The acclaimed Sibikwa Arts Centre, now celebrating its twentieth year, is proud to present its annual student dance presentation, GRAFTING, for one performance only at the Dance Factory in Newtown on Sunday 5 October at 14h30.

GRAFTING is presented by the Sibikwa Youth Dance company with the learners and interns of the Sibikwa Arts Centre, who each year work towards a public performance where they can showcase their talents. The 52 learners and the 10 interns hail from Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State and North West.

In line with Sibikwa’s mission, four young, professional choreographers have been engaged to work with the participants of the accredited Learnership in the Performing Arts. This affords the young students the opportunity of working with up-and-coming young, professional choreographers.

The choreographers with whom the students will work for the 2008 Dance presentation are the award winning choreographer and teacher Portia Mashigo, Melusi Mkhwanjani, a contemporary dancer and teacher and Lucky Ntlhane Ratlhagane who worked with the learners and Bafekile Sedibe who worked with the interns.

The twentieth year of Sibikwa’s existence herald’s a new initiative, The Sibikwa Youth Dance Company. This company aims to build a repertoire of South African dance, to train skilled young dancers, to develop the community through dance, to facilitate Educational development through dance and to create jobs within the dance industry within the ambit of the Sibikwa Arts Centre. The dancers will be trained in South African traditional dance, South African urban dance (Pantsula, gumboot, contemporary African), hip hop and ballet. They hope to create a meeting point that will reflect South Africa in the 21st century, interpret the current reality and celebrate South Africa’s cultural diversity. Dancers will be drawn from the Saturday Arts Academy.

Four of the Company members will be young professionals embarking on their dance careers and currently this includes: Lungile Maboe who started dancing professionally at Sibikwa Arts Centre in 2004 where she was trained in afro fusion by Lucky Ratlagane. During that year she toured to Norway where she conducted workshops on issues of crime and violence in South Africa. In 2005 she was recommended to be part of a performing Arts Learnership in Sibikwa’s Ezithuthukayo Dance and Drama group. She performed in Ke-mang , directed by Yana Sakelaris and Clara Vaughan, did outreach work in Primary and High Schools and later that year she obtained Best dancer of the Year award. In 2006 she did the Sibikwa internship where she focused on facilitation, Poetry, Storytelling, drama and dance. In 2007 she joined City Year as a service leader at schools for grade 4 to 7. A facilitator, co-ordinator, and a best leader of the year nominee she is now Sibikwa’s Saturday Arts Centre Afro Fusion dance teacher.

Lehlohonolo Dube, from Kwa-Thema in Springs,started performing with the Proud Actors, then joined Zwakala Dramatic Oracle in 2005. He joined Sibikwa Arts Centre in 2006. He completed his Learnership in Performing Arts NQF level 4 . In 2007 he completed an Internship at Sibikwa Arts Centre in facilitation and Performance. He performed in several productions: In the Beginning, an adaptation of the Credo Mutwa Story, Maru, the Butoh-based In the Wake of the Body and Sibikwa’s Uhambo-The Journey,directed by Smal Ndaba.

Taemane Mothobi grew up in Odendaalsrus, Kutlonong in Free State. In 1999 he started acting at Phehello High School. In 2005 he attended Sibikwa’s Saturday Arts Academy. Like Lehlohonolo Dube he went onto he complete his Learnership in Performing Arts NQF Level 4 in 2008 and his Internship in 2007. He also performed in Sibikwa’s Uhambo-The Journey, In the Beginning, an adaptation of the Credo Mutwa Story, Maru and the Butoh-based In the Wake of the Body

Lucky Modiselle joined Sibikwa’s Saturday Arts Academy in 2004. In 2005 he joined the Learnership programme and acquired NQF Level 4 in performing arts. In 2006 he worked with Velvet Rope as a freelance dancer and assistant Production manager till April 2008, after which he joined the Vuyani Dance Theatre.

The performance of GRAFTING has been made possible with the assistance of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).

