10 Jul 2024

Donald Molosi, a Botswana international actor says he honoured Batswana World War veterans through the audio play, Motherland, recently launched in London, UK.

Motherland, an audio play written by Ery Nzaramba of Rwanda commemorates lives of African soldiers who fought in the world wars, and Molosi co-stars alongside Nzaramba on the play.

An audio play is a theatre play performed, recorded and now exhibited in national archives as audio, and people visiting the museums would listen to the play on National Archives as opposed to watching it.

In an interview with Molosi on what the play means to him, he said the project helped him put to use his research on Batswana who went abroad to help in the world wars. 

“I am deeply grateful for their sacrifices. 

I was delighted to do work honouring my forebears, and I honour their strength and their families who were affected by the wars,” Molosi said.

He said Botswana was proud of the work they did on behalf of the protectorate, and added that Africa was also proud of all Africans who did work in world wars.

Produced by Applied Stories, a UK production company owned by Fin Kennedy, the play will be taken to academic conferences around the world for academics to interact with it. 

“This is a piece of history that we need; these African world war veteran’s stories should be taught extensively in African curricula,” Molosi said.

Motherland will also be hosted at UK National Archives along-side the artefacts. 

It is also available for free on Sound Cloud. Ends