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Rozanne Holland

Rozanne Holland was born in Clanwilliam and was 24 years old at the time of the interview. She has been involved with the Lantern Parade since she was eight years old.

Rozanne Holland is now a facilitator of the Lantern Parade and is a project manager at Comnet. She shares her experiences of the Lantern Parade, what it entails and what it has meant to her and the children of the community.

Rozanne Holland was 24 years old at the time of the interview and attended Cederberg Primêr and Clanwilliam Sekonder. She has been involved in the Lantern Festival for a long time, starting when she was only eight years old. As a child she would follow the big crowd of children walking past her house and so joined the excitement. She was a part of many different workshops. Her participation helped her develop into a facilitator of the Lantern Festival. In 2012 she attended the Magnet Theatre training program for a year and in 2014 she joined the Magnet Theatre drama group and ComNet. The Lantern Festival takes place every year in September. In 2010 a smaller version was launched in Redelinghuys, where there are fewer people. The Redelinghuys festival is also sponsored by the Magnet Theatre and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.

The Lantern Festival means a great deal to Rozanne. It has given her many opportunities, allowed her to meet new people, go new places and learn new skills. The people of the Clanwilliam community are grateful for the Lantern Festival, as it keeps their children out of trouble and teaches them discipline. The skills they learn through the festival also help them in school. The festival has enabled Rozanne to give back to her community. She has become a project manager at ComNet and the Lantern Festival.

The festival entails dance, drama, art and music. |xam stories from the Bleek and Lloyd archive at the UCT library are adapted into these various art forms and performed. The people of Clanwilliam really enjoy it. The majority of the stories are based on animals. Rozanne explains that she never imagined how her body might feel to be that of an animal, and that drama and the arts have shown her that she is free to discover herself and the world. She believes there is much room for expansion. Parents also become involved in the workshops by coming to see what their children are up to and so help out the facilitators. The |xam stories are adapted and performed in a way that resonates with the community. The people interact and respond as the play unfolds and reference it afterwards when disciplining their children, by comparing them to a naughty character, for example. As the parade moves, people fall in. They wait for the parade to start and walk a while before they join, though, because they want to see the children carrying the lanterns from afar and the big, lit structure.

 

I’m Rozanne Holland. I live here in Clanwilliam. I’m 24 years old and I went to school at Sederberg Primary in my primary schoold days and from there I went to – do I look at you? … sorry – from there I went to Clanwilliam Secondary in my senior year, school year. School career. Well, the Lantern Festival, or actually, as it is known by everyone, it is now called the Lantern Festival but it is actually the Clanwilliam Arts Project. It started about, I may be wrong, but about 16 years ago, and we’re still carrying on. Well, I, I was only eight years old when I started in the project and I think I just followed everyone that came past my house, because they all came past my house to get to the place where the workshops were being held and I just followed them there. And then I saw, okay, it’s quite a nice thing that is happening here, because they had dance and drama workshops, and they did art there.

And then I, ever since I was eight years old, oh, I can’t remember how many years ago it was, but I started with them them. And over the years I grew with the project until I later on started to become a facilitator. But in 2012 I was at Magnet Theatre, I was in their training programme. I only did a year with them. The next year I came back home and thereafter, in 2014, I joined the drama group that Magnet had founded in 2007. So we’re ten years old this year and we’re still going strong.

So I came back and worked with ComNet and just – sorry, the Lantern Festival happens every year in September, so we’re busy at ComNet with other things right through the year, but the Lantern Festival is in September. And we started, I think in 2010, to work in Redelinghuys, also on a Lantern Festival but on a smaller scale because the community is obviously smaller. So, from that time we’ve also been busy in Redelinghuys with a Lantern Festival that was sponsored by Magnet Theatre and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.