Tickets for the one performance of GRAFTING are available at the door and are R30. Schools wishing to attend this performance are urged to contact the Sibikwa office at 011 422 4359 or e-mail sibikwa@iafrica.com.

The Sibikwa Arts Centre is a community based organization which uses the arts for community development. The Sibikwa Community Theatre Project was formed by a group of parents in the East Rand township of Daveyton in 1988. Concerned by the low level of education, their children’s poor attendance at school, the lack of focus in their children’s lives, the increasing violence and the lack of amenities in the township, Sibikwa came into being.

Visit Sibikwa’s website for further information.

source: Artslink

by Dr. John Stokes

Exopolitics representations offer a new theory on the origins of this universe, and humankind in this universe. This new theory suggests that this universe neither originated from a spontaneous “Big Bang”, nor from a benevolent “God” creator, as is imputed by various organized religions. Have you ever wondered, who we are as a human species? What is our true origins? What really accounts for a planet like Earth, so abundant with life, being apparently surrounded by planets with no signs of intelligent life?

Alex Collier

This new theory originates from a composite of Alex Collier’s representation from his alleged contact with Ethical Extraterrestrials, that have sought to warn humanity, about Manipulative Extraterrestrials and their human operatives.

Exopolitics, is a discipline which suggests that humankind can further critically appreciate certain “mysteries”, by appreciating how Extraterrestrials may be affecting human reality. Exopolitics practitioners like Dr. Michael Salla, suggests that the affirmation of human sovereignty on Earth, depends on the disclosure of both Ethical and Manipulative Extraterrestrial contacts with Earth.

This Exopolitics-inspired theory, suggests that humans originated from an “organic universe” that exists in a parallel time-space continuum to this universe. The alleged characteristic of this parallel universe is that is abundant with intelligent life including human colonies that are over 100 Billion in total population.

However, Alex Collier alleges that a clique of Nazi scientists in a parallel 1931, created a “rip” in the time-space continuum, that provided an entry point for Manipulative Extraterrestrials. These Manipulative Extraterrestrials, then instigated an intergalactic war, against humanity, with the support of their Nazi allies. Once these time-travelling aliens entered that parallel organic universe, where humans allegedly originated from, and after Earth was captured, regressive aliens then according to this exposited alternative theory, went back in time to change the whole of Earth’s time continuum.

African Elder Credo Mutwa, who indicates that he had been abducted by regressive aliens that had been identified by the Dr. John Lash’s research on the Gnostics, details the presence of these alien “shape-shifters”, that are aliens that can mimic human form.

Credo Mutwa indicates that he has corroborated the existence of such shape-shifters by hundreds of African tribes. Shape-shifters according to Mutwa, have been documented by these African tribes as seeking to infiltrate human institutions to perpetrate socio-pathetic activities associated with oppression and exploitation. These alleged alien-directed dehumanizing activities include genocide, and war in general, that can become prevalent in the world today.

The imputed result was that Manipulative Extraterrestrials used their sophisticated technology to capture Earth, in an artificially generated “hollographic universe”. LINK .

In an “organic universe” sentient life, as well as plant and animal life in general, apparently grows like weeds. In the alleged creation of a “holographic universe” Earth has been captured in an artificially generated universe. In order words, Earth has been caught in some kind of “cosmic spider web”.

The Ethical Extraterrestrials, that have been able to penetrate this apparent “cosmic spider web” suggest that Manipulative Extraterrestrials have captured Earth and to “harvest” the life forms on Earth for genetic and other exploitation purposes.

By isolating Earth, it has been further imputed not only by Alex Collier’s representations, but also by the ancient Gnostics, that Manipulative Extraterrestrials sought to isolate humanity in a apparent “barren” universe, to make humans more susceptible to religious doctrine. “Creationist” doctrine was accordingly inspired by Manipulative Extraterrestrials that sought to convince humanity that “a God” was responsible for the “miracle of life” on this planet.

