Fezeka's Voice (2009) Movie Script
1
[orchestra tuning]
[audience chatting]
[woman in audience]
Could you turn my phone off for me?
Could you turn it off for me?
[violin tuning]
[flute playing]
[audience chatting]
[flute playing]
[orchestra tuning continues]
[woman] so this is four bars
before letter "A."
[church bells]
[wind chimes playing]
[church bells continue]
[trumpet playing softly]
[orchestra playing]
[background chatter in Xhosa]
-[laughter]
-[shouting]
[singing in Xhosa]
[boy 1 gasping]
[boy 2 shouts]
[Phumi] I've told the boys
the important thing is to not hold back
or try to copy the English style.
We have worked hard to get here
and a lot of money has been spent,
so we should show we appreciate that.
Now our work here has started
and this is our work.
Are we clear?
[cymbal music plays]
[Julie] When all this started,
Phumi kept saying,
"Hey, go and apply for your passport,"
and I thought, "Its not going to happen."
[Nokwanda] Is this really serious?
Are we really going or
Oh, now I started to feel that,
"Oh, Im going to England."
[Zukisa] The word flight was, flight,
no, man, its not there.
I am going to another country.
No, its not happening, boss.
It was my dream.
[piano music playing]
Altos this way!
Sssh.
[Julie] But when he got a letter
inviting the choir,
then I started thinking,
"Hey, this is real.
Its happening."
[applause]
[piano music continues]
[piano music ends]
[African music playing]
[honking]
[chatter]
[marimba music playing]
[woman] All right.
[woman speaks indistinctly]
[woman] If I take less time
than the other person
to finish that job, then it means Ive got
more power than that person. Seven?
Right, they say its the rate
at which were done.
Its the time it takes
for that job to be finished.
[speaking Xhosa]
Thats what makes a person more powerful
or to have more power.
[marimba music continues]
[woman] Which lines did you utilize
to calculate your gradients?
A, B and? BC.
[woman 2] So,
it is sexually transmitted, yes?
How does this virus get transmitted?
How do people get this virus?
Are the people prepared to abstain?
Why would you say no? Peer pressure?
[speaking Xhosa] [sings]
Come on, come on.
[in Xhosa] You must time
your own part, then sing one, two
You're not concentrating,
you're messing around.
You missed your part last time.
[organ playing]
[singing]
Okay.
Tenor and alt.
[upbeat music playing]
[Phumi] We are one of the best choirs--
school-based choirs. If not the best.
And a lot of the other choirs that are
usually our second, third best,
have had a stint abroad, and
we have not,
and then were beginning to wonder
"What is this?"
[singing]
Wow!
Ah! Whoa!
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] One, two, three. One, two
[singing]
[Phumi laughs]
Whatever!
[screams]
Okay. Lets hear soprano
and tenor one more time.
[inspiring music playing]
[Phumi] It's going to be a mammoth task,
you know, its a tall ask.
I have faith that they, yeah, it will all,
itll turn out well in the end.
[Phumi] You know, teaching is
a very, very funny profession.
I dont think theres any country where
teachers are paid huge sums of money.
I dont think were here for that.
I went down to the river
I sat down on the bank
I tried to think, but couldnt
So I jumped in and sank
I came up once and hollered
I came up twice
[Phumi] Then there must be something
in this profession of ours
that actually keeps us attracted to it
like a moth is attracted to the light.
Even when we want to wander away,
somehow there is a compelling force that
keeps bringing us closer to the light.
[inspiring music playing]
Theres always a lot of chatting
and counter-chatting,
so the game is not necessarily
only played on the field.
The talking itself, as well,
they score points.
[laughs]
[piano music playing]
[choir singing]
[students chattering]
[Phumi] Just so that you have the idea.
[in Xhosa] The plane leaves Cape Town
and goes this way over the sea.
The countries you'll be passing over,
starting with Africa,
are Namibia, Angola, Gabon,
Ivory Coast Mauritania,
Algeria, Morocco,
Portugal, Spain, Ireland.
Im told its very cold there and then
England. Thats where were going.
