To our dear helpers, donors, learners, carers and supporters, welcome to the Dramatic Need Newsletter for November! This month we have a whole lot of news to share with you about new projects, new people and new ways to help the cause...

One of our most recent volunteers, a theatre actor Emma from Ireland has just returned from five weeks in Viljoenskroon in the Northern Free State, South Africa. She had this to say about the experience:

I found it immensely difficult to teach my class, knowing how difficult life was for these children and at times I felt that what I was doing was of little help to them. That all changed when they performed their final pieces. Some of them were so incredibly moving, especially as they often incorporated song or poetry into the story. One piece I remember in particular, was a story about how hospital strikes so badly affect civilians. I remember thinking how wonderful it is that these children are so talented, but how sad it is that their talent goes largely unnoticed. This is why Dramatic Need’s work is so incredibly important. It allows children who feel like they are worth nothing to learn that they have capabilities and talents beyond what they could have imagined. Some of the poems I received as thank you presents were so complex and moving that I could hardly believe children of that age had written them. The potential of these children is immense and I applaud Dramatic Need for recognising that. I would encourage anybody who is interested in Arts education to work with Dramatic Need. You will be shocked, you will laugh and cry and you will arrive home feeling privileged to have met such inspiring young people.

Find out more about volunteering with Dramatic Need...

As many of you know, February of this year brought Philimon ‘Nyora’ Seboko, one of our most successful young students over to London (his first time on a plane, or outside of his home township in the Northern Free State, South Africa). Seboko returned to South Africa to take up his editing internship at Re:public media in Johannesburg and has now been offered a fulltime job by the company.

Dramatic Need would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank Re:public, Bonngoe Productions and Brian and Christine of Los Angeles, California for raising the money to pay for Seboko’s training and accommodation in Johannesburg.

For those of you who don’t know the story, you can read about Seboko on our website or he welcomes you ‘Facebook’ing him.

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Shop 'till you drop! We’ve just signed up with The Giving Machine. By clicking on the link below you can now donate to Dramatic Need and help us continue to create change by shopping at ebay, Amazon, i-tunes, M&S, John Lewis, Comet and many more. It’s easy and it will make all the difference!

Shop at The Giving Machine today...

Dramatic Need now also have a Just Giving account. So if you want donate to use, or raise money yourself for our cause, then please visit us on Just Giving.

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The Pete Patsa Arts Centre – Viljoenskroon, South Africa
Dramatic Need iscurrently fundraising to open a full-time community based arts centre in Viljoenskroon, Free State, South Africa. We have been working in the rural area of Viljoenskroon for two years now and are keen to ensure there is a sustainable impact from our work with this community by providing access and equipment to the huge numbers of talented and enthusiastic local kids in the long term.

Dramatic Need Rwanda
In 2010 Dramatic Need intends to expand our work into schools and grass-roots communities in Rwanda.

Rwanda is a country that shares a similar history with South Africa of ethnic conflict and attempted reconciliation. Both countries are now exactly 15 years into relatively peaceful democracies. We believe there is considerable scope in Rwanda to address poverty rates and their implications from a unique, arts-led perspective. We welcome Sarah Azia our new project manager for Dramatic Need Rwanda. Formally of Oxfam and War Child, Sarah brings a wealth of experience to this project and we are very excited about its prospects.

Also, read the latest profile of Dramatic Need in Sideways News...

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Dramatic Need would like to welcome our new Johannesburg-based operations operations manger Danny Lurie to the team. Danny has an impressive background in philanthropy and is one of the founders of Hillside Digital, an innovative South African project that uses video, the web and emerging technologies to empower citizen action in impoverished communities. He is our man on the ground in SA and is there to back our volunteers in the field.

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