Weekend Workshop: Theatre

From September 9-10, 2017 The Hub had fun hosting Jessica Lejowa for a weekend workshop on theatre. Jessica is a theatre practitioner, educator, researcher and facilitator with experience at University of the Witwatersrand, Grahamstown Arts Festival and more.

The workshops started with participants learning an approach to devising theatre step by step, and an introduction to the use of dramatic techniques and devices. The day kicked off with introductions, sharing of house rules, high energy ice breakers and the discussion of a topic or theme as a starting point for creating theatre. By the end of the day participants had devised short comedy scenes from their theme of taboo topics through guided improvisation, and started their actor’s journals.

On day two, participants used what they had learned the day before to put together short performances around the topics they had chosen as taboo. They tackled a range of difficult and sensitive topics, and their performances were followed by group feedback discussions. The skills the participants learned can be useful in numerous fields in addition to theatre: from film making to photography and professional settings such as meetings and pitches.

Big thanks to Jessica for spending the weekend with us! We hope to have her back soon. Many thanks also to Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and Anthony Maeder for their support of our weekend workshops, and as always to Cafe Mojo for keeping us well fed throughout the weekend!

Digital Marketing with Bokang Sibolla

On September 2, 2017, The Hub held Digital Marketing workshop, led by Bokang Sibolla, a digital marketer based in Johannesburg. He works for a top international advertising group and has done digital skills training for Google, British Council, University of the Witwatersrand and more. It was a great opportunity for our members to gain an understanding of the foundations of the digital marketing landscape from an industry professional. Some of the topics covered include:

– Introduction to digital marketing
– Growth of digital in Africa
– Revolution of advertising
– Traditional vs online advertising
– Opportunities in digital marketing

Many thanks to Bokang for reaching out to The Hub to share his knowledge with our members!

Photos from the day:

WordPower Magazine

We’ve just published a magazine! WordPower 2017 features short stories and poems by 12 young writers from Morija! The magazine will be on sale at The Nala Project: Community Market for M20 a copy. The magazine is also available for purchase at The Hub in Morija.

All proceeds will go to buying more books for The Hub’s library and continuing our efforts to promote a love of reading and writing amongst our members.

We would like to thank The Selibeng sa Thuto Trust for funding the printing of this magazine and for making it possible for our volunteers to travel to The Nala Project: Community Market.

MeriHyokyPhoto2017-0824-1167

 

Hub volunteers at Africa Code Week training

From July 27 – 28, 2017 Hub volunteers Mats’eliso Moruthane and Ts’episo Mahooe were part of a group of more than 100 people who took part in Training of Trainers for Africa Code Week in Lesotho.

We  are excited to be a part of this movement to empower future generations with the coding tools and skills they need to thrive in the 21st century workforce, and become key actors of Africa’s economic development.

Through the initiative, 426,758 young Africans were introduced to coding in 2016. This year Africa Code Week will take place from October 18-25, join us at The Hub!

Africa Code Week is supported by UNESCO and Gem Institute. If you have any questions regarding Africa Code Week, feel free to contact us at The Hub.

Read what Ts’episo had to say about her experience at the training:

“It was really great being part of the training. Since we are increasingly living in a world of technology, it is good to have our young generation and school children involved in coding from a young age.

I’m looking forward to sharing my knowledge with others and help make Lesotho a country of programmers and coders. If Basotho can get used to coding and programming and fall in love with it, no doubt in the coming years Marc Zuckerberg Junior will be coming from Lesotho. It could help the economy of our country grow, because we won’t be using apps from other people, or play games invented by other people, but we will be having our own.”

 

 

Round table discussion on gender with YALI

On Thursday July 27 2017, Hub volunteer Ts’episo Mahooe and Hub member Tsebo Makakole took part in a round table discussion on gender with Young African Leaders Initiative Network at The American Corner (State Library) in Maseru. This “opening up” session featured first hand experiences of men opening up and communicating their dilemmas, anxieties, vulnerabilities and other issues related to masculinity.

Read what they had to say about their experience:

“It was a mind opening discussion. I became aware during the discussion of things that are part of my day to day life, that are ones leading to gender based violence. Most men hate it when they are insulted by their “mothers” but they do not feel bad insulting their wives, which makes it hard to understand why it’s happening.

It is important that women fight for their rights and to reach equality, but men should not be left out of the discussion. If men understand what women are fighting for, they are less likely to be against it.

The issue of gender equality should be first taught at home, because that is where children learn about most of the things they know, and then from home to schools.”

Big thanks to Selibeng sa Thuto Trust for supporting the travel to learning opportunities such as this one.

GenderRoundTable