Arts Fest - A humbling experience

Simvuyele Mageza

We arrived in icy Grahamstown on the morning of the 7^th of July for the 40^th Annual Arts Festival, the second biggest of its kind in Africa. It’s been only a week, yet the fun that has been had tells a different story.

 There is a certain level of pride that comes with being here. Not only as part of the media, but also as a South African. There was so much to see, do and learn that you couldn’t help but smile at how far our country has come.

South African "bottle art", handmade by sand and coloured beads

My partner and I saw our first show, Ezekiel Dlamini – The Musical, on the morning of the 9^th of July. It was thrilling beyond compare and surpassed all expectations. Thereafter we saw Divalicious on the same evening. Although I am not much of a fan of the music genre there, the performances were beautiful and I commend them on a job well done.

The next morning we saw Heavy; a stand-up comedy show hosted by Kagiso Mokgadi. I learnt something vital that day: if you don’t want to be attacked by the comedian, never sit near the front.

Even though we were working on assignments throughout the week, we had much time to go browsing the markets and trying the local cuisine. We learnt a lot of skills that we are now able to take back with us. We are better and stronger, not only as journalists but also as South Africans.