Well then, this year, what I can say about the Lantern Festival, what I can say is that it meant a lot for me, actually, because through the Lantern Festival I had the opportunity in 2012 to join the Magnet Theatre training programme, and then I could meet other people and I could go to other places and tell people in other places about the Lantern Festival and the wonderful work that they’re doing in the community. And I mean, the community is very grateful for what people are doing here in Clanwilliam with the Lantern Festival, and with the children, because in this way they’re also keeping the children out of trouble and it also helps them to, to progress in school, because we often do the workshops but in the workshops we also do – how can I put it, the… what do you call it? … the .. what is it?

Okay, you can come back to that later.

Okay. Yes, but… It helps the children quite a lot with discipline, that is what I wanted to say, discipline. Over the years I could see that it has actually made quite a difference in school, because when I get to schools and they’re a bit unruly and they see me, they will always behave and say, “Afternoon, Miss” or “Afternoon, Zanne”. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but it’s there. And yes, like I say, it has benefitted me a lot, the Lantern Festival also benefits me a lot because I could come back to the community and plough back what I had learnt at Magnet, and it has also taught me much about how to organise things because since we – sorry – went back to Redelinghuys in 2014, me and Roland Africa, who was working for Magnet at the time, worked together on the project. At least, I was the project manager and he assisted me, so if I maybe needed something, then I knew where to find him and he me. And the other facilitators have also been very helpful, because if didn’t know something, I could go to them at any time. But as I say, it has actually helped me a lot and at least I now know how to get such a big project off the ground. It’s a bit stressful, but at the end of the day there is a lot of fun to be had.

So, yes, I can’t wait for this year’s Lantern Festival that is coming. So that is basically…

What does the Lantern Festival entail?

Oh yes, the Lantern Festival involves the work of Chris Van Daan (?? 05:20): drama, art and music, as well as other disciplines of, in arts. Or other disciplines of art. Well, basically, what happens is, every year a story is taken from, every year a /Xam story is taken from the Lloyd and Bleek collection, it is in the archives there at the UCT Library, you can look it up there, but we take a story every year, a /Xam story, and we adapt it through drama and dance and music by workshopping it. So that is basically what the Lantern Festival is. And the people really enjoy it, I must say, because I’d never have thought, not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that one could take a story, and the stories are basically mostly about animals, because it was still in the time of the Khoi and the San, that is why it is called the /Xam stories. So, mostly what is reflected there are only animals, but I’d never have thought that I – in my 100 years or however old I may become – will do a story about an animal or even that I’ll be able to do an animal with my body. I never imagined it, but the Lantern Festival came and explained everything to me and it showed me, just be free, just explore, you know. And that is basically what it is.

Do you think the Lantern Festival involves the local community enough, or is there room for expansion?

Well, there is a lot of room for expansion. And the community benefits a lot because, I mean, often there are parents who come in the afternoons, to the workshops, I don’t know, sometimes we rope them in to help us, because we have about three facilitators in one room, and something like 40, 45 children in a room, and it can get a bit hectic, but we get it under control. But sometimes, as I say, the parents come to watch what’s going on, and so on, and in this way they also just start helping, because I mean, it’s actually their children, isn’t it? So yes, I’ll say that there is room for more, yes.

What do you think are the benefits of the stories, how does the storyline benefit the community, or resonate with the community?

Well, I can say this, people, the way that we work out the stories, with the children, because at the end of the day we only use children, or most of the participants in the performance are children, and yes, every time people come to watch, then I’m sometimes in the audience, or as I move among the children, I hear the remarks they make, because there are often very good lessons to be learnt from the stories, and I always hear people say, “Yes, he shouldn’t have done that, he should have done this!” and that is how the people interact with what is happening on the stage, basically. So it, it benefits, how can I say, it benefits the community a lot, because tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, then people will say, “No, you’re just like that bloody leopard, or that caracal, he was that kind of person” and “Oh, it seems you also want to be like that”, or however it may be. But yes, people often use the examples of the stories that we give them to get their children in line again, because the children know the story that we’ve been telling all week, every day they come with their stories, so they’re basically, they identify with those characters, so they know basically what that character is experiencing or whatever. So then the parents sometimes scare, one could almost say, them with the story, because they know they’d learnt a lot from the story. And what is wrong and what is right.

