In a country where bunny-huggers are assumed to be white softies and dumping litter the way of uncaring blacks, a community theatre initiative is doing its bit to get schoolgoers to think again about environmental issues.
The Trash Truck project was conceptualised some years ago as a performance-art tool to help school children interpret and address environmental problems. Organised by Sibikwa, a Gauteng-based community theatre and arts group established by Smal Ndaba in the 1980s, the project last year involved 24 Gauteng schools. The end product for each school was a 15-minute play that had to be backed up with a strong environmental management plan to map out how each school would address environmental problems.
‘We worked with a group of about 15 children at each school and with one of the educators. The ideas the children came up with spoke of their own experiences and ideas of what the environment meant to them. We had four follow-up meetings with each school and a workshop for the educators,†says Thandi O’Hagan, project coordinator of Sibikwa Trash Truck.
During the workshops, the children’s ideas were sparked by game-playing and other participatory exercises. Some of the themes the children touched on included the need for good hygiene, sanitation and water saving. They also interpreted problems of pollution and bad waste management.
O’Hagan adds that it is important to contextualise problems such as illegal dumping, waste generation and recycling and to give a global picture of issues like pollution and energy.
‘Educators are struggling to integrate the environment with the outcomes of the curriculum but I think that something like the Trash Truck project goes a long way to showing educators how to use the resources they have and how to make the natural science subjects come alive,†says O’Hagan.
One of the judges of the schools’ efforts, manager of the Mamelodi Environmental Centre Irvin Molope, said at the awards ceremony in October 2003 that the performances showed flair and were well presented.
Where they needed work though, he said, was in integrating the performances with more solid implementation strategies to ensure the sustainability of environmental efforts.
Taking the award for overall winner was Rolihlahla Primary School, with Ikusasa High School winning in the high schools category. A number of other schools were also acknowledged for their work.
Prizes included much-needed equipment such as computers and fax machines, and Sibikwa also arranged eco-tours to places of environmental interest such as the Rand Water Board and the Johannesburg Zoo.
‘With these prizes we hope that children will see how broad the scope of environmentalism can be and also become involved in environmental projects run by other organisations,†says O’Hagan.
Another positive contribution of the play festival is that it helps to get educators from neighbouring schools to work together and to start sharing problem-solving ideas.
‘It was really great to see the educators linking up and being inspired to bring environmentalism into their classrooms,†says O’Hagan.
The Trash Truck Schools Play Festival is an annual event. While it currently involves only Gauteng schools there are plans to jump-start a similar festival in Mpumalanga.