The “Big Bang” theory apparently became another misleading scenario created for the “non-believers”, that still sought some explanation for the origins of this universe. But the ancient Gnostics attempted to clarify that this alleged “God the Creator” was actually a contrived convention orchestrated by the same group of regressive aliens that Alex Collier alleges, brought humanity away from an organic universe, and into an enslavement context in an artificial “holographic universe”.

Gnostics and representations by Alex Collier, suggest that Manipulative Extraterrestrials, in creating a hollographic universe, seek to “play God”, and operate through elite institutions that are in league with hostile alien interests.

source: The Canadian National Newspaper

Terence McKenna (16 November 1946 – 3 April 2000) was a writer, philosopher, and ethnobotanist. He is noted for his many speculations on the use of psychedelic, plant-based hallucinogens, and subjects ranging from shamanism, the development of human consciousness, and novelty theory.

This is an important concept to understand because one perspective would be that Africa’s poverty or problems is simply a operating system we have chosen to run on mass. And if we can begin to change the operating system or rather upgrade to a newer version that supports a wider array of the modern challenges we are facing like globalisation and the erosion of freedom as we move from country-specific laws to international law.

If you like this video clip I also highly, highly recommend the Living Dialogues podcast interviews with Joseph Chilton Pearce about Culture.

Indigenous peoples who sought to embrace a spiritual ethic of participatory democracy, like the Gnostics, were also able to similarly perceive archonic Manipulative Extraterrestrials. Zulu Elder Credo Mutwa in an interview with Rick Martin, indicated that over 500 tribes that he has consulted with, for example, have historical accounts of having witnessed Archonic alien shape-shifters that periodically can take human form. Perhaps the on-going persecution of indigenous communities, in Canada, to the Americas in general, to Africa, and also to Australia, might be linked in part, to the operation of alien shadows of various elite-guiders of human institutions, seeking to repress vital indigenous knowledge.

Perhaps humanity saving itself from an alien agenda might be linked, in part, to re-embracing as a species, indigenous knowledge that is linked to our essence as human beings.

read the full article on The Canadian National Newspaper website.

This book is mentioned in the latest newsletter from George Green with whom I first became acquainted after 2 intensive interviews on the Conscious Media Network.

Ecovillages are attracting increased attention as people seek to create more of a sense of belonging in their lives. Finding Community is a non-nonsense guide to help readers research, visit, and evaluate each potential community in their own long-term social, spiritual, financial and legal well-being. Includes important questions to ask, signs of a healthy( and not so healthy) community. Common blunders to avoid.

Finding community is as critical as obtaining food and shelter, since the need to belong is what makes us human. The isolation and loneliness of modern life have led many people to search for deeper connection, which has resulted in a renewed interest in intentional communities. These intentional communities or ecovillages are an appealing choice for like-minded people who seek to create a family-oriented and ecologically sustainable lifestyle-a lifestyle they are unlikely to find anywhere else.

You can purchase Finding Community from Amazon.com or Take2 if you live in South Africa.

Richard Rodriquez Roodt, 23, commonly known as Quaz, is originally from Potchefstroom. He is part of the Likwid Tongue collective which hosts open mic poetry sessions at Kospotong, next to Sophiatown Restaurant in Newtown every Wednesday night. He published Orange Book, a small collection of English and Afrikaans poems in 2004.

Other poems have been featured in the Reunited Siblings Exodus Anthology 2006 and in Peo Tsa Rona, an anthology published by an international publishing house in 2007. He released a mixtape last year called Immaculate Thoughts of Za`uQ.

What do you think poetry needs in this country?

The writings of people like Zakes Mda, Credo Mutwa and many more should be integrated into our national school syllabus. Not just the poetry, but all their writings should be taught in our schools. That I think is a starting point . We have some great writers on the continent and their work is very relevant to what it is we’re facing.

read the rest of his interview on the Tonight website here.

Twenty years into the pandemic, people are looking for new ways to live with HIV, and for some alternative medicine has become part of the answer.