[speaking Xhosa]
England, UK.
[choir singing]
[Phumi] England, London,
right, like Hollywood, USA,
has a lot of glitz and glam
thats portrayed on TV.
So, they have those ideas.
They are expecting
to find this world full of
fun, fun, fun. [laughs]
[choir singing]
[Busi] Its been a big dream for me
because Ive always dreamed
to be like a movie star,
shooting my movies in the Hollywood.
Im the star. But now to England, yeah.
Im also taking this one along.
This is my favourite dress.
[Zukisa] My earrings.
In this century boys wear earrings.
So, its not a crime.
We just want to look cute.
[Phumi] Just like Id assume is the case
with people who come here
who have never been to Africa,
I mean,
Im sure the pre-concept ideas would be
that we are moving around half naked
with animals and maybe
having a lion as a pet on my backyard.
You know, until a person
then comes to Africa and experiences it,
a person would never know what Africa is.
I think Ill allow them that space.
Im not going to spoil the fun.
[choir singing]
[phone rings]
[Phumi] Hello, maam. Is that [inaudible]?
Im all right, maam. I cannot complain.
Well, Im lying, I can complain.
My name is Phumi Tsewu. I am calling
from Cape Town, Fezeka High School.
Maam, I have a very serious crisis.
Im traveling with 77 kids to England.
These two boys applied
for their ID documents last year,
but Home Affairs then told them that
their documents had been water damaged.
They needed to re-apply and
They did re-apply this year in January,
but still don't have ID numbers, ma'am.
Upon inquiring with Home Affairs,
apparently these kids, the two of them,
dont have ID numbers.
Immediately, if we can get them ID numbers
or birth certificates
only then will they be able
to issue passports.
[chatting]
[phone rings]
[choir singing]
[Phumi] Music is a very strange, very,
very strange language.
It is used, I mean, we use it,
for instance, as a tool to,
not only to discipline children,
but to get them away from trouble.
In fact, we protect them
against being exposed
to gangsterism, to drugs, to
to alcohol abuse and so forth.
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] You have a lot of people that,
in fact, young people that belong to gangs
that are quite a threat
to the prosperity of the township.
These gangs infiltrate schools
and youd find the cliques also
existing inside
the schooling setting, yeah,
which pose quite
a serious challenge to the progress
of the learners at school.
[marimba music playing]
[opera music playing]
This is my favourite song from this opera.
Inside it,
its out and about to be a celebrity.
This is me.
"Teen talent Kaapse Jol. He wowed
the judges with his operatic voice.
Now Zukisa Nyaba, 16 years old,
has his sights set on fame.
And he's well on his way thanks
to the Teen Talent Competition.
The teenager who hails
from New Cross Roads, Nyanga,
made the top 10 in the competition
which saw organizers
bussing in contestants
from the townships and Cape Flats.
Zukisa's soaring voice left
the judges speechless,
'You are a rough diamond,'
gushed judge Mini Groove."
I have a low self-esteem.
Thats the problem.
Sometimes I think of things that are
the things that Im not supposed to do.
Like, sometimes I think
Im not a good person.
Sometimes I think of killing myself
or sometimes I think of
of Well, I just have the anger
and I dont behave right at home
and I'm cheeky and do unexpected stuff.
Thats how I handle the pressure.
So, I dont like to be disappointed.
[Phumi] Its okay
to be disappointed, Maizo.
Its actually okay to be disappointed.
When we were growing up, we used to
go to the ponds chasing wild ducks,
especially the small ones.
When you see it in the water,
you feel like you can catch it,
and you dive in the water.
You see it floating on the water.
Its as if its blown away by the breeze.
Right? But dive underneath
and look at its little feet
below the surface.
The duck's feet are the busiest ever
under the surface of the water.
So, appear cool,
but below the surface,
work like mad.
-[laughter]
-Right?
[kids playing and shouting]
[choir singing opera]
[Phumi] Its quite strange
how theyve taken to Italian.
They are able to sing music
in Italian and German
and they struggle to speak English, yeah?
