At the end of July 2012, Dorothy Ann Gould began working with 18 homeless men and one woman in Hillbrow every Monday from 10 – 12p.m.

 

For 18 years St George’s Anglican Church Parkview, has provided tea, a sandwich and biscuits for the Homeless every Monday, and a hot cooked meal on a Friday. June Jardien kindly welcomed me in to try my hand at skills training in Drama but specifically at uplifting and improving the individuals’ communication  and social skills. I had encountered enough sad people at robots myself to feel their desperation just to be “seen” instead of ignored. I hoped to hear their stories in order to make sense of my own.

 

 

The intention of the class was to let these individuals feel that they had the right to speak, the right to be seen and the right to tell their stories in a city which has been very cruel to them. They sleep on the streets and try to survive the cold winters and a lack of food each and every day. Tshepo, one of our group, was shot and killed outside the Mimosa Hotel where he had finally managed to rent a room.

 

Through voice, breathing, physical and creative writing exercises, an astonishing thing began to occur, and very quickly too, within weeks - the individual’s self - respect, dignity and humanity began to return. Instead of begging at robots they started reciting Shakespeare; they found that Macbeth and Titus were speaking about THEIR pain and that the plays were huge receptacles that could hold all the emotions that they needed to release – the rage, the feelings of abandonment; they began to flex again their intellectual muscle, to debate, have opinions and to become a team that support each other and watch each other’s backs, not only on the streets, but on stage.

 

 

In August 2013, they performed for the first time at The Arts Alive Launch Luncheon. In November 2013, they performed at Space.com at the Johannesburg Theatre and in December, at PopArt, Arts on Main.

 

JAM – Johannesburg Awakening Minds, have now also sold some of their paintings and appeared on short films and as extras on television series.They are passionate, dedicated, charming people and will soon, I hope find sponsorship for a house to rent and share.

 

We are now 14 in number.

 

 

My sincere thanks to Marcus, Unati and Thembinkosi for helping me with the classes and rehearsals.