Workshop Reports

MALAWI - AUTUMN 2023

Report for Anno’s Africa Malawi programme 2023. 

We went to Malawi in September with our new project for 2023 which was to set up a circus school  in Mzuzu and eventually a Circus Troupe who can tour the country and allow Anno’s Africa Malawi to become a self-sufficient entity, not relying on financial support from the Mother Ship in the U.K. There is no tradition of Circus in Malawi  and certainly no aerial arts and the only “circus skills” practiced are acrobatics so this seems like a viable proposal. 

We brought  out two highly talented professional aerial performers, Claire Crook and Daisy Williams, who volunteered to teach four young Malawian students to fly!  The aim was for the trainees to go on to become performers themselves and also teach the art to our older children at Chipatula school who are showing athletic promise. It was a very challenging training and students needed to be dedicated to keeping fit and improving their core strength, so after we left we arranged  for them to have  once a week training sessions and  to hold zoom classes with Claire and Daisy whenever  possible. 

As well as  Daisy and Claire we had Kate Jones who runs Circus Cimera in North Wales with us who supervised the  project and Alex  Haycock who teaches with the Cimera circus school in Wales. They held classes in stilt walking, slack wire, various juggling  skills and  Kate also taught costume design to art teacher Bilton Kayange. We  arranged with Hassan Wasili to continue these new circus skills after Cimera left – alongside his existing acrobatic classes.  

Trustee Lia Craig accompanied the UK team, bringing new supplies of art materials for the nest year’s projects. She worked alongside Bilton on  mask making, whilst also planning the next term’s art projects which include children creating art works that will be sent to the UK to be framed and exhibited at the next fund raiser to pay for new art materials for Malawi.  

Emmanuel Ngwira, a well established performer here in Malawi, who teaches traditional dance and singing working with the kids, recording some Malawian songs to for the sound track to the documentary Andrew Birkin (visiting co-founder of Anno’s Africa)  was making about the new circus venture and the ongoing Arts programmes. Andrew has just finished editing the footage and will be sending it to the trustees and also uploading extracts onto you tube with links on our website. 

We left Mzuzu after holding an open Day at Macondo camp where the aerialists  and their students demonstrated their skills on equipment rigged in the trees in the garden. A group of the circus children had a glorious time showing what they had learnt, and two of the team welcomed guests on their super tall stilts, wearing the spectacular costumes that had been made by Kate and Bilton.   

We invited three private fee paying schools in the area  to this event and all seem  to be very keen to  engage with Anno’s Africa Malawi and would like our trainers to hold extra-curricular lessons with some of their fee paying students.  The premise for this project is that the more well off children in Mzuzu will be directly supporting their poorer cousins in Chipatula and Kanthete by helping to fund their programmes.  This will be a rewarding  social interaction for all of them we are sure and a system that Anno’s Africa in Kenya has been encouraging for the last fourteen years, to great effect. 

Although circus  took precedence for this special project, we are  now continuing our ongoing general  programmes in Art, Dance, Drama, Music and Circus skills at two schools in Mzuzi:  Chipatula Primary and Kanthete Primary which is just outside the city.    

It  was altogether a very productive three weeks and we are very grateful to Cimera Circus for being part of this venture – especially as they all came as volunteers and paid their own air fares!

MALAWI - AUTUMN 2022

Anno’s Africa Trustee Lia Craig and programme manager Bee Gilbert visited Malawi in the autumn of 2022 to check on how the programme there was running as we have not been able to visit since 2019.  Thanks to the generosity of the Blond Trust, the team have been able to keep going with weekly classes it three schools with basic classes each week during the term as well as holiday programmes but we wanted to give them a morale boost and come up with some new ideas..

We were there for ten days and in spite of the huge problems of the rise in costs of living - and the fact we couldn't feed the hungry children as well as we would have wished, the visit was very rewarding . 

We managed to run extra classes in all the arts and to base all our programmes on climate change and suggest how the children can help develop environmental projects for themselves to help their communities get on top of the local problems of plastic waste and de-forestation. The art classes came up with some beautiful masks and cut-outs representing the animals and plants that need protection and the composer Stephen Warbeck created a song especially for Anno’s Africa, based on the need for tree planting.

