Some steps forward for Hamburg Artist Retreat

On the 8th of March, Aspire organized a fun day for the families of Hamburg community together with volunteers from the Keiskamma Trust.

From Aspire blog:

Hamburg’s ‘old’ community hall was all hustle and bustle on a beautiful Saturday morning. Hordes of children gathered to tackle a treasure hunt that would lead them around the small town. 10 groups were sent on their way to master 6 stations that would lead them to the finish line.

Each station requested the kids to complete a task before revealing the answer to one of the 6 Artists Retreat questions. The final station was back at the hall were each child left their foot print on a tile.

As a reward for the hard work and the successful mastering of the Artists Retreat treasure hunt, every participant received a T-shirt.

The Keiskamma Music Academy kids blessed us with their talent, and the Hamburg Capoeira group performed before everyone dug into a well deserved meal.

Now as you can see the Children of Hamburg have left their footprints…

Now come and leave yours !!!

Visit Aspire blog:

http://www.artistsretreat.co.za/blog

Partnership with the Sustainable Seas Trust by Mike Vilimek and Julie Cook

When I first embarked on my internship as a Marine Biologist in South Africa with the NGO the Sustainable Seas Trust, I was hoping to find a magical piece of paradise by the coast where I could work and be surrounded by amazing people. I finally found my paradise when I landed in Hamburg, and encountered those amazing people as I met the community members and those wonderful folks working with the Keiskamma Trust. Though working for an environmental conservation organization and not directly with the Trust, another Canadian colleague (Julie Cook) and I were immediately accepted with open arms by the Trust, which is truly integrated and involved in every part of the community, from health to education and art, and even to my NGO’s domain, the natural environment and its conservation. My role whilst in Hamburg was to try and assess the utilization and dependence upon the shellfish resources by the community. During my stay, the Trust provided me with invaluable assistance and shared freely in their experiences and knowledge of the people and the region, accumulated over 10 years of working alongside community members and striving to uplift those in dire circumstances. We were also given the opportunity to share our knowledge and experiences, and one of my most cherished moments during my six months in South Africa was interacting with the children while we gave a presentation at the after-care program at the primary school in Hamburg, and seeing the pride in their eyes as they told me “Hamburg is beautiful!” and took pledges to keep it so in the future.

I was often amazed over the 2 months that I lived in Hamburg at how much was taking place within this little, hard-to-reach community, from current and future development of the town centre, to the wide-ranging and exciting initiatives that are currently run by the Trust. These things could only happen thanks to the passion and dedication of the members of the Keiskamma Trust. Another of my fondest memories of South Africa was participating in the Capoeira classes. I can remember being very intimidated at first by the intensity and high skill level of the capoeiristas, as they were clearly passionate about what they do, and felt even more intimidation after I learned that most of them have been doing it for nearly 10 years! But I could not have been more wrong, their kindness shining through once you looked beyond those tough-looking exteriors, and I could not have asked for better friends during my stay in Hamburg.

Given the positive nature of many in Hamburg and the beautiful surroundings, it is often easy to forget that many people in the town and the surrounding areas live with high unemployment, little income and face a whole host of other challenges on a daily basis. The Trust and its members work extremely hard to help to sustain the community, but they face a lot of challenges as well. Working for a NGO for six months, I learned that one can never have too many resources at your disposal, and often it’s a lack of resources that’s the rule rather than the exception, and many good projects suffer for that lack. I would encourage anyone reading this to lend a helping hand in any way they can, whether it is through donating time or resources to the Keiskamma Trust, or helping to spread news of the good work they do. The people there are truly exceptional and I witnessed first-hand the positive impacts of their programmes within the community. I plan to return to Hamburg when I am finished with my studies and I assure you that you would have the experience of a lifetime spending several months there!

Sincerely,

Michael Vilimek

(Intern for the Sustainable Seas Trust and Master of Science, Candidate at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada)

During her stay, Julie Cook (Community Education Officer) did the following Blog:

Mundo of Julie

Sustainable Seas Trust's website:
www.sst.org.za

Education - Capoeira is strong in Hamburg!

The group in Hamburg continue to train hard daily. As some members of the group are leaving town to study at University the group are welcoming new members, taking time to teach the new comers the basics of capoeira.

