Wan Smolbag Theatre

Last updated
Wan Smolbag Theatre
Founded1989
TypeCommunity Theatre and Development Organisation
FocusAwareness, engagement and education in issues of health, governance, gender and politics
Location
Area served
South Pacific
Employees
approx. 150
Volunteers
approx. 400
Website www.wansmolbag.org

Wan Smolbag Theatre (Bislama for "one small bag") is a non-government organisation based in Vanuatu, and operating all over the South Pacific. It is primarily a development theatre group aiming to create awareness and engagement with issues surrounding education, health, governance, the environment, youth and gender.

Contents

Wan Smolbag has expanded from a voluntary theatre group to include a reproductive health clinic, a youth centre, a conservation network and a sports centre. It is core funded by Oxfam, Australian Aid and the New Zealand Agency for International Development. It produces materials such as a television show, DVDs, booklets and posters for education and training in communities, NGOs, schools and government departments throughout the South Pacific and the world. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Wan Smolbag has over 140 full-time and part-time staff: actors, director, scriptwriter, finance and administrative staff, graphic artists, nurses, peer educators, youth workers, film and radio technicians, and managers. It is based at converted warehouses in Tagabe, Port Vila, and also has a youth centre on the island of Pentecost, and a reproductive health clinic and youth centre in Luganville, Santo. it has two associate theatre groups on the outer islands: Haulua Theatre based on Pentecost and Wuhuran Theatre based on Ambrym. It also has a network of over 400 volunteer turtle conservation monitors (Vanua-tai monitors) based on islands throughout Vanuatu.

History

Wan Smolbag Theatre was established in Port Vila, Vanuatu in 1989. It began as an amateur theatre group with 15 voluntary actors. Since that time WSB has established a national and regional reputation as a development theatre organisation that produces and delivers locally produced, high-quality film, radio and theatre productions that are complemented by a range of workshop and printed materials. Coupled with structured workshops facilitated by actors, the organisation uses drama to inform, raise awareness and encourage public discussion on a range of contemporary health, lifestyle, environment and governance issues.

The use of development theatre has led WSB into other areas such as reproductive health clinic, youth centres, and a rural-based conservation network. In 1997, WSB spent six months working closely with the Blacksands/Tagabe peri-urban settlement community, which has high levels of unemployment and illiteracy. During that time, a community play was developed, and research was conducted into many issues affecting the contemporary daily lives of community members. As result of that collaboration, WSB initiated a new reproductive health clinic (Kam Pusum Hed or KPH) at its base in Port Vila. KPH has gone on to be a model for the region of a confidential, youth-friendly reproductive health service. They have also duplicated the KPH model in Santo, with the Northern Youth Care Clinic.

In December 2002, WSB was awarded the Pacific People of the Year accolade by Islands Business magazine. [6]

WSB had over 140 full-time and part-time staff: actors, director, scriptwriter, finance and administrative staff, graphic artists, nurses, peer educators, youth workers, film and radio technicians, and managers. WSB has its base at converted warehouses in Tagabe, Port Vila, but also has a youth centre on the island of Pentecost, and a reproductive health clinic and youth centre in Luganville, Santo. WSB has two associate theatre groups on the outer islands; Haulua Theatre based on Pentecost and Wuhuran Theatre based on Ambrym. WSB also has a network of over 400 volunteer turtle conservation monitors (Vanua-tai monitors) based on islands throughout Vanuatu.

In July 2009, WSB celebrated its 20th year of existence with performances of a new play called 40 Dei (40 days), and by inviting several overseas acts to come and participate in a 20th Anniversary Festival in Port Vila. Overseas performers included Polytoxic Dance Company from Brisbane, Nuffield Theatre from Southampton, UK, Kurruru Theatre, Diat Alferink and Steve Noonan all from Adelaide, Cie Les Kidams from Nouméa, Seini F. Taumoepeau from Sydney and New Zealand's Te Rakau.

Productions

Coupled with structured workshops facilitated by actors, Wan Smolbag Theatre organisation uses drama to inform, raise awareness and encourage public discussion on a range of contemporary health, lifestyle, environment, and governance issues.