The performance groups learnt the song in English for the end of term open day performance.  This song is also being recorded by our choir in Kenya as the theme is, of course, universal – to plant more trees!  We will be posting the song on YouTube shortly.

“Trees are growing now, where plastic rubbish blew”….

Whilst we were in Mzuzu we concluded that, given the current financial crisis, it was time to create some kind of in country “self-financing” , so we decided to set up an Anno’s Africa Malawi  circus school for fee-paying children – and adults too if they were interested.

Our generous hosts at Macondo camp, Luca and Cecilia, lent us their garden as a venue to hold an open day exhibition where parent could sign up for their children – and themselves.   Cecilia designed a beautiful poster, and the event was held on December 22nd.

There was good take up for places so as soon as a space to hold the classes is confirmed they will run once a week. We have supplied all the basic equipment – with a slack wire, aerial silks and a hoop as well as various size unicycles, juggling materials, ropes and crash mats for the acrobatics.   With luck the circus school will be up and running by the end of January and will be good publicity for the charity generally, as there is no circus yet in the north so perhaps this project can develop as a programme and we can ultimately set up a professional Circus Troupe to tour the country. 

Altogether it was a very joyful experience for us and we have left some very happy children - and a revitalized team full of enthusiasm about becoming more self-sufficient financially and thus being able to develop more programmes themselves and hopefully keep going under their own steam as much as possible.

KENYA - AUTUMN 2022

After Malawi, Bee went on to Kenya to check on the progress of the covid-postponed musical and meet our wonderful new  music teacher, Brian O Kepher.  We decided we could probably have the show ready in time for the opening of the new Art Centre in June . The various teachers are working closely with Kepher and drama teacher Kades and  are all committed to creating something unique and fun – “Bugsy Malone  meets West Side Story “ !

I joined Kepher’s regular music class just before leaving and was completely bowled over by what he had achieved with the kids in his  choir after only four proper lessons. They are mostly new children this school year as many have moved on to secondary education but some of the older children do return for the holiday programmes and will be recording  Stephen Warbeck’s environmental song with the younger kids.  

We bought Kepher a full size keyboard to help in his classed and he is also teaching recorder and how to read music to a number of children who will be part of our planned classical orchestra. Once the centre is open we can start this project in earnest with professional musicians holding zoom master classes  as well as visiting  Kibera in person.  More about this once the centre has opened….

The ballet group are also new students – with 45 young girls and many more waiting to join.   There are also classes for the older girls, some of whom help out with the younger girls’ lessons as well and most of our secondary school girls come back in the holidays.  We do have to try and encourage some more boys to start ballet – especially as we have the talented Melvin, a male teacher, as a role model for them.  The general enthusiasm for his class is contagious and we are hoping some of the circus boys might want to learn ballet also.

Circus, drama, and art are all going well and the contemporary dance class will be learning the tango for the musical as well as hip hop and maybe some tap.

Once the building of the centre starts in a couple of weeks and we can no longer use the space, the classes will continue at KAG school – thanks to the generous support of the head teacher Violet. 

The overall atmosphere in Kibera was very exciting with the imminent building of the Arts Centre and some extra classes being run by One Fine Day for school leavers, funded by the German government through GIZ.  Many of our Anno’s Africa alumni have been able to participate in this project which has given them potential work opportunities and a lot of confidence in their capabilities.

The funding of the classes over the last three years after the Covid disaster has been very tough and it is only because of the help from our French Partners, Anno’s Arts, that we have been able to keep them going.  But with new funding plans in the offing we are hopeful we can carry on for the foreseeable future – and when the Art Centre is complete we will be able to expand to include full holiday programmes and also invite more young adults to join as well as our regular students.

Malawi arts programme August/September 2019

Bee’s  Report - General  

Our Malawian programme began on August 26th at Kalambwe School in Nkhata Bay in Northern Malawi.