Having recently received a digital camera and laptop the group are now keen to use these tools, they have plans to make a documentary about the group; it’s beginnings, members day to day lives and what it is that keeps them training each day.

The prospect of a visit from Luis Negao in June/July is something all the group are very much looking forward to.

The group have an exciting year of plans ahead which will be made possible from recent fundraising efforts in the uk and in the Education programme of the Keiskamma Trust. The plans include performances at local festivals and a trip to a local game park for performances, history of capoeira and music practice. The group are also beginning to incorporate HIV and AIDs education into their activity plans to look at lifestyle and how this influences health.

It was a pleasure to see the group again and to train with them, they play very good capoeira, and the energy in their rodas is something we can all aim for.

Post by Kat Carpenter (Morena Clara) - Abolicao Oxford

Capoeira and education, by Kat Carpenter: The experience of a volunteer at the Keiskamma Trust

During September to December 2009, Kat Carpenter, a member of Aboliçao Oxford Capoeira went to Hamburg to work with the Keiskamma Trust and spend time with the capoeira group there.

Msindisi Mva, the groups teacher had recently returned from Cape Town. Kat and Msindisi worked together to get classes re-structured.

Classes were set up at the primary school on 3 afternoons a week, and 3 morning classes were set up for adult beginners, the regular 4:30pm to 6pm training continued daily. The primary school classes are going really well, parents are happy that their children can train after school so they do not arrive home too late. The morning classes are a good opportunity for people with less confidence around the agile young people to learn the basic moves of capoeira.

Kat also worked with Keiskamma trust looking at child development, providing training to local health and education workers and setting up resources and an assessment kit, also assisting in the set-up of a play room. It was a challenge to split time between the two areas of work!

From the 4th to the 9th of December, Elton Jones another member of Aboliçao Oxford, joined the group for a few days just in time for the end of year party, which the group funded themselves with money they earnt at a performance earlier in the year.

To get the group thinking about the positive benefits of capoeira a small art workshop was carried out at the party. Each member was asked what do you enjoy about capoeira, how does it affect your life, what opportunities does it give you, how does it make you feel, thinking about life before you started capoeira and now, how is it different? The group worked in 2’s and 3’s to write down 3 things, everyone present took part. They then enjoyed putting hand prints in a circle on a piece of cloth to represent a roda. Phrases such as “protection, makes me feel at home, education, energy, inspiration, helps me to do the right things, strength, love, communication” were gathered.

All the words and phrases were written in the middle of the ‘roda’ . It now hangs in the capoeira training hall. The group to get this image printed onto T-shirts, along with their own Abolicao Hamburg logo which is currently being designed. The aim would be for each member to have a T-shirt that belongs to the group and them to be able to sell these to members of Abolicao in Oxford and London and visitors to the Keiskamma Project as a business opportunity for the group as they are very keen to increase their independence financially.

A day of workshops was also held, taught by Elton, an angola workshop, samba, maculele, music and ending in a roda. The group really enjoyed the opportunity to learn new moves and spend the day enjoying all aspects of capoeira, they all worked hard and joined in well.
The group have all missed seeing contra-mestre Luis Negao this year so being able to do these workshops was a good end of year activity to bring the group together.

And lastly, along with the Keiskamma Art Project, a small group went to visit a local Eco-community called Khuladhamma to do a performanace. They did a performance roda and ran a short workshop. The community are keen to get capoeira going so it is hoped more workshops an be arranged in the future which the hamburg group can run.

“ I am very sad to be leaving the group here, I really enjoyed the opportunity I have had to meet the group and get to know them and their day to day lifes. Training here is hard, to keep motivated every week when there is not often a Mestre or even Professor, but the group do it with energy and play very very good capoeira. I think I have learnt more from them than they learnt fom me! I’m happy to be leaving with some projects, ie. T-shirt making and links with the eco-community on the go as it gives good plans for the new year. I look forward to being able to visit the group again. I hope that people in the uk can see how hard to group are working to increase their indenpendence and if they can give anyhthing to help with setting up their plans, publicity costs and transport it would be such a help. Axe!”

Kat Carpenter, 11.12.2009