They struggle to speak Afrikaans.
But, when they have music
in those languages,
in the languages of the opera,
they handle that music.
They are able,
even able to memorize the music
and, you know, get on stage
and perform as if they are natives
in the language.
[orchestra playing]
[opera music playing]
[Nokwanda] My biggest dream is to be
an opera singer like Pavarotti, you know?
A famous opera singer,
produce my own songs, you know,
and be a professional.
I want to go to university and study
and get my degrees and my diplomas.
The issue is a financial issue,
you know,
cause the fees at the universities
are much expensive.
If that's not possible,
I have to go and find a job cause
I cant just sit around doing nothing.
[chatter on radio]
Theres this attitude
that I dont have money, so,
why should I go, why should I go
beyond boundaries because
um because
I was meant to not have money.
I was meant to be poor because Im black
and I have to
therefore I have to stay there,
down, not go beyond, yeah.
[organ playing]
[singing]
[choir singing]
Yeah, why didnt you do that?
One, two, three, four
[singing]
[Phumi] Okay, tenor. [sings]
I think the reason why
theyre not moving any gear up
is because
the energy levels are quite low.
They probably really get that from me.
I may be leading in that regard.
Im dog tired, actually. Dog, dog tired.
Im just exhausted.
[inspiring music playing]
[Phumi] A slave pusher I am.
I have to push them
a little further than this limit
that they seem to have reached now.
[inspiring music playing]
You're worried aren't you?
Yeah, I am.
[Phumi] to travel with 77 children
to Salisbury, England.
All right.
There are bumps.
My contact at the national office,
she is no longer working
for the department of Home Affairs.
[in Xhosa] We knew
someone in the offices in Pretoria,
she says she's no longer
working for Home Affairs.
We wanted to get
the applications to her for fast tracking,
especially their ID numbers
because they
need to check their fingerprints.
Yeah, it would seem it's a slow process.
[mocking silently]
[Nokwanda] It might be crazy
but yeah Im so excited,
especially when Im packing.
These are the shoes
that were gonna be singing with.
So, I bought some of them,
and this is the tracksuit that Zuki
and Tsewu bought me the other day.
Yeah, I pack it first,
so that I wont leave it behind.
[upbeat music]
[Julie] Nokwanda spends
most of her weekends at Phumis place.
She sees a father in him.
So, I think that is, he plays
that father role in these learners.
[chatter in store]
[speaking Xhosa]
[Zuki] Sometimes,
um, one of them would,
like, the other time he came here
and he said hes really worried
that theres one boy there
that doesnt have
grey pants for school uniform
and he feels
that its affecting his confidence
and performance in the choir as well.
So, he was asking me
if we could provide
and buy pants for that boy
and we did, you know?
So, sometimes, yeah,
I do as well become a mother,
a mother to some of them.
Not all of them.
[piano music playing]
[Busi] I'm singing opera today
because of Mr. Teswu.
He taught me such a lot of things.
He plays such a big role to us.
[Phumi] This is like
my own little therapy.
You know,
I would have a very, very tiring day
and when I go to the choir,
when I go to see these kids,
when I, when they start singing
and they start to lighten up,
you know, their little smiles affect me.
I, in more cases than not,
find myself smiling.
[piano music playing]
Everyone is ready for England.
They cant wait for the third.
Yes, and also me.
Cant wait.
Im ready. Everything is ready.
Yeah. Im ready.
[piano music playing]
[Busi] The moment
that I started singing in 2005
I was, like, thinking of my Mom.
Maybe she will be here with me,
listen to what Im singing
and see
what her daughter is looking forward for.
My Mom passed away in 2000, yeah.
She had HIV,
but she didnt tell us
that she got HIV.
My mom was a secretive person.
She only told her friends.
[sad music playing]
She left me with nothing,
so my Grandmother was the one who was
doing all the things for me.
[Phumi] There are quite a few kids who
are in the choir who lost their parents.
There was one time
that we buried two mothers,
I think, two or three weeks apart.
[slow music playing]
[Julie] There are no more graves here.
No more plots.
