A new season of the powerful, child-trafficking awareness play Innocence Lost begins in September, visiting schools across Gauteng to inform children of this devastating social issue.
This Naledi award-winning, educational theatre project by National Children’s Theatre (NCT) is designed to inform vulnerable teenagers of the dangers of being trafficked, and how to recognise and deal with would-be traffickers.
The play combines art and activism, and is directed by Thando Msibi, an experienced director, spiritual healer and teacher of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Msibi describes Innocence Lost as a “timeless piece of theatre”.
Msibi says the play expresses many of the dreams that our children have for a better life, but paints how these can be weaponised to lure them into danger.
“Innocence Lost shows how, when someone offers children the validation that they yearn for, they can easily be led astray,” says Msibi.
The play depicts the dangers of human trafficking but also offers hope. As part of the touring production, audience members are provided with advice and coping skills during a Q&A session at the end of the play. In addition to the play, the session is hosted by ACT Africa and the Department of Social Development, to help audiences with the psychosocial issues addressed in the play.
ACT Africa is an organisation dedicated to saving lives through awareness and education, and breaking the vicious cycles of gender-based violence and human trafficking. Hilary Leong, co-founder, chair and CEO of ACT Africa, describes Innocence Lost as “a tangible expression of the scourge of human trafficking”, which brings theatre to children who might never have experienced it before.
The production works hand-in-hand with another tangible initiative to decode human trafficking for children, the ACT Africa board game, No 2 Violence, endorsed by the Gauteng Department of Social Development, which is currently seeing further funding.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime describes human trafficking as “a global crime that trades in people and exploits them for profit”. People of all backgrounds anywhere in the world can become victims of this crime. Traffickers use violence, fraudulent employment agencies, and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick, coerce and deceive their victims.
The 2022 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons reported that about 50 000 human trafficking victims were detected and reported by 141 countries.
Innocence Lost was written by playwright, NCT CEO and board chair Moira Katz. “It’s a harrowing story, but an extremely important message,” says Katz, who wrote the play after meeting a young woman who had experienced the trauma of being trafficked, and who was one of the rare lucky ones who had been able to escape.
“NCT has a long tradition of social plays,” she says. “We are proud to be able to play a role in educating young people about social issues, and how to deal with them.”
Director Msibi says that, for her, Innocence Lost has been one of the most challenging plays she has been asked to direct, but that it remains crucial viewing. “I had to draw from several spaces that I have found myself in as a professional and a spiritualist, to understand the backgrounds of my learners, the cast, our audience and their struggles,” she says.
“However, producing this play has been a special process, and I believe it will be healing for audiences, as well as for everyone who has been involved in it. If you have the chance, make an effort to see Innocence Lost.”
For more information on Innocence Lost and/or to arrange for a visit to your school, call NCT’s Dirhil Kilhuwe on 011 484 1584 or e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected].