Ebo Whyte
TheatreMania Africa Festival (TAF) is set to tour Africa through its advocacy campaign titled Africa Rise Against Malaria (#ARAM).
TheatreMania Ambassadors namely Akin Lewis, Norbert Young, Doris Simeon, Owen Gee (Nigeria), Thandekile Grace Maseko, Sibongile Maria Phakathi (South Africa), Zani Michelle Chiumiaa.k.aZaniChalle (Malawi) and Uncle Ebo Whyte (Ghana), will be integral parts of the advocacy campaign as Theatremania hope to combat the malaria scourge with the help of theatre troupes from across Africa in five countries namely Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria from December, 2016 as part of the Build-Up activities for the TAF March, 2017 event.
Theatremania Africa Festival (TAF) gears up to avail pregnant women, children and hospitals Insecticide Treated Mosquito nets(ITM nets) and Mosquito Repellant on her visits to Orphanages, General/Public Hospitals, Ante-Natal Clinics, Primary and Secondary Schools across the five countries she is slated to visit through its Africa Rise Against Malaria #ARAM initiative.
In the words of the CEO & Co-Founder of TAF, Mr. Alayande Stephen T. , he stated that “ ours is not just about entertainment and preserving the cultural heritage via theatre but also, we are interested in the lives of our people. According to the United Nations every two minutes, a child dies from malaria. The Center for Disease Control And Prevention also state that 3.2 billion people live in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 106 countries and territories, putting Africa on the fore-front on that list, so, we at TheatreMania Africa thought to ourselves and said we have to contribute our quota to this effort; hence, we stepped up to tackle Malaria through our advocacy initiative christened Africa Rise Against Malaria (#ARAM) with fusion of drama sketches, dances and skits”
Also, there will be Peace Walk around the city with distribution of fliers/stickers relevant to the campaign while there will also be intermittent short mobile drama skits/sketches and dances to entertain the people. The movement will take the team to different media houses (TV/Radio/Print) after which they will visit the Government Office of the selected countries.
Thandekile Maseko; a TAF Ambassador from South Africa, said; “for too long the African continent has had the noose of malaria around her neck, the scourge has cut so many lives short and for some it never afforded them the opportunity to live their dreams. This battle was never anyone’s to fight but ours, that is why we have decided to help via TAF’s Africa Rise Against Malaria, #ARAM”.
Still speaking about the advocacy, she added that, “often times we are scared to help with the little we have because we think it will not make an impact. We should instead think about that child that we have snatched from the grasp of malaria and as a popular saying goes, ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step’; that is exactly what we have done today in our fight against Malaria”, she concluded.
TAF Malawian Ambassador, Zani Challe; was also of the same mind with what Miss. Maseko said; stating that in Malawi, Malaria claims 6.3% of lives lost every year. She continued by saying, “Malaria accounts for 40% of people hospitalized in Malawi. The use of insecticide-treated nets for malaria prevention is still very low in Malawi thus exposing the majority of the population to the risk of contracting malaria.
The high cost of treating malaria has led to significant deaths especially among the poor communities. For how long would we continue to fold our arms and hear the deafening sounds of wailing mothers mourning their children or the cries of our children because their parents lost the battle to malaria? #ARAM is exactly what we need to sensitize the people as well as help them overcome malaria. We can help Africa Rise Against Malaria (#ARAM) if we all contribute our quota to this fight”, she declared.
Theatremania Africa Festival is a festival organized to give a resounding voice to Africa`s expression in all its forms and meant to echo unity amongst the human race. The festival is an all-encompassing pot-pourri of activities to celebrate Africa`s theatre and cultural values in its entirety.
TheatreMania Africa Festival is an annual gathering meant to celebrate the crème-de-la-crème of stage and on screen African acts, blacks in Diaspora and other stakeholders in the Africa entertainment industry. The Festival in one of the initiatives of TheatreMania Africa Concepts with the support from its South Africa Principal Partners in Content Africa Initiatives PTY Ltd and Planet Image Productions (Producers of Good Morning Africa and Owners of Planet TV- Channels 328-DSTV), Total Recall Media Limited, Eagles House Global Resources, Black Image Theatre Productions.
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