The team consisted of Bee, Alice King (artist and designer from Knee High Theatre,) and Kate Jones (founder and director of Circus Cimera from North Wales.) The following week they were joined by Lia Craig (fabric designer) and Calum Wragg-Smith and Alice Palmer from the As  If comedy collective.  The Malawian team was made up of James Mhango who runs the programme for Anno’s Africa and headed the drama class, Emmanuel and Chimemewe, music,  Bilton and Thompson, Art and Hassan, circus.  For the second and third two weeks Bilton and Thompson alternately joined Lia at the Mayoka lodge for classes in fabric design.  They were joined for these lessons in the afternoon, during the first week, by five young artists from Nkhata Bay, Sam, Beulah, Star, Happiness and Marcus. 

 Classes at Kalambwe started at 9.00 am and ended at 3.00pm. As it was sill the summer holidays and no World Food Programme in the morning (normally they get porridge) so  we fed the children rice, beans and cabbage each day as well as Sobo – a fruit squash drink, at the end of the classes.

For the first 3 days we circulated the children through the 4 disciplines to discern in which areas their particular talents lay, before settling on the final classes. These were, Art, Drama, Music/Dance and Circus.  There were around 40 children in each class for the first few days but these settled down to a final total of around 130 in all by the end of the week.   Primary education is free in Malawi but there are around 1,400 children in the schools with classes of 100 and just one teacher. Some classrooms have desks but the younger children sit on the floor.  Children with learning difficulties such as dyslexia have to struggle through as best they can. A surprising number of kids do pass their grade 8 examinations and most do learn to read and write. The children are supposed to learn English but very few have more than a few words so our Malawian team were vital to translate as well as teach.  But most children speak more than one Malawian language – with Chichewe being the official tongue but Tonga spoken in Nhkata Bay and Tumbuka in the north of the country. The languages are all quite different so it is astounding that that some of our teaching  team speak as many as five languages fluently and are all very proficient in English as that is the language used for examinations and further education.

The two weeks at Kalambwe whizzed by – with the kids in art class creating amazing animal masks and structures under Alice King’s guidance and the Malawian trainers learning interesting new skills. Everything was made from available materials,  using cardboard, split bamboo and homemade glue – i.e. all things that can be accessed or created locally once we left. The magnificent elephant was constructed on a bamboo frame covered in sheets from the market and the chickens were life size puppets with kids draped in sheeting with cardboard beaks and tails made from long grass. The masks for the other animals were all made from cardboard and brown paper tape and then painted.

The story for the show was created by members of the team with input of ideas from all of the children. It had an environmental/eco theme; at the lake this concentrated on water and plastic pollution and later in the inland school we concentrated on a de-forestation theme and the need to preserve water and grow sustainable plants.   

We performed the show on a Saturday around midday at Kalambwe,.  We sent the musicians to the main road with drums to literally “drum up” an audience  and we drew a good crowd, The kids were over the top with pride and excitement and the show ended with a wild  celebratory dance which included some of the kids from audience.The head teacher has set up an Anno’s Africa Art club and the team from Mzuzu will go down once a month to Nkhata Bay to inspire and teach.

The second show in Mkondezi was equally over-subscribed with children on the first days – and as it was a rural village it was very hard to keep the numbers down since it was till holiday time and the news of rice and beans spread like wild fire. Heartbreakingly we had to be fairly brutal and try to confine the feeding programme to our 130 kids but ended up feeding around 150 each day.

The story at this school followed a similar conservation theme – with the sun God once again sending down his 7 daughters to see what was going wrong with the world and encourage awareness about how to save the planet from climate change and the general destruction of natural resources.

The schools went back during our second week at Mkondezi so we had to alter the hours to midday to 4pm.  This meant a chaotic lunch on arrival with teachers trying to extract the Anno’s Africa participants from the general melee of fourteen hundred “learners” as they call the students. 