To what extent are the parents involved with the Lantern Festival? Is there room for improvement?

There is room for improvement, yes, as I said. Because a large number of parents don’t come every day, but there are regulars who come, and they are the people we ask at the end of the day to help us facilitate, just so that the children don’t become so chaotic or whatever. But there is space for more, but as I say, wow, the Sunday of the performance itself, the parade, then people, everyone joins and they’re there. So they basically stand and wait all along the road for us while we, while we’re still moving through the streets, they stand and wait until we pass, and then they join us. And so we did the parade to the school where we did it, and from the start people just joined, and joined, as we continued. They never came to where we started walking, because they said that they really wanted to see how beautiful the lanterns were, because on the Sunday evening of the performance we basically give each of the children, or those of the right age, a lantern to carry, which are the lanterns of the Lantern Festival. And big structures are made and they are also lit up and then we walk with that, we move with that.

Interviewer: Okay.

Rozanne Holland is op Clanwilliam gebore en was 24 jaar oud ten tyde van die onderhoud. Sy is al sedert agtjarige ouderdom by die Lanternfees betrokke.

Rozanne is nou ’n fasiliteerder by die Lanternfees en ’n projekbestuurder by ComNet. Sy deel haar ondervindings van die Lanternfees, wat dit behels en wat dit vir die kinders in die gemeenskap beteken.

Rozanne Holland was 24 jaar oud ten tyde van die onderhoud. Sy het by Cederberg Primêr en Clanwilliam Sekondêr skoolgegaan. Sy is al jare by die Lanternfees betrokke, vandat sy agt jaar oud was. As kind het sy die groot skare kinders wat by haar huis verbygestap het, gevolg en so in die opwinding gedeel. Sy het al talle verskillende werkswinkels bygewoon. Danksy haar deelname kon sy ’n fasiliteerder by die Lanternfees word. In 2012 het sy vir ’n jaar lank Magnet Theatre se opleidingsprogram gevolg en in 2014 het sy by die Magnet Theatre se dramagroep en ComNet aangesluit. Die Lanternfees vind elke jaar in September plaas. In 2010 is ’n kleiner weergawe van die fees vir die eerste keer op Redelinghuys, waar daar minder mense woon, aangebied. Die Redelinghuys-fees word ook deur die Magnet Theatre en die Departement van Kultuursake en Sport geborg.

Die Lanternfees is vir Rozanne baie kosbaar. Dit het haar soveel geleenthede gegee – sy het nuwe mense ontmoet, nuwe plekke besoek en nuwe vaardighede aangeleer. Die mense van Clanwilliam se gemeenskap is dankbaar vir die Lanternfees omdat dit die kinders uit die moeilikheid hou en hulle dissipline leer. Die vaardighede wat hulle leer omdat hulle by die fees betrokke is, help hulle ook op skool. Die fees het dit vir Rozanne moontlik gemaak om iets aan die gemeenskap terug te gee. Sy het ’n projekbestuurder by ComNet en die Lanternfees geword.

