of the Writer” is an annual festival, produced by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre For Creative Arts, from March 16 to 21. The festival includes readings, community engagements and workshops.
This year marks the 26th edition of the festival.
Queen Shalabeama and The Star Children author Ash-Leigh La Foy said she developed a creative writing class called “Colour Therapy Creative Writing”, and the aim of this class was to expose children to the field of creative writing and storytelling.
“I had previously facilitated similar workshops in 2005 and 2012. When the ‘Time of the Writer Festival’ informed me I’d need to facilitate a session with school kids, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them. I love doing these,” said La Foy.
La Foy said she was open to schools inviting her to facilitate workshops and continue contributing to the exposure of the creative industry.
La Foy praised the school’s principal, Sihle Mkhize, for his contribution and for his character and personality.
“The principal of Sizimisele Senior Primary School himself saw the need to create a special class for creative writing within his school after our visit.
“We were faced with a small challenge when we got there after being told that not every pupil could read or write, and so instead of excluding them, we asked the principal to let them be part of the session, and they could draw instead of writing,” said La Foy.
“For the pupils themselves, it provided them with an opportunity to see writing as something fun. The session itself was light-hearted and allowed for freedom of expression – which is a break for children who only see the need for reading or writing within a formal class setting,” said La Foy.
She said that Mkhize showed great investment in the programme and in his pupils. She was amazed at the fact that he knew all the pupils’ names – in a class in excess of 40 pupils.
“This stood out for me because it showed that he loves his pupils and does not see them as numbers, but as people,” said La Foy.
Mkhize said that as a school, they were excited by this programme as it gave children the opportunity to express their creativity in writing, poetry, drawing and storytelling.
“It also allowed them to know that they can choose writing and other creative spaces, such as videography, etc, as a career instead of the normal, formal and traditional routes. We were excited that they could gather outside perspectives as we have creative arts as a subject, but this programme helped with exposing the practicality,” said Mkhize.
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