The untold tale During the liberation struggle, SWAPO solicited humanitarian assistance from around the globe, which they got in the form of education, health, arms and funds. Between 1960 and 1980, over two thousand young Namibians were offered tuition and a place of safety in one of the SWAPO allied countries.
On 18 December 1979, the first group of about 80 children arrived in the snowy winter in Berlin.
Some of them were only between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. It was agreed that German would be the medium of instruction for them in Pre-Primary and Primary School.
Between 1979 and 1988, 430 children were sent to the former GDR.
In February 2015 at COTA Theatre School, the two directors Gernot Grünewald (Germany) and Sandy Rudd (Namibia) met up with over 15 GDR KIDS, interviewed them and came up with a concept for the production “GDR Kids”. The main thrust of the production is focused on life in the castle and the Namibian story focuses on the stories of the youngsters coming home.
“The process was extremely difficult and painful at times as the story is ongoing. Whose story do you tell? How do you tell 2 000 stories in 2 hours?” said Sandy Rudd. As a writer, Sandra says writing real live stories is extremely challenging. She says some stories were very heartbreaking and some were stories of triumph over adversity, but most were a sad reflection of our times.
Racism, intolerance and narrow-mindedness were the order of the day. “In the end, the story is told in a disciplined docu-drama style.
The story is an important and extremely interesting part of our Namibian History,” she said.
The production will be staged at the National Theatre of Namibia from the 7 to 10 September 19:00.
June Shimuoshili