KING George VI School scooped five prizes followed by Emerald Hill School for the Deaf and Deaf Zimbabwe Trust who bagged three prizes apiece during the ZWAKALA Africa 2016 selection held during the second edition of the National Deaf Arts Festival at Emerald Hill recently.
BY TINASHE MUCHURI
The festival was held under the theme: Celebrating Deaf Culture in Zimbabwe.
Kholowethu Mhlanga (story telling), Tafadzwa Madzorera and Sindile Mguni (public speaking) from King George VI all walked away with prizes, while their school scooped two drama awards.
Other winners in different categories, were Thanda Matipedza, Tamuka Dangerembizi, Takudzwa Marimo (all from Deaf Zimbabwe Trust) and Emerald Hill’s Nyasha Gova, Kimberly Kausiwo and Liana Dzivakwi.
They walked away with monetary prizes ranging from $20 to $100 and will constitute Team Zimbabwe at ZWAKALA Africa 2016 to be held in South Africa in October.
The selection process was adjudicated by Albert Nyathi, Lincolin Matongo, Catherine Sibanda and Simbarashe Moyo.
“We have observed that you are good at clearly defining things. Drama did not need too much explanation from narrators. A little bit of narration was going to be okay,” Nyathi said.
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Sibanda said the contest had proved that the deaf community in schools was taking arts seriously.
“Though some schools have a long way to go, the contest proved that their teachers take the arts seriously,” she said.
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe Harare provincial arts manager, William Ndinde, described the festival as an eye-opener.
“I was touched by the themes they were propounding here ranging from the way hearing people perceive them to challenges they face at service providing organisations such as hospitals, churches and police stations where service providers are not conversant with sign language,” he said.
Deaf Zimbabwe Trust media co-ordinator, Agnes Chindimba, said she was happy there was an increase in participants as compared to last year.
Last year Team Zimbabwe representatives at ZWAKALA Africa 2015 in which seven countries were competing brought home three prizes in Storytelling, My Talent and Drama.
