As carriers of feelings, actions, symphony and mostly the socio-cultural complexities, words drove and navigated the process as the writers and publishers from Time of the Writer International Festival program visited Caversham yesterday, namely; Breyten Breytenbach, Paul Brickhill, Henry Chakava, Mbulelo Mzamane, Shailja Patel and Irene Staunton.  

Relations and spiritual connections were cultivated and established as the group drank tea on the veranda before experiencing the Ulwazi CreACTive Centre at Jabula Combined School.  Ulwazi, as an echo of Caversham’s ethos, was born through Gabisile Nkosi’s generous spirit in 2002 and has since been expanding as a cocoon of self-transformation and affirmation. 

Having glimpsed the varied forms of expression exhibited by the Ulwazi kids, the group headed back to Caversham. A rich dialogue was sparked as Malcolm gave a tour around the studio, evoking individual viewpoints on the broad extent and role of writers as society’s antennae and documenters of heritage.This process stretched into lunchtime, after which Shailja Patel shared a poem entitled  For the Woman of Project Pride. Shailja composed this poem as a tribute to the women for whom she facilitated a series of Creative Arts Workshops at Project Pride in West Oakland,USA. Through her poignant world of passionate verbal imagery, she rapturously transported the audience to a state of hyper-alertness, spreading the inclusive spirit of sharing in order to inspire, evoke, captivate and awaken the collective essential need to probe into and acknowledge individual and communal existence in order to take ownership and cultivate affirmative attitude in the self. Mbulelo Mzamane reciprocated with a reading from the cream of his creative crop, which was an avowing highlight, specifically provoked by his constant dislocation in terms of space and place , the ‘home away from home’ fate brought by his profession.

Both Mzamane and Patel’s performance sealed this rich experience which Breyten Breytenbach described as “re-energizing and refreshing”.      

Witty Nyide