First ‘Festival Zanfan’ to be held from July 1 – 31, 2021: Celebrating the talents of Seychellois children By Christophe Zialor |16 April 2021
The panelists during the press conference: (l to r) Mrs Ben David, Dr Athanasius, Ms Umarji and Mr Kennedy (Photo: Jude Morel)
The first Seychelles Children’s Festival, dubbed ‘Festival Zanfan’, will be held from July 1 to 31, 2021.
It will entail a full roster of activities each aimed at showcasing the various talents that children have as well as discuss pertinent issues that are affecting children in this day and age including abuse and the effects of Covid-19.
The festival was officially announced yesterday afternoon in a press conference headed by Yasmin Umarji, chief executive of the National Council for Children (NCC) and Erna Athanasius, chairperson of NCC. Also present were the chief executive of the Creole Institute, Flora Ben David; principal of Montessori Lucy Bawa, who is the head teacher of Children House; Martin Kennedy, chairman of the National Arts Council (Nac) and Fatma Bibi, manager training and education at NCC.
The idea behind the festival came from Dr Athanasius who has attended similar festivals in other countries. She put forward this initiative to NCC and the CEO gave the greenlight for it to take place this year.
“We had many big ideas for the festival but with the pandemic some of these plans fell through. However we still wanted to celebrate children especially in a time where children have been greatly affected emotionally due to Covid-19,” said the CEO.
Ms Umarji also noted that they have received tremendous support from the Minister for Family, Marie Celine Zialor, as well as First Lady Linda Ramkalawan, who have both expressed interest in being a part of the festival.
She added that the festival will be on a smaller scale than initially planned and will respect all Covid guidelines put in place by the Ministry of Health.
Ms Umarji also noted that during the four weeks there will be various seminars organised for children, parents and the public regarding abuse.
On her part Dr Athanasius said that in previous years there was a competition where she brought together local kids to showcase traditional dances in international children's festivals.
“Due to the pandemic we were not able to travel to the festival so I thought why not organise a local Children's Festival to celebrate our children,” said Dr Athanasius.
She added that Seychelles has the highest rate of drug abuse in Africa and this is not something we should be proud of especially since a majority of children are suffering from the fact that their parents are drug and alcohol addicts.
“These children have not been protected and even though we will be celebrating children we must keep the conversation on child protection going which is why the last two weeks of June will be dedicated to the protection of children,” said Dr Athanasius.
The festival will feature several activities one of which will be a literary competition held by the Creole Institute in the form of Creole poetry and Creole stories under the theme ‘Mon osi mon’n viv Covid’.
Mrs Ben David explained that the Creole Institute has a mandate to promote writers of all ages as well as the Creole language.
“The Covid situation has caused children to live in fear and we want to create an outlet for that fear through writing,” said Mrs Ben David.
She noted that this will be a therapeutic process as well as a way to show what they are going through so that they can get help to reconstruct their state of mind.
“Another reason is we want to give them an opportunity to share it with the community as well,” she said.
Mrs Ben David added that the competition will also show who has talent to become one of the great writers of Seychelles and can compete on a national and international platform.
The competition will be broken down in five categories – public schools, private schools, school for the disabled, Jury prize and best school. Winners will all receive cash prizes.
For kids who feel that writing may not be their forte, Nac will hold a biennale featuring children's work from five schools.
“I always want to challenge the view that children are not capable of creating meaningful art. Our plan is to organise an exhibition which will reflect the creative power of young people,” said Mr Kennedy.
He noted that the theme for the creations made by the kids will be displayed in a biennial structure under the theme ‘re-emergence’.
“As a country we are culturally, economically and educationally re-emerging from the pandemic and we are beginning to grow back from what we were, and I believe that young people have a big part to play in this,” he said.
Mr Kennedy noted that kids have been greatly affected by the pandemic by having to pause their education, noting that we must compensate for that by engaging with them and listen to what they have to say about how we are going to move forward.
He added that kids participating in the biennale can create a piece that reflects how they were within the pandemic or about coming out of the pandemic.
Afterwards when all the works have been completed an exhibition will be organised and their work will also be featured in a catalogue which will give them status and recognition.
“Not often will you see children’s work being recorded in that way but we feel that it is important to recognise their work as it has meaning in our society,” Mr Kennedy said.
Mr Kennedy noted that later this month a series of artists in residence programmes in schools on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue will take on the role of working with the kids and assisting them in the delivery of their art.
He further noted that all pieces of work will be featured on a 1621 millimetre canvas.
“There is no doubt whatsoever that these kids will be able to create a work that is not only extraordinarily interesting but also a work that will start a discussion,” Mr Kennedy said.
Another activity on the festival’s roster is a medley entitled ‘I'd like to teach the world to sing in harmony’ recorded by young students from six different schools. This is being put together by the Children’s House Montessori School.
“In lockdown children were silent but now we want to celebrate and listen to their voices in harmony,” said Ms Bawa.
The song has been translated from English to Creole and both versions will feature students from the six primary schools.
“We have been working with music teachers from the Ministry of Education and during this week film crew have been visiting the six schools and recording the students performing. We will then amalgamate the recordings and make one video,” she said.
The video will be shared on June 1 and it will be aired on television and radio as well as public spaces so that the population can enjoy the voices of the children.
Religion will also have a place in the festival as NCC feels that there should be a focus on spirituality, explained Ms Bibi.
During the festival there will be a moment of prayer and reflection from the nine main religious denominations in the country and this will also feature children.
“The kids will be recorded either doing a reflection or prayer and this will be broadcast during the month of June on television and radio,” said Ms Bibi.
Another activity will be a photo competition opened for all local kids who feel that they have a special talent that they can demonstrate.
The competition will fall under two age categories – 6-11 and 12-16 years.
“We want kids to show us the talents that they discovered or have perfected during lockdown. This can be any type of talent such as cooking, fishing or baking.”
Each participant will have to send in two paragraphs, one showcasing their talent and the second one will show the outcome of that talent.
The pictures can be sent to NCC and will be judged and the winners will win cash prizes
“After we have reviewed the photographs and identified the best we will then showcase it in an exhibition as we want to display their work,” said Ms Bibi.
Dr Athanasius explained that these activities will not only be a way for children to show their creative side but also a way for them to learn as education is not only in a classroom.
The festival will be partly funded by Hilton Hotel and NCC. However, Mrs Umarji noted that they will gladly welcome anyone who wishes to make a contribution.