By Jimmy Chazama
Lilongwe Girls Secondary School on Saturday came out top in the 17th edition of the National Schools Arts Festival (Nasfest) International Youth Cultural Festival contest held at Madsoc Theatre in Lilongwe.
The girls’ secondary school underlined its strength when it emerged winner with their play titled The Child of the Forbidden Forest outclassing four other schools.
It was all tears of joy for Lilongwe Girls Secondary School when the judging panel made up of members from South Africa, Malawi and Zambia, announced them as winners on the second day of the Nasfest International Cultural Festival which started on Friday and ended yesterday.
“The girls really worked hard and showed their passion for drama. The script was written by the students themselves,” the school’s teacher and drama patron Desiree Namachotsa said.
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Initially, the Nasfest competition was supposed to bring on board a battle of 12 schools that prevailed during the regional finals but only five schools made it.
The contest attracted four schools from the Central Region with only one from the Southern Region whereas the Northern Region missed out.
Organisers of Nasfest – Light of Youth Creative Organisation (Lyco) led by its Executive Director James Kitchen, attributed the absence of schools from the North and South to fuel shortage.
“We were supposed to have four schools each from the Central, South and North. But it was difficult for schools from the North and Central to travel with the current situation of fuel shortage. The absence of the other schools affected us but we had to go ahead,” Kitchen said.
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Despite this setback, Kitchen maintained that the contest was a success and that the five schools brought to the stage quality productions.
“The competition was stiff and the judges from Malawi, Zambia and South Africa had a torrid time. We are satisfied with the results and the patronage was good,” he said.
He said that apart from awards for winning schools, they would also select students from these schools to participate in international events.
As winners, Lilongwe Girls Secondary School which came third during Central Region contest, received cash prize of K500,000 and a medal.
Likuni Boys Secondary School failed to replicate their number one position in the regional contest when they came second whereas New Generation which came fourth during the regional contest settled for third position underlying a total dominance by the Central Region.
Likuni Boys Secondary School received K300,000 whereas New Generation pocketed K200,000.
Double Vision, the only school that made it from the Southern Region failed to make the grade likewise Mlodza from the Central Region.
One of the judges from South Africa, Aaron Tywabi, said they looked at stage management, character and plot among others, to select the winners.
Speaking during the official opening on Friday, Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule, who was the guest of honour hailed Nasfest for its role in nurturing talent.
“The government is committed to support the creative industry and this year, we are working on establishing National Arts and Heritage Council, which will benefit more creatives including young people,” Kamtukule said.
Running under the theme ‘Preserving Our Folktales and Songs’, the festival which also attracted groups from South Africa and Zambia, was attended by Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture, Esme Kainja and Director of Arts Humphrey Mpondaminga.
Apart from drama performances, Nasfest also featured poetry and dance.
Lyco organised the event in partnership with Department of Arts, Malawi National Commission for Unesco and Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) through the Copyright Fund.
