Theatre
Khuluma Afrika!
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To support SACTAP’s awareness raising efforts in South
Africa, IOM commissioned Community Media for Development (CMFD)
to create and tour a community theatre production about human
trafficking for the Mozambican migrant communities in South
Africa. Khuluma Afrika!, was performed in Portuguese and Shangaan
by the Alertos Da Vida youth group.
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With a focus on the trafficking of Mozambican women into
prostitution and domestic servitude, the production also incorporated
a variety of related issues such as irregular migration, women’s
rights, gender and migration and HIV/AIDS, and encouraged
whistleblowers and victims to call IOM’s victim assistance
help line. This unique and dynamic show combined music, drama,
and dance, and provided the audience with an opportunity to
ask questions and engage in discussions. The production was
toured to 20 diverse venues, including mine hostels, clinics
and public parks. IOM developed the theatre production in
order to reach the Mozambican community in South Africa, whom
have little or no access to entertainment and media coverage
in their own languages.
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Khuluma Afrika! tells the story of two Mozambican sisters,
lured to South Africa by false promises of employment and a
better life. One sister finds herself in Johannesburg, where
she is forced into prostitution; the other is trafficked to
one of the country’s mining areas where she is sold to
a mine worker as a “wife”. Separated, desperate
and exploited, the two women seek solace in letters to one another
that express their hardships, hopes and dreams of home. The
main drama is accompanied by comedy skits that talk about life
in the mines, being far from home, and migration.
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Through research conducted in 2003, IOM estimates that over
1,000 women are trafficked into South Africa from Mozambique
annually for sexual exploitation. Many of these women are taken
to the mining regions south of Johannesburg where many migrant
Mozambican mine workers. IOM will follow up the performances
by approaching mining management in South Africa, and encouraging
them to engage in their own counter-trafficking awareness raising
campaigns.
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Clck
here to view the Khuluma Afrika! Digital Story.
Click
here to read the Khuluma Afrika! Project Report Summary.
The Music
Global Fund for Women provided CMFD Productions with a grant which
enabled them to add a music component to the project. Music was developed
to deliver messages about human trafficking, and has been distributed
to radio stations around the country. 15 local artists collaborated
on the project, including guitarist Luis Mhlanga, Bassist, Mlungisi
Gegana and singers Jacqueline Muleya and Edith Mudau.
Click
here to read more and listen to the music.
Media and Internet Coverage of Khuluma Afrika!
Protect
children and woman from the slave trade - Cape Argus, December
8, 2006
Local Youngsters
Raise Awareness About Human Trafficking - Joburg East Express,
December 5, 2006
Selling Out Our Sisters
- Sunday World, November 2006
Sex Slaves Hit
- Sowetan, November 27, 2006
Mozambican
women in SA: "Stop trafficking" - AFROL News,
November 29, 2006
The
Communication Initiative Portal
Mozambican Community Theatre
Combats Human Trafficking - The EYE on Human Trafficking,
Issue 12, 2006
South
African NGOs work to Raise Awareness about AIDS and Human Trafficking
- Vital Voices Portal