The TsaBotsogo Community Development and Training Centre, based in Dobsonville, Soweto, a sprawling township south of Johannesburg, South Africa, works with teachers to identify vulnerable children in the community and refer them to the centre’s trained volunteers for counselling. This year the organisation took 30 of the children to camp for a week, hoping to give them a chance to play, make friends and build better relationships with TsaBotsogo volunteers, said executive director, Kefilwe Ndaba.

“The Rolls Royce of Healing?”

The camp was where you might least expect to find talk of alternative medicine, chakras and biofields, but Amanda du Toit and a several other “energy medicine practitioners” arrived to help balance the children’s energies, she said.

The term “alternative medicine” is often used to describe practices outside the realm of your typical MD or nurse, and can include homeopathy, the ancient Indian practice of Ayurvedic medicine and naturopathy, in which healing is believed to be associated with nature.

Practitioners of energy medicine like du Toit believe physical illness is caused by imbalances between such energies in the body. They say they use physical energy, such as vibration, as well as less tangible forms of energy like “biofields”, or the subtle energy believed to be within all living things, to heal certain physical illnesses.

Using a system developed by a United States-based entrepreneur known as Master Del Pe, these women say they have learned to read chakras - the supposedly seven centres of spiritual energy in the human body in yoga philosophy - and can open and close these centres in order to balance the energies in the body.

By the end of the session, most of the younger children were asleep, while the older ones sat quietly with their eyes closed. The session involved no physical contact or verbal communication between the women and children, which du Toit said was an advantage when working with children, who might not be able to verbalise what they were feeling.

“[Energy medicine] is like the new generation of healing; it’s very effective - like the ‘Rolls Royce’ of healing,” said du Toit, who characterises Del Pe’s approach as a mix of Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. “We believe it’s the medicine of the future.”

Del Pe came to South Africa in 2006, punting free lessons in his newly developed form of energy healing geared to help those living with HIV and AIDS deal with opportunistic infections and other related illnesses.

He has returned several times since, charging roughly R1,500 (US$191) for one-day courses such as “Charting Your Seven Life Cycles”.

A very grown-up reality

According to a 2006 study by South Africa’s department of education, 15 percent of children will lose at least one caregiver to HIV/AIDS by the age of 14 years, placing them at an increased risk of poverty, malnutrition, exploitation and school absenteeism.

The South Africa government has spent more than R563 million (US$72m) since 1997 on community-based interventions aimed at, among other objectives, safeguarding at-risk children. If the country meets the goals set out in its national strategic framework for HIV and AIDS, 30 percent of vulnerable children and child-headed households should be able to access social benefits and grants by the end of 2008.

However, the psychosocial and emotional needs of children like those at TsaBotsogo are often harder to budget for and even harder to identify, according to UNAIDS case studies.

“Many of them feel like they are alone,” Ndaba said. “Some of them talk, say they know they don’t have a parent, that it is difficult to go to school with nothing in their stomachs, but some are too reserved,” she commented. “It’s not easy for them to open up, that’s why we’ve been playing lots of games, praying for them, hugging them, trying to get them to trust us and open up.”

Sophie Kekana, a counsellor at TsaBotsogo, said working with the children was challenging. “You can see from afar their needs - some are sick or hurting, others are bitter. A lot of them are poverty stricken; you can see it in the way they eat.”

“At least now they know that they are not alone, that they have mothers outside [of their families] that care for them,” Ndaba said.

Consent underlines all approaches

As the epidemics of HIV and AIDS drive on, people may be turning to new ways of caring for those affected, but child rights activists caution that the consent of both parents and children is essential, regardless of the type or style of therapy.

“[Alternative medicine] might be perfectly harmless but my concern is: ‘how would you explain something like this to children’s mothers?’” said Noreen Ramsden, materials developer for the Durban-based Children’s Rights Centre.

According to Ramsden, administering alternative therapies like energy healing without informed parental consent reflected a certain element of manipulation, and threatened to undermine a parent’s right to guide their children’s upbringing.

