Despite being sexually abused by her own teachers during her school years, attempting suicide 11 times and even being admitted to a mental hospital, Mary Ndlovu is still standing.
She is one of the young artists who will be showing her work this weekend at the Rise Up and Walk Youth International Festival at the Joburg Theatre.
The three-day festival, which starts today, is the brainchild of renowned actress Pamela Nomvete.
The 25-year-old Ndlovu has endured some harsh treatment, all because of her albinism, and she will tell her story tomorrow at the Joburg Theatre in a play she wrote, Mary Mary, My Voice.
"The play is based on a true story, my story. I lived in the hell of my own fear and what I didn't want the world to know about me. When I walked into Pamela Nomvete's class it was time to stop running and fight. Face the one thing I hated most - life," Ndlovu says.
She was in Nomvete's Sibongile Bax Dale arts incubation project, which gives young people grass-roots development in performance.
Ndlovu grew up at Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, but is currently based in Ennerdale.
"Living in a community where everyone hates you because of what you look like made me start hating myself because I didn't know I was human. From the age of eight I was raped by a family friend I called an uncle. I was sexually abused in school by male teachers pretending to help me read and write. I had no friends at primary school, kids would spit at me and in their shirts when they see me," she recalls.
Things were so bad that it affected her relationship with her older brother. "When we were sent to the shops, he would ask me to walk far from him so no one sees us together."
But Ndlovu has found strength thanks to the Sibongile Bax Dale project, which made her appreciate herself. She tells me that there are 46 chromosomes in each cell, 23 inherent from her mother with the other 23 inherited from her father.
"Each of the 46 chromosomes contains thousands of genes. I inherited albinism. I'm so proud of it, blessed to be the chosen one." About the play, she says it's a one-woman show exploring all her atrocious experiences.
She shares her cup of positive energy with others out there who are in need of it.
She has started her own programme, Dynamite Dynamic Explosion, where she gives anyone "a chance to change poison to medicine".
"Whenever I would be around children, I saw my pain and past in them, so began to teach kids about the ability and capability they have within. I never had a childhood so now I'm doing for others what I wished someone had done for me."
She says what inspired her is freedom. "I was silenced and ashamed of who I was, and what I did not know was possible for me breaking free. Talking about it has let me breath for the first time. I feel alive and human."
tiwaneb@timesmedia.co.za
Mary breaks the silence and now feels human
Despite being sexually abused by her own teachers during her school years, attempting suicide 11 times and even being admitted to a mental hospital, Mary Ndlovu is still standing.
She is one of the young artists who will be showing her work this weekend at the Rise Up and Walk Youth International Festival at the Joburg Theatre.
The three-day festival, which starts today, is the brainchild of renowned actress Pamela Nomvete.
The 25-year-old Ndlovu has endured some harsh treatment, all because of her albinism, and she will tell her story tomorrow at the Joburg Theatre in a play she wrote, Mary Mary, My Voice.
"The play is based on a true story, my story. I lived in the hell of my own fear and what I didn't want the world to know about me. When I walked into Pamela Nomvete's class it was time to stop running and fight. Face the one thing I hated most - life," Ndlovu says.
She was in Nomvete's Sibongile Bax Dale arts incubation project, which gives young people grass-roots development in performance.
Ndlovu grew up at Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, but is currently based in Ennerdale.
"Living in a community where everyone hates you because of what you look like made me start hating myself because I didn't know I was human. From the age of eight I was raped by a family friend I called an uncle. I was sexually abused in school by male teachers pretending to help me read and write. I had no friends at primary school, kids would spit at me and in their shirts when they see me," she recalls.
Things were so bad that it affected her relationship with her older brother. "When we were sent to the shops, he would ask me to walk far from him so no one sees us together."
But Ndlovu has found strength thanks to the Sibongile Bax Dale project, which made her appreciate herself. She tells me that there are 46 chromosomes in each cell, 23 inherent from her mother with the other 23 inherited from her father.
"Each of the 46 chromosomes contains thousands of genes. I inherited albinism. I'm so proud of it, blessed to be the chosen one." About the play, she says it's a one-woman show exploring all her atrocious experiences.
She shares her cup of positive energy with others out there who are in need of it.
She has started her own programme, Dynamite Dynamic Explosion, where she gives anyone "a chance to change poison to medicine".
"Whenever I would be around children, I saw my pain and past in them, so began to teach kids about the ability and capability they have within. I never had a childhood so now I'm doing for others what I wished someone had done for me."
She says what inspired her is freedom. "I was silenced and ashamed of who I was, and what I did not know was possible for me breaking free. Talking about it has let me breath for the first time. I feel alive and human."
tiwaneb@timesmedia.co.za
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