A tough week here with noise levels and interruption from kids not in the programme peering in through classroom windows and trying to gate-crash the food queues.  It proved a very hot and challenging time for the team but the children – and the teachers -  were wonderfully resilient and by the end of the week a performance was just about ready. However, owing to the spread of the pupil’s homes over several miles and some children walking for over an hour to school, it was decided that we should do the performance on the last Friday and not Saturday as planned. This would have been fine but for a teacher’s husband dying of a stroke on Thursday night so we arrived at 9 am to hold our final rehearsals before the show at 1.00 to find 1400 kids running wild with no teachers in sight as they were all paying their respects at the funeral. Bedlam ruled for three hours as we tried to pull together a final rehearsal. We ended up sending all the kids not in the programme to the performance space where they were joined by loads of curious villagers, so the dress rehearsal had to be performed in front of a vast crowd and was a singularly chaotic event.  However after lunch,  when a lot of the kids had gone home and order was somewhat restored,  the show proper did take place – this time to another huge audience – but mainly parents and members of the community. The audience was once again drummed up by Emmanuel and his team of singers. This mobilization was very exciting – with the crowd arriving in a dusty parade up the main track – shouting and singing and setting the mood of excitement that held throughout the afternoon.  Altogether a  lovely show – with deliriously over the top comedy from some of the drama kids and a brilliant circus team doing cartwheels and  daring acrobatics.  The music was wonderful with appropriate songs carrying the story, composed by Emmanuel and Chimemewe.. The  elephant and other costumes designed by Alice King caused gasps of wonder and the show ended on such a high that  we all danced away from Mkondezi feeling elated and proud – and mightily relieved and happy that it had been such a joyous day after the appalling start in the morning!

The fabric design programme went really well also with Thompson and Bilton creating some beautiful designs for cushion covers, aprons etc. We showed the samples to Luca at Macondo lodge  in Mzuzu and he has already said he is very keen to promote them and to sell their work at his shop in the lodge.  The boys have portfolios with photos of samples of their designs that they can also show to get commissions locally and they will be attending various art fares and showing their work there. Mark Lewis from his Holmfirth Fair Trade shop in Yorkshire who has  contacts in Malawi has already agreed to advise them on how to form a co-operative in the hope they can sell in the U.K.  

The long term plan for Malawi is to create a “Circus/Theatre” company with adult performers who can not only teach the children (who can later join the company) but also begin to tour the country with a conservation based show that will carry the eco  message  throughout the various regions – and maybe eventually to neighbouring countries also

Calum’s report - Drama

My experience working at Anno’s Africa in Malawi

I had one of the greatest and most inspiring months of my life working in partnership with Anno’s Africa in Malawi whilst representing AS IF Comedy. I genuinely didn't stop smiling from the moment I walked into the classroom.

 At both schools I focused on teaching acting and physical comedy.

The children I worked with needed that first bit of encouragement to get going but once they had that confidence and once they saw you mucking around and dropping your guard, they were in their element and loved to play. I enjoyed using comedy for a purpose in both shows. Humour and a serious message are a very powerful tool when trying to change something. The comedy makes the audience listen and laugh and then they absorb it.

 It was also brilliant to have young people taking a platform and educating older members of the community. I think it's rare for young people, regardless of where they’re from, to be leaders and to vocalise problems that their communities are facing. It was beautiful to see the transformation in the level of confidence of the children we worked with. Many were extremely young and by the end of our time with them had the confidence and bravery to stand up in front of their friends and family and say – ‘look, we are facing a problem with the way that were treating the world.’

We had two beautifully talented young clowns in our group called Blessings and Samuel. They both played the character of a wood chopper with the purpose to highlight the issues of deforestation and climate change. They were both natural performers and took to the stage like a duck to water. They relished in the adrenaline and excitement of it all and were completely absorbed in every rehearsal. These natural talents would certainly go unnoticed without Anno’s Africa.

Anno’s is such an important organisation because it enables children for the very first time to be able to express themselves creatively. Whether, singing, dancing, using slapstick comedy, or making giant elephants – it gives them a lasting confidence and the ability to stand up in front of a crowd and act like a fool. I look forward to collaborating again soon.

Alice’s report - Drama

Annos Africa Malawi 2019 was a month like no other I have ever experienced. The seamless camaraderie between the UK and Malawian team along with the energy and enthusiasm of the children made for great success from the get go. I work with children almost daily in the UK, but I have never in my life been greeted with such a determination to learn, develop and communicate as I was in Malawi. 

Both schools we worked within were facing their own obstacles- most commonly involving very limited resources, staggering staff to student ratios and insufficient food provision. The welcoming of our team into both settings was joyful and bound together by a determination to take on new skills- whether that be learning some English, making a puppet, or speaking in-front of an audience for the first time. 