People from Gugulethu have to go to Llanga
to bury their people
or they have to bury on top of the others.
There are no more graves in Gugulethu.
[piano music playing]
[Nokwanda] My township is a township which
challenges you
to make your own decisions, you know?
So, we have to choose
which side were going to go to.
You want to go
to the wrong side or you want to
to go to the correct side,
which youre supposed to go to.
[Phumi]
These kids are born into a reality,
a reality thats-- that is a precipitation
or remnant of the past.
Take a child whos born into a township
where everybody around
has a very low morale,
a very low sense of worth
and that rubs off
to almost everybody around,
to say that, look,
umm, you can dream all you want,
but at the end of the day
you will end up like us.
You are going to be
in the same pit with us.
[slow music playing]
[speaking Xhosa]
[organ playing]
[choir singing]
[Zukisa] Every day that I write
in my diary, I first put God.
I have a little prayer that I write.
"God, thank you for everything
and for the blessing that you gave me."
In my space I write everything
that I want to achieve in life.
If I want to become a better person,
what must I change?
[singing]
[Zukisa] "I want to become
the best artist in the world."
[Busi] I realized that acting was
my passion when I was about 12 years, yes.
I wanna be a movie star and
I am going to be a movie star.
Bad boys on their best behaviour
There's something about you
[Nokwanda] I wanna be
an inspirator to my community.
I want people to look up to me.
We have to have goals, like, we have
to have vision. We have to dream.
Like, I want to be a leader someday,
you know, and lead my community.
You must be some kind of superstar
'Cause you got all eyes on you
No matter where you are
You just make me want to play
I love that song.
[traffic sounds]
[opera music]
One, two, three.
One, two, three. One, two, three. One!
[singing]
We dont chase the pace.
You move. Think lighter.
[in Xhosa] If you go there
with an attitude like,
"I'm going to nail everything I sing"
then it's not going
to make any sense, you understand?
We should be prepared now.
We should sing well when we get there
and Phumi shouldn't feel scared
you might mess it up.
Listen to what you have learnt today
and photocopy it here.
[inspiring music playing]
[Peter] My name is Thobela, I am a tenor.
Im the soloist of the school.
I have sung solos,
many solos in competitions.
I dont want to talk much about England
because I still have problems
with passport.
So, its in between.
I dont know whether I will go or not.
[piano music playing]
[woman] What are you going to do
if you can't go?
I dont know what Im going to do.
[Phumi] I think everything
about this trip
is centered around the passport thing.
The whole passport issue
is just forcing itself
to be an issue through and through.
[in Xhosa] Do you have
details of this boy's mother?
Can you page
Peter Ntshanyana over the intercom?
Details like date of birth,
ID number. Peter has all that.
[announcement over loudspeaker in Xhosa]
[announcer] Peter Ntshanyana,
can you come to the office immediately?
[suspenseful music]
[in Xhosa] We need
your mother's birth date.
10th of February.
-The 10th
-Of February.
Her name?
-Deborah.
-Deborah.
Go find the teacher.
He may have another question, run!
[suspenseful music continues]
10, 02.
[Peter] It was going
to mean a lot because
it was going to be
my first time to go abroad in England
cause Ive never been overseas before.
Yeah, it means a lot.
[tense music]
[Phumi] I am going
to travel with Peter and Zolla.
I have faith.
[tense music stops]
The old man upstairs
has not let me down so far.
Hes not going to do that this time.
[Peter] I just pretend there is no trip,
but it's so painful
because I may never get another chance
to travel with my school mates.
Only God knows if I will go or not.
[woman singing]
[Phumi] The first dream was
a very little dream.
I wanted my choir
to sing with a full orchestra.
And then we realized that.
The second dream
was to take the choir abroad,
to one of the biggest,
if not the biggest stage, in the world.
and that does not
come bigger than going to England,
you know? So this, in my view,
is a realization of that dream.
[choir singing]
[woman] Here we come, London.
Here we come.
Five days countdown. Five days.
Five, four, three, two, one, blast off!
[choir singing]
[Phumi] A trip like this does even more.
