Dennis Warner Visits South Africa
Author and songwriter Dennis Warner visited South Africa for 3 weeks in March 2023. He travelled across South Africa visiting various under-resourced communities across Gauteng and the Western Cape to sing his song, Beads on One String, which has been turned into a book and published by STEPi. The children loved his song and enjoyed his visit; Dennis would sing the song with them and the children would follow along with the words and the beautiful pictures in the book.
On a few of the visits, the team joined hands with the children at schools to create 'beads' that represent each child. This would be hung around the schools as a way of enhancing the message of oneness found in the book “Beads On One String”. This became a very exciting moment as the team gathered with the teachers to brainstorm ways of approaching this activity. It was decided that each teacher would, together with her/his class, decide on a unique approach to present the activity. We also worked with the senior group to stage the whole “Beads On One String” story, not just to entertain but to ensure the message was pronounced and understood even by the learners themselves. It was a fun activity and both children and teachers enjoyed it immensely.
Over 16, 000 copies of “Beads On One String” have been distributed throughout South Africa and Uganda, through the help of various organisations and teams in each country. There are two teams in South Africa; Pumeza Macingwane, is a STEPi Coordinator based in Gauteng, and Dreamcatcher NPC based in the Western Cape. In Uganda there are five separate teams; Two organisations based in the Eastern region of Uganda, enjuba and AfricaELI; Joshua Oyergiu is a STEPi Coordinator based in the Westnile Sub-region of Uganda; Master Badru is a STEPi Coordinator based in the Central region of Uganda focusing on the refugee settlement camps; the final Coordinator is Michael Byaruhanga based is based in the Western region of Uganda.
It was an unforgettable experience hosting Dennis Warner and his team in South Africa, and we hope they experienced the true spirit of South Africa during their stay. In the words of Pumeza Macingwane, “Dennis’ visit will give hope and encouragement to schools and communities in South Africa.”