Two weeks in each school passed very quickly, but the clear transformation of some children within that time was staggering. I worked closely with James within the acting class, and those mumbling their names on the first day were speaking clearly and confidently onstage by the time both shows came around. Because of the sizes of classes in Malawi being so vast, it’s very difficult for teachers to teach in a conversational rather didactic way. Our classes were clearly ecstatic to have two teachers to just 30 of them- and the bringing together of games and exercises from James, myself and Calum made for a fantastic month of drama. We auditioned - whether that be for a farmer or a hyena-  in both schools as part of the process, and what struck me most was the support the children had for each other. Even if parts were swapped around due to absence or costume size, I saw very little evidence of competition, only support for each others achievements. The room would erupt with screams of joy and celebration for whoever was selected to stand forward and deliver a line or play the infamous wise tortoise. This was so exciting to be a part of, especially in comparison to UK schools where auditions most often make for imminent fall outs.

Two boys in particular stood out for me at the second school, Mkondezi. They were asked to play wood cutters- contributing to our overall themes of deforestation and environmentalism. We devised a short script with them and watched magic happen almost immediately- they started improvising off what they’d been given. Using physical comedy almost akin to Charlie Chaplin and his piano sketch- the two pushed and pulled piles of wood across the stage with unique comic timing and focus- resulting in the audience roaring with laughter again and again. They had brought in their fathers clothes to ensure they were in perfect costume and could be found warming up just the two of them behind a tree, just as you’d find in any professional theatre. It was incredible to watch them with the whole school in the palm of their hands, and I have no doubt those two boys will go on to great things.

I had little idea what to expect with it being my first experience with Annos Africa. Every aspect of my preconceptions were surpassed, and I am unwaveringly sure that this charity is unique in both the peoples and projects it brings together. Every single person it reached learnt something, laughed, sang, danced, cartwheeled, shared experience, brought something forward to the table and took something away with them. I feel incredibly privileged to have brought my knowledge of drama and comedy to Annos- but couldn’t have done anything with it unless it had been greeted, translated, taken and ran with in the way that it was last month. Thank you to all whom made it possible, I can assure you the Annos family are one of a kind and hope this is just one step in a journey to facilitating an integral creative eduction for those who need it most. 

Lia’s Report - Textile design.

Pilot Fabric Printing Programme August/September 2019

 I had almost three weeks in Malawi working with the Malawian Team’s artists, Bilton and Thompson on a pilot fabric printing programme.  Firstly Bilton and Thompson built the printing tables!  Neither of them are trained carpenters and it was quite a challenge, but they did a wonderful job and made two sturdy tables which they could also use at the planned cooperative in Mzuzu.  After that I worked with them individually so that one of them could always be in school helping with the show. 

 I worked with Thompson first showing him how to mix and use the specialist fabric dyes, looking at samples of work along with books on design and colour ways.  Thompson was just brilliant from the beginning.  He worked methodically and with great skill and confidence.  He instinctively understood pattern and repeat and produced some truly beautiful work. (Thompson is a sign writer and paints advertisements on shopfronts and so is already used to working in this way).

 We invited a group of young artists from the village (Nkhata Bay) to attend.  They came each morning for a week - Happiness, Snow, Marcus, Chris and Buala.  They each printed a bag (which they kept) and I think really enjoyed the process.  Buala, a local seamstress, was particularly keen and we gave her fabric dyes and a selection of lino cuts which she’ll use to decorate her clothes, scarfs etc (apparently her customers really liked the design on her bag).  We did explain that if they wanted to do any more printing they should come to the cooperative in Mzuzu, but as transport is so expensive (no public transport) it’s unlikely they will attend. However Buala plans to try and source the dyes herself from a South African contact.

 I then worked with Bilton who was not so confident at first as it was very different to anything he’s done before, but after a few days he produced some beautiful work.  His work is very fresh, colourful and quite different to Thompson’s, I think they really compliment each other.  