It says to them,
"You are the best among the best."
I mean, its an affirmation, you know,
that youre even worth
going to England.
You know, to such, and enter them in
a big festival, an international festival.
Its a private number. Hello? Oh.
From Pretoria, maam? Hallelujah.
Yes.
All right.
All right.
Can I quickly look for the document
that has the reference numbers?
Please hold.
[shushing the children]
I only have their birth dates,
but somebody is going, has gone to quickly
check for the reference numbers, maam.
[suspenseful music plays]
The other one
that Ive got here is 2809
Date of birth is 1989.
The other one, the surname is [inaudible].
[suspenseful music plays]
[in Xhosa] You know what?
I can cancel this trip shit,
I swear I can do that,
I swear I can.
Because one thing I'm not going to do
is put my reputation on the line.
Now, honestly.
This is one bullshit
that I'm not going to take,
and this really is bullshit.
I'm running around, wasting my time
There's me and Julie
wasting our phone credit trying
to make sure this trip is a success.
On the one hand.
Your little role
is to be at rehearsal on time,
I asked you nicely yesterday.
[silence]
And you two, where did you come from?
What time is it now?
4:05 p.m.
What the bloody hell
are you coming here to do?
Huh?
[silence]
Maybe you dont realize this.
Youre putting everybodys reputation
on the line here.
[in Xhosa] What do you think
were going there for, a holiday?
[woman speaking Xhosa]
[in Xhosa] We called you in here
because time has run out.
Yesterday, Phumi tried to call Home
Affairs, but they are familiar with us,
and nobody would talk to him.
We can't sleep because of the stress
from thinking we'll be leaving
you both behind.
Hopefully you understand
that we tried our best,
but it's out of our hands.
We couldn't do anything.
But, as Im saying,
youre still part of the choir.
I hope this is not
going to break your spirit.
Youll be with us.
Youll be with us. Well come back.
This is not the end.
There can be another opportunity.
[sad music playing]
[Julie] You know,
yesterday I was singing a song:
Lets go, go, lets go
Lets pack up our things and go
We dont know where were going
But Lord, we must go
Go, we must go
And I was thinking,
"Hey, Im going to England!"
[Julie laughs]
[upbeat music]
Squash? I hereby inform you
[in Xhosa] you have been chosen to sing
the third movement, Kyrie, in England
as a soloist.
[Julie] I had never thought I would ever
cross the seas.
And Im very thankful,
first to Phumi,
because its all because of his work
that well be traveling to England.
[speaking Xhosa]
Ah!
[man] I have 6:55. We see
youve landed and well see you shortly.
[man] How you doing, all right?
Good, welcome to London.
Can you believe youre here?
Exhausted?
-Quite exhausted, actually, yeah.
-[man] You didnt sleep on the flight?
I couldnt. I had to make sure that,
you know, the plane is kept civil. Yeah.
-[man laughs]
-Well, they were quite excited.
I mean,
you could actually hear them going,
"Ah" quietly,
and then into a crescendo of, "Whoa,"
and then when it took off
it was quite amazing.
[singing]
[inspirational music playing]
Hi.
[laughter]
Hello, Amanda. Nice to see you.
How are you? Are you very tired?
Very, very tired.
-Hello!
-Nice to-- And you as well.
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome.
-Im Sue. Hi.
-[man] I'm Francis.
Who are you looking for?
Jane Stamets? Oh, I dont know.
Ive got four. Four boys. These four.
[Phumi] Okay.
He says youre trouble.
Do we have
any younger sisters or brothers?
-[woman] Im afraid not.
-Theyre all grown up.
All our little ones
are grown up to big ones.
Youre going to be our youngsters
for the next two weeks.
[Busi]
Yeah, I cant believe that Im here.
Its been a long time.
Cool trees, man.
Wow.
Wow!
Wow!
Ive never seen
a bathroom like this before.
-Wow!
-Its cool.
[woman] Youll have to imagine
that youre on the river in Wimborne
by the boys school and theres a family
of ducks going by with little chicks,
like you just saw on the
We must do this every morning.
