Feel the heat of the camp fire! The learners were encouraged to set their imaginations free.

Clowns Without Borders South Africa (CWBSA), an artist-led humanitarian organisation, arrived last week to facilitate their project ‘Our Story, Your Story’ (Osys) in primary schools and local libraries in George and surrounding areas. The project aims to increase community cohesion, cultural diversity, and personal empowerment by offering participants a platform to share their stories. This year, in partnership with The Seven Passes Initiative, Osys ventured outside of Cape Town to Touwsranten to implement a series of storytelling workshops. These workshops were presented by four young facilitators from The Seven Passes Initiative, trained in storytelling and facilitation. They captivated the school children with songs, lots of laughs and stories around an imaginary fireplace ‘created’ by the class.Inspired by the personal stories of the facilitators, and with a little help from some magical ‘story dust’, the young learners related their own stories. Teachers expressed their surprise at seeing shy children sharing their life experiences with increased self-esteem and confidence. The Osys project trained 100 local educators to integrate creative arts education into the school curriculum. Evans Scheepers, principal at Heidedal Primary, strongly recommended that all schools implement storytelling activities because of the many benefits he had seen.

The children were captivated by the vibrant facilitators.