Die fees behels dans, drama, kuns en musiek. |xam-stories uit die Bleek en Lloyd Argief by die Universiteit van Kaapstad se biblioteek word in hierdie verskeie kunsvorme verwerk en opgevoer. Die mense van Clanwilliam geniet dit geweldig. Die meeste van hierdie stories is op diere gebaseer. Rozanne verduidelik dat sy haar net nie kon indink hoe haar liggaam sou voel as sy ’n dier was nie, en dat drama en die kunste haar gewys dat sy vry is om haarself en die wêreld te verken. Sy glo daar is nog baie ruimte vir uitbreiding. Ouers raak ook by die werkswinkels betrokke deur te kom kyk wat die kinders doen en begin dan om die fasiliteerders te help. Die |xam-stories word so aangepas en opgevoer dat die gemeenskap daarby kan aanklank vind. Namate die toneelstuk vorder, neem die mense daaraan deel en reageer hulle daarop. Later word dit ’n verwysingspunt – wanneer hulle hulle kinders dissiplineer, vergelyk hulle byvoorbeeld die kinders met ’n stoute karakter. Namate die optog vorder, sluit mense daarby aan. Hulle wag vir die optog om te begin en stap vir ’n ruk lank saam voor hulle daarby aansluit, want hulle wil die kinders wat die lanterns dra en die groot, verligte struktuur sien.

 

Goeiemôre. Wel,  ek gee toestemming vir die feit dat julle kan vir my ’n onderhoud mee voer. Ek is Rozanne Holland. Ek bly hier in Clanwilliam, ek is vier-en-twintig jaar oud, en ek het my Sederberg Primêr skoolgegaan in my primêre skooldae en daarvan af het ek na – kyk ek vir jou? … Sorry – daarvan af het ek na Clanwilliam Sekondêr gegaan in my senior jaar, skooljaar. Skoolloopbaan. Wel, die Liggiefees, of altans, soos almal dit nou ken, is dit mos nou die Liggiefees, maar dit is eintlik die Clanwilliam Arts Project.  dit het omtrent so, ek mag miskien verkeerd wees, maar so sestien jaar gelede begin, en ons is nog altyd aan die gang. Wel, ek het, ek was maar ag jaar oud toe ek in die projek begin het en ek dink ek het seker maar net almal gevolg wat verby my huis gekom het, want hulle het almal verby my huis gekom om by die plek te kom waar die workshops aangebied was en daar het ek maar net vir hulle gevolg. En toe het ek gesien, maar oukei, dis nogal ’n nice iets wat hier aan die gang is, want hulle het toe dans en drama-workshops gedoen en hulle het kuns gedoen daarso.

En toe het ek, ever since ek ag jaar oud was, oe, en ek kan nie nou dink hoeveel jaar terug dit was nie, maar daar het ek met hulle begin. En oor die jare het ek aange-, opgegroei as die projek en tot ek later ’n fasiliteerder begin word het. Maar in twintig twaalf was ek by Magnet Theatre, ek was op die training-program gewees daarso. Waar ek net ’n jaar gedoen het saam met hulle. En die volgende jaar het ek terug huis toe gekom, en die jaar daarna, 2014, het ek aangesluit by die dramagroep wat deur Magnet in 2007 gestig is. So, ons is hierdie jaar tien jaar oud en ons is nog altyd aan die gang.

Ja, toe’t ek teruggekom en met Comnet (?? 01:59) gewerk en net elke keer – die Liggiefees, sorry, gebeur elke jaar in September, so dwarsdeur die jaar is ons besig met Comnet met ander goedjies, maar die Liggiefees kom in September. En ons het begin, ek dink in 2010, te werk in Redelinghuys, ook aan ’n Liggiefees, maar net op ’n kleiner skaal, want die gemeenskap is natuurlik kleiner. So, van daai tyd af is ons daar in Redelinghuys ook besig met ’n Liggiefees wat geborg is deur Magnet Theatre en Department Cultural Affairs and Sport.

Wel, hierdie jaar, wat ek kan sê van die Liggiefees, wat ek kan sê is dat dit vir my baie beteken het, eintlik, want deur die Liggiefees het ek die geleentheid gekry om in 2012 by Magnet Theatre aan te sluit in hulle training-program, en van daar af kon ek ander mense verken en ek kon uitgaan na ander plekke en die mense in ander plekke gaan vertel van die Liggiefees en die wonderlike werk wat hulle doen in die gemeenskap. En ek meen, die gemeenskap is baie dankbaar vir wat die mense kom doen hierso in Clanwilliam met die Liggiefees, en met die kinders, want op so ’n manier hou hulle die kinders uit die kwaad uit en dit help ook vir hulle om in die skooltyd ook beter te vorder, want baie kere dan doen ons die werkswinkels, maar in die werkswinkels doen ons ook die – hoe kan ek dit nou stel? – die, die … die, what must I call this now? … die … wat is dit?

