Rap artist Onblusbaar helps to fight bullying
Well-known Hartenbos rapper, Onblusbaar, will soon be on the stage again.
This time, not rapping to the beat of music, but acting as a bully who gets converted.
Dané Prins, known as Onblusbaar, has been selected to join the Matla A Bana school education cast, touring the Eastern Cape and North West Province in the next few weeks. The NPO did a tour which included Mossel Bay last year and next year it will be in Mossel Bay.
In the play, Dané will come face to face with Captain Bully Buster, played by Paarl actor, Reagan-Reece Carolissen.
Helps convert them
Captain Bully Buster finds bullies and helps convert them to Constable Bully Busters.
This education programme is one of the many projects implemented by the national child protection non-profit organisation, Matla A Bana, which has been actively working in the Mossel Bay area for many years.
In 2017 Matla A Bana implemented a child-friendly reporting facility at the police Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit in Mossel Bay.
At this facility children who have been raped and abused are assisted by the police.
Matla A Bana has also trained several of the detectives and forensic social workers in both the George and Mossel Bay areas in essential skills needed to work with and better assist victims of gender-based violence.
Several drama productions on child protection have been held at schools in Mossel Bay over the last few years, as the town is an overnight stop for the Xtreme for Kids Cycle Tour, held annually.
Dané is a former learner of Hartenbos Primary School and Curro Mossel Bay. She studied sound engineering at the CAE Institute in
Cape Town.
Positive change
This is her first time on stage as an actress and she says this experience is pushing her out of her comfort zone, but she is excited about helping to effect positive change in the lives of children.
Ex-hostage, Monique Strydom, and also the founder of Matla A Bana, says the tour will reach 10 000 children in very rural areas where crimes are often very under reported.
Strydom is a public speaker, trainer and former actress. She has won a number of high profile awards. She was one of the 21 people held hostage by Abu Sayyaf rebels for 127 days in the jungle on the Philippine island of Jolo in 2000.
The group was in the hands of terrorists, under continuous attack by the military and they had to run for their lives. They had very little food and water and were subject to many other dangers. The fact that not one of the hostages was killed is seen as a miracle.
Her story of survival has captivated people all over the world.
Children going missing
Strydom said: “Daily, we hear about children going missing. These children are often taken by people they know or raped and abused by people they know. We teach children not to take sweets and gifts, to tell about what is happening to them and to be aware of the dangers of social media.”
Strydom noted that child rape is extremely under reported and many NGOs felt that a drop in rape case numbers was an indication people did not trust the reporting system.
"Hopefully, by the end of the tour, thousands of children would have pledged to stand up against bullies and other perpetrators," she said.
For more information, contact Strydom (083 2129824) or see www.matlaabana.co.za or www.facebook.com/matlaabana.