Wan Smolbag Theatre also produced Love Patrol, Vanuatu's first locally produced television show. Love Patrol was a police drama that seeks to engage the public on the causes and impacts of the spread of HIV in the region, as well as a number of other social and political issues. It was produced with funding with from Australian Aid and accompanied by resource books and lesson plans for use in classrooms and workshops. [4]

To provide a means to tell the stories of disabled people in Vanuatu, Wan Smolbag formed the Rainbow Disability Theatre, which also acts as a support and solidarity group for the actors within it. [7]

Wan Smolbag's health programme is also supported by the Healthforce theatre group, which engages communities throughout Vanuatu on issues of health, wealth management, nutrition, sanitation and waste management. [8]

Services

KPH clinic

Wan Smolbag Theatre's health programme also includes several reproductive health clinics in Port Vila and Luganville and nurses make monthly trips to the island of Pentecost to run a clinic at the Wan Smolbag youth centre there. The clinics offer counselling, family planning, STI counselling and treatment, Voluntary Confidential Counselling and Testing (VCCT), condoms, peer education, outreach programmes and a mobile clinic. [1]

Youth centre

Wan Smolbag Theatre runs two urban youth centres and one rural youth centre in Port Vila, Luganville and the island of Pentecost. The youth centres are aimed at the large number of unemployed and out of school youth throughout Vanuatu. They provide informal classes, workshops, and activities e.g. hip hop, nutrition, music, sewing, agriculture, and sport.

Sports centre

Since 2005, Wan Smolbag has offered youth the opportunity to learn and participate in sports, such as futsal, hockey, basketball, and volleyball. The teams have entered a number of international tournaments and a number of youth have gone abroad for training and competitions.

Nutrition centre

At the main location in Vila, Wan Smolbag offers cooking and nutrition classes to local youth and provides workshops for schools, women at the market, and cooks. Some workshops are partnered with the Ministry of Health. The centre also provides a nutritious lunch for all staff, youth, and the wider community. [9]

Environment

Wan Smolbag's environment programme focuses on encouraging and supporting community responsibility for the sustainable use of their resources. The programme has dealt with the issues of sustainable tourism, sea cucumber farming and turtle conservation via education programmes, plays, publications and the creation of the Vanua-Tai conservation network. Vanua-Tai monitors and protects populations of hawksbill turtles throughout Vanuatu. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanuatu</span> Country in Oceania

Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an island country in Melanesia, located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 540 km (340 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Vila</span> Capital and largest city of Vanuatu

Port Vila, or simply Vila, is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Espiritu Santo</span> Island in Vanuatu

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of 3,955.5 km2 (1,527.2 sq mi) and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luganville</span> Place in Sanma Province, Vanuatu

Luganville is the second largest city in Vanuatu after the capital Port Vila; it is located on the island of Espiritu Santo and has a population of 18,062 as of the 2020 census. Those on Vanuatu's northern islands who regard Luganville as their big city, particularly indigenous populations, call it Santo; rural residents of Espiritu Santo call it Kanal. Luganville served as a major base of operations for American troops during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentecost Island</span> Island in Vanuatu

Pentecost Island is one of the 83 islands that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu.

Port Olry is a small Francophone village on the island of Espiritu Santo in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu, with a population of 1,300, as estimated in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paama</span> Island in Vanuatu

Paama is a small island in Malampa Province, Vanuatu.

Mwotlap is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people in Vanuatu. The majority of speakers are found on the island of Motalava in the Banks Islands, with smaller communities in the islands of Ra and Vanua Lava, as well as migrant groups in the two main cities of the country, Santo and Port Vila.

Moso Island is an island off the northwest coast of Efate in Vanuatu, in Shefa Province. It is separated from Efate by Namoso Passage, which is 200 metres (660 ft) wide at its narrowest point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church in Vanuatu</span>

The Catholic Church in Vanuatu is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Catholics constitute 13% of the population of Vanuatu in 2022. The church is organized into one diocese based in the capital of Port Vila.

The literature of Vanuatu, understood in the strict sense of written literature, began in the 1960s.