Oukei, jy kan maar weer later by dit kom.

Oukei. Ja, maar … met die dissipline, dis waar ek nou wil gewees het, met die dissipline help dit die kinders nogal baie. En ek kon gesien het oor al die jare dat dit nogal al ’n verandering gemaak het, in die skool, want kom ek by die skole en hulle is so bietjie deurmekaar, dan en hulle sien vir my, dan sal hulle altyd in lyn trap en “Middag, Juffrou” of “Middag, Zanne”, ek weet nie waar dit vanaf kom nie, maar daai is daar. En, ja, soos ek sê, vir my het dit baie gebaat, ook die Liggiefees baat baie vir my, want ek kon terugkom, na die gemeenskap, en kom terugploeg wat ek by Magnet geleer het. En van daar af het dit vir my ook baie geleer om goeters te organiseer, want ek het, vandat ons, sorry, in 2014 teruggegaan het na Redelinghuys, was ek en Roland Africa, wat daardie tyd by my Magnet gewerk het, saam die project, of altans ek was die project manager en hy’t maar net vir my ge-assist, so as ek miskien iets nodig gehad het, dan het ek geweet waar om hom te vind en hy vir my, en verderaan is die ander fasiliteerders ook baie behulpsaam gewees, want as ek nie iets geweet het nie, kon ek enige tyd na hulle toe gegaan het. Maar soos ek sê, dit het nogal vir my baie gehelp en nou weet ek darem ook hoe om so ’n groot projek aan die gang te kry. Is bietjie stresvol, maar aan die einde van die dag is daar baie fun, uit dit.

So, ek kan nie wag vir hierdie jaar se Liggiefees wat afkom nie, ja, so dit is basically …

Oukei, vertel vir ons wat behels die Liggiefees.

O yes, die Liggiefees behels die werk van Chris van Daan (?? 05:20), drama, kuns en musiek, en oek ander dissiplines van, in arts. Of ander disciplines van art. Wel, basically wat gebeur is, elke jaar word daar ’n storie van, uit die, elke jaar word daar ’n /Xam-storie uit die Lloyd en Blake-versameling gevat, dit is in die argiewe daar by die UCT library, jy sal dit daar kan gaan opsoek, maar dan vat ons elke jaar ’n storie, ’n /Xam-storie, en ons verwerk dit deur drama en dans en musiek deur dit in te werk, so dit is basically wat die Liggiefees is. En die mense geniet dit baie, ek moet sê, want ek sou nooit kon dink, nie in my wildste drome het ek gedink dat ’n mens ’n storie, en basically is die stories bestaan meestal net uit die diere uit, want daai tyd was dit nog in die Khoi en die San se tyd, dis hoekom dit die /Xam-stories genoem word. So, meestal, wat daar reflect, is net die diere, maar ek het nooit kon dink dat ek seker in my honderd jaar, of hoe oud ek mag word, sal ’n storie van ’n diertjie, of selfs ek, met my body ’n dier kon doen nie. Ek het dit nooit ge-imagine nie, maar die Liggiefees het vir my alles gekom verduidelik en dit het vir my gewys dat, just be free, explore net, you know. En dit is basically wat dit is.

Hoe dink jy, betrek die Liggiefees genoeg die plaaslike gemeenskap, of is daar room vir uitbreidings?

