It is easy to dismiss Thoko, who is in primary school at Jaracara in Blantyre, as an ordinary 11-year-old girl.<\/p>\n
It is only when you expose her to a local film, and ask her about her impressions of it, that you learn how sophisticated she is.<\/p>\n
\u201cLearners need to be of good behaviour, if they have to excel in their education. Again, school-going girls should not entertain thoughts of falling pregnant while pursuing their educational goals. They can do this by not falling pregnant in the first place. These are some of the things I have learned from the film, especially from \u2018B\u2019ella\u2019, who is exemplary in the film,\u201d Thoko says.<\/p>\n
It is Wednesday afternoon in Blantyre and the Jacaranda Hall, which is full, bursts into noise as other students clap hands.<\/p>\n
This was the case when learners in primary and secondary school at Jacaranda watched the screening of \u2018B\u2019ella, a film written by Tawonga Taddji Nkhonjera. It was produced by Based on Need-driven Grassroots Ownership (boNGO) organisation and shot by Blantyre-based Dikamawoko Arts Organisation.<\/p>\n
It is ironic that, after its actual premiere in April 2014, it had been screened at eight international film festivals by 2016, and, yet, Malawian learners were yet to sample it and see how they could apply lessons learned from it in their education endeavours.<\/p>\n
\u2018B\u2019ella\u2019 is more educational than entertaining, taking learners through the experiences of the protagonist, a 17-year old girl called \u2018B\u2019ella\u2019, and how she navigates the challenges of peer pressure, sexual advances from her mathematics teacher and social ostracisation to achieve her goals in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe film depicts her path to self-determination and showcases her family values, friendships and first love. \u2018B\u2019ella\u2019 aims to champion girl empowerment by promoting self-assertiveness amongst girls and [it] has a predominantly female driven cast,\u201d says boNGO Director, Tereza Mirovicova.<\/p>\n
Initially, the film, which was touted as an awareness-raising film, was supposed to be introduced to learners in Malawian secondary schools in 2015, under the \u2018B\u2019ella in Malawi Schools Project\u2019.<\/p>\n
This, too, is ironic because screening in other countries started way back.<\/p>\n
For example, screening of \u2018B\u2019ella\u2019, under the \u2018B\u2019ella in European Schools Project\u2019, started in Scotland after the film\u2019s participation in the Africa in Motion Film Festival over a year ago.<\/p>\n
Apart from promoting awareness-raising films, boNGO implements youth and adult education programmes, among them \u2018The Happy Classrooms\u2019 project, which has facilitated the painting of over 1,000 classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u2018B\u2019ella\u2019 director, Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera, expresses satisfaction with students\u2019 feedback, saying the film is helping students understand that challenges are part of school life.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone faces challenges in the pursuit of their educational goals. The idea should be that what we lack should not pull us back but, rather, act as a source of inspiration to us. If we envy our classmates\u2019 shoes, we should not feel distracted from our education goals but should work hard so that we may have our own shoes.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of us feel less privileged when we see others eating bread at tea break. But such is life. Let us work hard in school. It is through hard work that you may be able to attain your goals,\u201d Nkhonjera tells the Jacaranda learners.<\/p>\n
Nkhonjera adds that, so far, the film has been screened in eight schools in Blantyre Rural and Urban. He says the goal is to reach out to 100 schools to buttress the message that, with determination, the girl-child can succeed against all odds.<\/p>\n
Chimwemwe Mkwezalamba, who plays the character of the antagonist Kalilole in \u2018B\u2019ella\u2019 was handy to answer questions from the learners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you mean in the film?\u201d One primary school learner asks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause my director [Nkhonjera] told me to be mean!\u201d says Mkwezalamba. \u201cOtherwise, I am not mean in life. Actually, I found that role [of antagonist] challenging. In the end, I had to accept and I ended up learning a lot of things from the character of Kalilole\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jacaranda founder, Marie Da Silva, says \u2018B\u2019ella\u2019 can help students break barriers and attain their goals in education.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo begin with, not many films are produced by Malawians. The message [in such films] cannot be related to Malawians. But this film is different and goes a long way in encouraging those who are in school to work hard and achieve their goals,\u201d says Da Silva.<\/p>\n
Then, turning to the primary learners and secondary students, Da Silva says: \u201cYou can do anything that your heart desires\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jacaranda School has, itself, been involved in efforts aimed to promote education. It has, among other things, provided lamps to students at the institution in a bid to, according to Da Silva, help resource-constrained children study even at night.<\/p>\n
Students also learn other life-saving skills. For example, the partnership between Jacaranda School for Orphans and a Kenyan non-state actor, Sustainable Development for All-Kenya (SDFA-Kenya), helped students learn the skills of turning kerosene lamps into solar powered-lamps.<\/p>\n
In so doing, Malawi became one of the few countries in Africa to benefit from the iniative.<\/p>\n
SDFA-Kenya projects coordinator, Amos Burudi Wemanga, indicates that, apart from Malawi, Uganda is another country that has benefitted from the initiative whose aim is to prop up the standard of living among Africa\u2019s vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem in Africa is that most people think that formal employment is the only thing that matters in life. But Africa has more than enough resources,\u201d Wemanga says.<\/p>\n
Surely, there is more to education than ABC!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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