ZA2009

This photo shows the program for Mark's school production. The cast was the entire set of Grades 1-3 students at Rhenish. The story line is Cinderella, with a modern and South African twist. There was very little dialogue, and it was mostly an excuse to get all the kids to dance in front of their parents. The play was mostly about Cinderella's ball, and much of the acting was centered around entertainment for the king and queen. The dance numbers were set to modern (mostly American) music.

Mark was really excited when we returned home, because, as he said, "I was in a play and I got applause! Applause, mommy. That's what it's all about."

The production qualifies for "Only in South Africa" for several reasons:

* There was a Fairy Godsangoma.

* She tried to summon a pumpkin and produced, instead, a trolley guy with a pumpkin in his trolley. (Trolley guys use grocery store trolleys, what Americans would call "grocery carts," to collect valuable materials from suburbanite rubbish.) Most of South Africa does not have a formal recycling system, with our neighborhood being an exception. There is a small joke that says "stuff gets recycled before it gets recycled." Meaning: the informal hand-me-down and re-use system is so effective that we don't need a formal recycling system. (I disagree, but the humor indicates there is some truth to the joke.)

* Her second attempt produced a minibus taxi (if you click this link, scroll down to the section about South Africa) complete wtih blaring vuvuzelas. Cinderella used the taxi to travel to the ball.