Reach the Unreachable in Maloney, Trinidad

by Naima Thompson

Our Reach the Unreachable literacy through drama program has made its way to Maloney, Trinidad. This project is dedicated to Marcia Henville who met with me a month before we lost her. We had hoped to bring such a program to Maloney and as it turns out, her soldiers are manifesting her dream.

Up to this point we have had workshops at the headquarters in POS and at the outreach sites in Kenya.

When Trinidadian television producer Jillian Wickham visited Dubai in January, we chatted extensively about Necessary Arts and bringing its outreach program home.  She shared with me that her company, Framesync, was commissioned by the Honorable Camille Robinson-Regis to conduct a video production boot camp for the children and youth of the Arouca/Maloney region. A synergy was now inevitable.

After a site visit and several planning meetings, we are pleased to say that all is in place to start the four week boot camp on March 18th.

We suggested the theme of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child to mirror the current Thompson Thespians program in Dubai. The NAS team would need an acting coach, a literacy coach and of course someone to handle the logistics and collaborative needs with Framsync.

Thanks to our teacher/volunteers, Penelope Spencer, Patrice Trim and Marianne Bishop, the collaboration is well on its way.

So the big question today is:

Can we collectively raise the social consciousness and literacy skills of the participants as we examine the content of the boot camp?  If so, how do we know that we achieved success?