TsaBotsogo’s Ndaba admitted that energy healing was not originally on the programme, and was therefore not explained by teachers to caregivers at the time they obtained consent for the children to go camping.

Helen Meintjies, a senior researcher at the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, agreed with Ramsden, cautioning that the danger of manipulation was very real when working with people who were unwilling to say ‘no’ in the face of something they viewed as a favour.

“Consent issues apply across the board when working with children, regardless of the activity, and that means kids must be informed [of the activity] in a way that’s understandable,” Meintjies said. “Don’t underestimate the importance of kids understanding what they are entering into.”

This report was originally published on PlusNews.

In the article with the title “Great Zulu Shaman and Elder Credo Mutwa on Alien Abduction and Reptilians: A Rare, Astonishing Conversation,” by Rick Martin, Credo Mutwa raised the question “If these aliens are from a far away planet, why are they able to impregnate women?” Credo Mutwa indicates that he had been abducted by the same aliens that appear to be consistent with the “Archons” documented by John Lash in Metahistory.org. Credo Mutwa also indicated in this article that he experienced telepathic transfers of information from these aliens.

Based upon the testimony of his self-represented terrifying telepathic encounter, Credo Mutwa suggested during his interview with Rick Martin, that “these so-called aliens don’t come from far away at all. I believe that they are here with us, and I believe that they need substances from us, just as some of us human beings use certain things from wild animals, such as monkey glands, for certain selfish purposes of our own.”

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One of the South African film industry’s most anticipated events, the 5th North West Film Festival (NWFF), is taking place from the 14th to the 23rd September 2007 across the North West Province.
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The theme of the festival is Ke Ya Rona (Setswana for “It is Ours”) and its primary objective is to encourage people to take ownership of the industry either as active audiences or film makers. The Festival aims to ‘edutain’ using film as a medium.

The Festival takes place within National Heritage month, and it will showcase films with a Proudly South African focus to celebrate the country’s heritage. These films include; Karen Slater’s From Nkoko with Love, Vincent Moloi’s A Pair of Boots and a Bicycle, Jioty Mystry’s I Mike what I Like, Rudi Steyn’s Baas van die Plaas, Khulile Nxumalo’s The House of Credo Mutwa and Teboho Mahlatsi’s Sekalli sa Meokgo.

read the full story on the Filmmaker South Africa website…

It did not require some extraordinary insight to predict the utter failure of the July 2007 Accra summit of Africa’s heads of state – not so much the indifference shown to the vaunted theatrics of the so-called “continental union government” performance by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi but the assembly’s deafening silence over the ongoing Arab-driven genocide against the African people of Darfur. This failure is indefensible. Just as the 1966-1970 Igbo genocide (post-European occupied Africa’s foundational genocide which the Arab/Islamic World, in concert with Britain, the former Soviet Union and the Nigerian state executed, resulting in the murder of 3.1 million Igbo) and the subsequent genocides in Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Congos, African leaders have yet again failed to confront and halt another mass slaughter of an African people. Just as in all the pre-Darfur continental genocides of the past 41 years in which 15 million Africans were murdered, the world appears, yet again, to watch at the sideline as another nation of Africans is being systematically destroyed by an African state run by a ruthless minority Arab/islamist hegemonic grouping. A total of 200,000 Darfuri have so far been murdered.

Despite Gaddafi’s pre-summit boisterous campaigns across Africa to publicise his “union government” ambition, the Arab nationalist, who has turned his country into some religio-dynastic fiefdom since he seized power in 1967 after a coup d’état, has obviously scant democratic credentials to present to the current frenetic African discourses geared to the reworking and transformation of Africa’s debilitating sociopolitical spaces of dictatorship, militarism and genocide. Africa’s strategic goal in these early decades of the new millennium, it should be stressed, is to dismantle its extant genocide-states and create extensively decentralised new state forms of organic coherence that not only halt the slaughtering of four decades but also embark on the construction of African-centred polities of advanced civilisations.

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