06 Dec 2016

In an effort to kick start the festive season, the Ecoexist in collaboration with Thari-E-Ntsho Storytellers, and the Mophato Dance Theatre from Gaborone will host a theatre production show dubbed Life with Elephants on December 10.

The show would feature music dance, stories and art from the Eastern Okavango Panhandle.

It would be held at the founder and the director of Thari-E-Ntsho, Bontekanye Botumile' farm and she would expected to help the artists develop a story line to bring their pieces together into one cohesive medley.

The medley of song, dance, drama, and poetry would offer different glimpses of the life people and elephants share in the Panhandle.

According to a press release from the organisers of the event, Life with elephants, is a stage production featuring poets, dancers, musicians, and performers from the Bayei, Hambukushu, and Basarwa traditions of the Panhandle, joining the stage with members of the Mophato Dance Theatre of Gaborone, and sharing their experiences and impressions of elephants and living with elephants.

The aim of event is to amplify voices of people in the Panhandle and build national and regional empathy and understanding of human-elephant conflict and local experiences of people who live surrounded by elephants.

The event would also build recognition and branding of the Eastern Okavango Panhandle as a place where people share space with elephants. Ultimately, the Ecoexist team seeks to build an “elephant economy”, one that generates benefits for people, with products like community-based tourism and “elephant aware” crafts and foods.

In preparation for the event, 40 artists from the Panhandle would travel to Maun for a week of camping, sharing meals, and working closely with the Ecoexist team to weave their artistry together into a story about life with elephants.

The press release further states that the event would feature an art exhibition of some of the winning pieces from Panhandle painters and sketch artists.

Many of the works will be available for purchase, with proceeds returning directly to the artists. ENDS