HIFA 2006

ZIMBABWE TRIP OCTOBER 2005 Janelle and myself visited Zimbabwe in October ‘05, where we met with representatives from the United Nations, UNICEF, different Orphanages, HIV Sanctuaries, Schools and then people at a "Grass Roots" Level, who have no access to any medical, financial or educational resources.

We met with several young HIV positive women (in particular Ivy) who are trying to empower and educate their own community through dance and movement, but have had no education or training.

HIFA - Harare International Festival of Arts

The HIFA festival in 2006 was supported by Establishments all over the world, with press coverage from the LA Post, New York times, and in the UK, professionals from both the Royal Court, and the National Theatre were involved. Artists from all over the world came to perform.

The aim of TUTUMA performing at HIFA was to be able to participate in and create workshops during the duration of the Festival. To this end, We met and spoke with the Organisers of the Festival who were extremely excited that Janelle, an actress from Zimbabwe and myself are keen to place our efforts in Zimbabwe.

We wanted to chose a play that was both topical and would challenge the audiences opinions. To this end, we secured the rights to perform Patrick Marber’s Closer, a play that had recently been made into a film and whose issues translated globally. Directed by British director David Skynner and Zimbabwean Sarah Norman, The performance of Closer by Tutuma was not only Closer premier in Africa but also headlined the festival.

The roles of Alice, Dan, Anna and Larry were played by Nathalie Pownall, Jason Piper, Janelle Jenvey and Pieter Lawman.

We are a non-profit making organisation and the box office profits from our production were donated to various HIV Organisations and to help pay for Anti Retroviral Drugs for some of the women on Dr. Ingrid's HIV Programme, whose funding would have run out in February ‘06.

During our time at HIFA, we worked along Schools Programmes, trained a dance group of HIV Orphans in Chitungwiza, a village severely affected by Operation Clean Up last August. Using Story Telling Workshops we worked and played with very small children. We were told we had a group of 16 children over 50 turned up. Not all were orphans but they all wanted to be a part of what we were creating, visible proof that Tutuma was making headway.