 Soon after I left they set up the printing tables in James’ office in Mzuzu and started work.  They each have a portfolio and samples of their work which they have shown to Luca at  Macondo Lodge in Mzuzu and he has already offered to display their wares and help them sell.  They have also had a meeting with Mark & Lydia Lewis (Lydia is Malawian) who run a Fair Trade shop in Yorkshire.  Mark and Lydia will help them set up a cooperative in order to send fabrics to his shop and sell on line.   Thompson sold two printed aprons at the meeting !  There’s a big Arts Festival near Lilongwe early in November and James has organised space on a stall there so Thompson and Bilton can showcase their work.

 Meanwhile the Blond Trust have awarded another £2,000 to the printing programme which will pay for materials, dyes, transport etc .  The specialist fabric dyes are expensive , but used correctly should last a long time.

 It was an absolute privilege to be involved with this project. Thompson and Bilton are both lovely and so talented, it was a joy to work with them.  I hope they enjoy passing on the skill to school leavers/young artists and that they have fun with it.  However it would also be wonderful if they could make it into a viable business and make some money too! 

Ballet Gala at the Alliance Française Nairobi - JULY 2019

On July 20th seven International Ballet Dancers came to the Alliance Française from as far afield as Canada, Switzerand, Germany and Denmark to perform a spectacular Ballet Gala in support of young Dancers from the Nairobi slums. The venue was generously offered to our CBO - Anno’s One Fine Day - for this once in a lifetime performance! 

It is twelve years since the introduction of Ballet into the Anno’s Africa Arts project by our head of dance and co-director, Anna Nygh.  This innovative Ballet programme has become a flagship for the charity after receiving 18 million views from an article shared by the Guardian on line, along with film clips from CNN and Al Jazeera.   

This publicity provoked a huge amount of interest from all over the world and led to some top European ballet dancers offering to come and teach the children.   In January 2018, an English ballet dancer, Nick Jones and his partner Julia Bergua from Spain, both then dancing with the Ballet de Rhin, came and spent two weeks with the children in KAG and Spurgeons Schools in Kibera. This was an exhilarating and special time both for the children and the dancers and consequently Nick and Julia returned in July 2018 with five other professional dancers to perform at a fund raising Gala in aid of the Arts Programme at the Alliance Française.

In August last year Nick and Julia moved to Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal and this year, during their holiday break they returned... 

We were thrilled when they decided to come back again, this time with the addition of Nic’s older brother also – so this year we had all three talented Jones brothers dancing together, namely Nick, his elder brother Alexander, who is the principal dancer from the Zurich Ballet company (and an ambassador for our associates What Dance Can Do) and Oliver the youngest who dances with the Staatsballet, Oldenburg, Germany.  The three boys and Julia  were also joined this year by Diana Leon from Mexico and James Lyttle from Australia who are also currently dancing with the Montreal company  -- and Ji Min Hong from South Korea, a soloist with the Royal Danish Ballet who is another Ambassador for What Dance Can Do.    All the dancers came at their own expense and gave up their precious holidays to give this amazingly gift to Anno’s Africa and One Fine Day. 

The performance was attended by ambassadors from France, Switzerland and Denmark with representatives also from the German, Australian and the Ukrainian embassies.  The venue was packed to bursting point and the audience delighted in the professional dancers performing solos and pas de deux on the stunning outdoor stage with its backdrop of trees and dramatic metal frame and coloured lights.  The children from the Arts programme opened the show with a Jazz/traditional dance followed by music from the students from Nakuru school which is 3 hours from Nairobi and where we run a programme. These  opening pieces were followed by a series of beautiful dances from the Kibera ballet classes who looked beautiful in the donated costumes that have been flooding in from all over the world,  ever since that first publicity.  

I t was altogether a stunning and joyful night  - and through the sale of “bricks” carrying the names of donors which will be transposed to a wall of the new Arts Centre , we raised enough money to ensure that the Centre being built in the heart of Kibera will have a state-of-the art dance hall  with a fabulous sprung  floor as well as barres and mirrors so that our dancers will have every opportunity to progress to becoming adult  performers and teachers. 

The visiting professional dancers were joined before the show by Yen-Ching from Taiwan who has been part of Akram Khan’s company for 5 years and is another ambassador for What Dance Can Do.  Although not free to perform at the Gala, Yen Ching worked with our children at the KAG Olympic School in Kibera alongside Consulata the head of contemporary and traditional dance,  during a week of inspiring creative dance. She has promised to return next year. 

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