Wel, daar is baie room vir uitbreiding. En die gemeenskap vind baie baat, want ek meen, daar’s baie kere ouers wat in die middae kom, na die werkswinkels, ek weet nie, somtyds dan rope ons hulle sommer in om vir ons te help, want ons sit met omtrent drie facilitators in een kamer, en dan het ons iets soos veertig, vyf-en-veertig kinders in ’n kamer, en dit kan bietjie hectic raak, maar ons kry dit onder beheer. Maar somtyds, soos ek sê, kom die ouers in en dan kom kyk hulle ook maar net wat aangaan, en so, en op so ’n manier dan sit hulle ook maar handjie by, want ek meen, dit is mos immers hulle kinders. So, ja, ek sal sê daar is room for more, dis room, ja….

Oukei. Hoe dink jy word die stories, die storielyn wat vertel word, se bates uitgereik na die gemeenskap toe of hoe vind die stories plaas, kry dit aanklank by die gemeenskap?

Wel, ek sal kan sê,  die mense, die manier hoe ons die stories uitwerk, met die kinders, want op die einde van die dag sit ons net die kinders in, of die meeste participants in die performance is die kinders, en ja, elke keer as die mense daarna kom kyk, dan somtyds is ek in die gehoor, of so tussen die kinders deur beweeg, dan hoor ek nogal die opmerkings wat hulle maak, want baie kere is daar baie goeie lesse uit die stories uit en ek hoor net altyd hoe sê die mense: “Ja, hy moenie so gemaak het nie, hy moet dit gedoen het!” En dit is hoe die mense interact, saam met wat op die verhoog gebeur, basies. So, dit, dit vind nogal, hoe kan ek sê, baie baat in die gemeenskap, want môre, oormôre, dan sal die mense sê: “Nee wat, jy’s nes daai blerrie tier, of daai rooikat, hy was mos so ’n mens,” en “O, lyk my djy wil nou ook vir jou so hou uit die wil uit,” of hoe dit ook al mag sy. Maar ja, mense gebruik baie kere die voorbeelde van die storie wat ons vir hulle gegee het, om hulle kinders weer oek in lyn te kry, want die kinders ken mos nou al, heelweek vertel ons vir hulle die storie, elke dag kom hulle met die stories, so, hulle is basies, hulle leef hulle in daardie karakters, so, hulle weet basies wat daai karakter deurgaan, of hoe ook al. So, dan scare die ouers somtyds, sal ek maar sê, vir hulle met die storie, want hulle weet, hulle het baie geleer uit die storie uit. En wat verkeerd en wat reg is.

Hoe dink jy is die ouers se betrokkenheid by die Liggiefees? Dink jy daar’s baie betrokkenheid, of is daar ruimte vir verbetering?

Daar’s wel ruimte vir verbetering, ja, soos ek sê. Want daar kom, daar is nie aldag wat daar ’n klomp ouers kom nie, maar daar is nogal die regulars wat kom, en hulle is die mense vir wie ons dan op die einde van die dag vra om vir ons te help fasiliteer, net dat die kinders nie so chaoties raak nie, of hoe ook al. Maar daar is plek vir nog, maar soos ek sê, jhou, die Sondag van die performance homself, die parade, dan is die mense, almal val net in en hulle is net daar. So, hulle is, basically staan en wag hulle al vir ons teen die pad as ons, toe ons nog deur die strate beweeg het, hulle staan en wag tot ons daar verby kom, en dan val hulle net in, en so het ons die parade gedoen tot by die skool waar ons dit gedoen het, en vanaf die beginpunt het mense net ingeval, en ingeval, soos ons aangegaan het. Hulle’t nooit gekom tot daar waar ons begin stap het, want hulle sê hulle wil baie graag sien hoe mooi die lanterns lyk, want basies, op die Sondagaand van die performance gee ons die kinders elkeen, of die regte ouderdomsgroepe, elkeen ’n lantern om te dra wat dan mos nou die “liggies” in die Liggiefees is. En daar’s groot structures wat gemaak word, en dit word ook opgelight en dan stap ons met dit, beweeg ons met dit.