<i>Love Patrol</i> Vanuatuan TV series or program

Love Patrol is a ni-Vanuatu television series. It is the first ever locally produced television series in Vanuatu. Produced by Wan Smolbag Theatre with financial assistance from AusAID, NZAID and the Asian Development Bank, it is a soap opera with a serious message, intended primarily to educate viewers on the topic of AIDS. It also tackles "youth unemployment, police brutality and the hypocrisy of keeping youth uninformed about sex". UNAIDS reported that it explores "the growing issues of high rates of STIs among young people, high teenage pregnancy, lack of discourse on sex and risk taking behaviours in [...] Pacific communities". It has been described as an "edutainment" series.

The Pentecost Star is a ni-Vanuatu weekly newspaper, issued on Pentecost Island. It was founded in August 2007 by Keithly Hango.

Raga is the language of northern Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. Like all Vanuatu languages, Raga belongs to the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian languages family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the names of villages in which it is spoken, such as Bwatvenua (Qatvenua), Lamalanga, Vunmarama and Loltong.

Life expectancy in Vanuatu is 67 years for men, and 70 years for women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing in Vanuatu</span>

Fishing is important to the national economy of Vanuatu. It is the main source of income for many in the islands and Vanuatu's biggest export. According to 2009 figures, approximately 77% of households in Vanuatu are involved in fishing activity. According to 2005 figures, Vanuatu caught 151,080 fish in that year, with frozen fish accounted for half of Vanuatu's commodity exports.

The 2016 OFC U-20 Championship was the 21st edition of the OFC U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 19 and below. This year, the tournament was held in Vanuatu for the first time by itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclone Harold</span> Category 5 South Pacific cyclone in 2020

Severe Tropical Cyclone Harold was a very powerful tropical cyclone which caused widespread destruction in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga during April 2020. It was the first Category 5 tropical cyclone in 2020. The seventh named storm of the 2019–20 Australian region cyclone season, eighth named storm, and fourth severe tropical cyclone of the 2019–20 South Pacific cyclone season, Harold was first noted as a developing tropical low within a trough of low pressure during April 1, while it was located to the east of Papua New Guinea. Over the next day, the system moved south-eastwards over the Solomon Sea, before it was classified as a tropical cyclone and named Harold by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The system moved into the Fiji Meteorological Service's area of responsibility on April 2 and began to explosively intensify by April 3, reaching Category 4 status by April 4 on both scales. The next day, it further strengthened into a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, the highest rating on the Australian scale. It made landfall on Espiritu Santo on April 6 and the next day, strengthening to its peak intensity, attaining Category 5-equivalent intensity on the Saffir–Simpson scale before making landfall on Pentecost Island. Moving east, it weakened below Category 5 intensity on both scales over subsequent days. It regained Category 5 severe tropical cyclone status while passing south of Fiji, before weakening and becoming extratropical on April 9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Vanuatu</span>

Squatting in the Republic of Vanuatu is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. After independence in 1980, informal settlements developed in cities such as Luganville and the capital Port Vila. Land in Vanuatu is either custom land owned by indigenous peoples or public land owned by the republic.

The 2022 MSG Prime Minister's Cup was held from 17–30 September 2022. Vanuatu hosted the competition with all matches being played at the Korman Stadium in Port Vila. The tournament was a resurrection of the Melanesia Cup which has not been held since the year 2000. It was a FIFA Tier-1 tournament.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sexual and reproductive health". Oxfam. 8 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "Oxfam New Zealand in the Pacific: Outline of Programmes and Plans".
  3. ↑ "Television can be good for your health". Oxfam. 28 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Love Patrol breaks down barriers in the Pacific". ABC News. ABC. 24 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Improving community safety and resilience in Vanuatu". DFAT.
  6. ↑ "Wan Smolbag Theatre". Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  7. ↑ Mawdsley. Engaging with Human Rights through Theater: A Case Study of the Vanuatu Rainbow Disability Theatre Group (PDF). Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center.
  8. ↑ Passingham (2002). Education and Sustainability: Responding to the Global Challenge. IUCN. p. 29. ISBN   9782831706238.
  9. ↑ "Year of the garden as ni-Vanuatu urged to grow their own". Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme.
  10. ↑ "Pacific Islander wins International Award for Turtle Conservation". ABC.


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