Anyway, the workshops were scheduled from Thursday to the following Monday. We arrived in Lesotho late in the afternoon and already encountered some problems.
The lady we drove with and I were supposed to stay at one of the houses on top of the hill, and the facilitator would take the house right next to ours. However, for some weird reason, our allocated house’s door mysteriously broke and it wasn’t safe for us to stay there anymore. The plan was then for us to stay down the hill, close to the workshop venue. The facilitator asked that we rather swap with him for he wouldn’t be able to walk up and down the hill due to health issues.
We all went down the hill and got to meet some of the participants, and had a short session with them. I then asked the host if it wasn’t possible for us to rather stay with the participants, who were also allocated a bigger room next to the venue. I never like to be treated as a VIP anyway; I prefer being next to the artists and having crazy conversations throughout the night.
The host seemed really uncomfortable with this setup but I assured her that it was for the best. We would use the time together to recap and work on monologues. She eventually agreed and I was sooo excited. We got to the participants’ room(s), it was a dormitory, and I immediately chose the bunk bed at the top.
I put my bags on my bed and saw some ant crawling and I freaked out. Anything that crawls makes my skin crawl too.
“What is this weird ant?” I asked
‘Oh my goodness it’s a bed bug. Look there’s more” one lady blurted out.
I thought she was joking, she said that while she was laughing so hard. Unfortunately it wasn’t a joke. She lifted the mattresses of the bunk beds and I was itching just looking at it. I had never seen so many bed bugs in my life.
I looked at the next room and realized there were new single beds in it.
“I’ve changed my mind, I am taking that bed in the middle” I said
“No you cannot, someone already chose that one,” one participant replied.
I took a breath and realized that if I were to use my position to bully them into getting what I wanted; it had to be at that exact moment.
“Uhm well, I am the facilitator and you are the participant. If you want me to transfer my skills to you, you will make sure that I get what I want and what I want is that bed” I added.
They looked at me and laughed.
“Okay fine, you might as well,” they said
We then sat together, reflected on the day and had a lot of fun getting to know each other. We laughed until the early hours of the morning. It was such an incredible night and we all looked forward to the next day. Little did we know the spiritual trauma that we would encounter. So much trauma that I never want to go to any part of Lesotho ever again. So many traumas, that seeing mountains take me back to those horrific nights.
We were in a place called Pitseng, a Sesotho name translated “Inside the pot”. The name was inspired by the landscape. The place is down the hill and around it are the beautiful mountains. Together, they resemble the structure of a pot.
“Ijoh, it is at the mountains where kaak spiritual and witchcraft activities happen. What were you expecting?” my neighbor asked as I spoke out and relived the moments.
Damn I should have stayed up the hill. I should have chosen a different bed. Something about the wardrobe in my room gave us chills. We all had the question “What happened in here”? Little did we know that the wardrobe would be the least of our worries.
Do you believe in spirits?
………………………..To be Continued
Jane Mpholo is a multi-award winning theatre Practitioner and an Audience Development Specialist at the Performing Arts Centre of the Free State (PACOFS) . She has been active on both the national and international platforms with collaborations with practitioners from the Netherlands, USA and Australia, to name a few. Jane is a senior judge for the World Monologue Games and World Monologue Film Festival. Her highlights as a writer include being chosen as one of the 5 top playwrights for the NATi Yong Sterre program for her script "The Dawn", making it to the top 20 playwrights list for the African Women Playwrights Festival of Plays for her script "The Naked Truth" (which she later turned into a short film) and having her script "Fragmented" on the program for Teksmark 2022. Her autobiographical show "Psalm 69" has proved to be timeless and has showcased on both the national and international platforms such as the Global leadership summit 2018. Jane is a panel member for the National Arts Council and is a former FS Provincial Liaison for the BASA Debut Program. She is a recent graduate for the BASA Cultural Producers Program, an initiative between British Council; BASA, Common Purpose and the Manchester International Festival. Her short film "Cleanse" which looks at the life of a woman under oppression as a domestic worker has won multiple international awards and aired on DSTV pop up channel 150 (Woordfees TV 2022). Jane is also one of the contributors for the Stemme/Voices monologues 2022, an initiative by the Suidoosterfees.
Jane practices as a professional actor (has over 40 theatrical shows under her belt), playwright, producer, dramaturge, facilitator, arts coach , speaker and mentor. She is passionate about inclusive education and creating a safe space for audiences to engage in discussions pertaining to the social ills of the world. She is a true advocate for human rights.
Amongst the many awards and recognitions....she is a three times Kyknet Fiesta Nominated artist and made it to the lists "Mail and Guardian Women Changing South Africa" and the "Sunday World Unsung Heroes 2022".