[choir singing]
[Busi] To me,
England is like the same as South Africa.
[boy] If you notice,
there are old people in this area
and everyone is cleaning his house.
They are not
asking someone to clean their house.
Like, Ive seen a lot of old people,
like, 80s and 90s, cleaning their yards,
shaving their grass,
then I was like, in Cape Town
by the time you turn 60 years
you ask someone to come
and clean for you, then you pay.
Then, Im like,
"Oh, theres a change here."
In a place like this you can concentrate.
Theres nothing you would not do
that you told yourself you wanted to.
[choir singing]
[Helen] Hi, Lidiya?
Hello, its Helen here.
Lidiya, is Caroline there, please?
Could I have a quick word with her?
Well, the reason Im running late
is because I think I wasnt quite
assertive enough with the girls
about the timing
and theyre just being
absolutely normal teenagers
and taking ages to get ready.
[piano music playing]
[chatting]
[suspenseful music playing]
[applause]
[silence]
[choir singing]
[audience cheers]
[silence]
[singing]
[silence]
[applause]
[piano music playing]
[piano music fades out]
[birds tweeting]
[Helen] Is the dustbin nearly full?
[boy] Not yet.
Would you like that bit of rhubarb fool
that was left?
Do you remember?
[Zukisa] I would like to have that.
-Its sour.
-It's sour?
[woman] If youve finished that,
go to the garden.
Well show you
what it looked like earlier.
-[Zukisa] This is the rhubarb?
-[woman] Its rhubarb.
-[Zukisa] This is it.
-[woman] It needs quite a bit of sugar.
-[Zukisa] Is it sour?
-Its very sour, yes.
Ill tell you whats quite nice.
Well go and wash that
and Ill put a bit of sugar
in an egg cup
[boy] You can eat it when
You can eat it like this, yes.
Ill show you.
No. No. It needs washing first
and you need sugar with it
because its very sour.
[Zukisa] Do you have vegetables
around this garden?
Yeah. These are vegetables, look.
Potatoes. In here
Ive got lettuces and rocket,
but Ive got it covered up to try
and stop the rabbits pinching them.
[Zukisa] The rabbits? That little animal?
[woman] Yeah. That little thing with
the long ears that was on the lawn.
[piano music]
[Zukisa] Theyre hungry.
They are thirsty, man.
[woman] This is rhubarb. Try it.
No, I
[boy] Its sour?
With sugar on it its not too bad.
You probably won't like it though.
-Cowards!
-[boys laugh]
When I was a little girl we used
to do this all the time. I used to have
[Zukisa] Let me try.
Thats nice.
Its not too bad, is it?
[Zukisa] Try it.
[opera music plays]
[girls speaking Xhosa]
[opera music continues]
[speaking Xhosa]
[opera music continues]
[woman 2] When Priscilla and I
were in communication before they arrived
she asked me if she could call me Mum,
which was wonderful.
My instant reaction was to think
"How lovely, how warm and how open."
And so Priscillas calling me "Mum"
and shes calling Simon "Dad."
But, of course,
with that comes all the responsibilities
of being a surrogate mother
and having two additional
children in our family.
[piano music playing]
[woman 2] Im trying to be
a Mummy to them,
but a Mummy to a 15 year old, rather than
to the child that she was
when she lost her Mum,
and I, sort of,
I hope Im getting it right.
I hope Im being warm enough
and kind enough,
but not so emotional
that they find it difficult.
[piano music playing]
[newscast music playing]
[TV newscaster] Hello, the latest news
now from South Today, Im Jo Kent.
A South African activist,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
is the guest of honour
in Salisbury this weekend.
He was invited as part of celebrations for
the citys International Arts Festival
and will also receive special recognition
at Salisbury Cathedral.
[joking and laughing]
[Desmond Tutu] I remember
what it meant when my family and I came
for the first time to England in 1962
um and apartheid
was at its height then.
To meet up with a London bobby,
um, and say, "Excuse me,
how do we get to such and such a place?"
And the bobby says,
"Well, maam"
Maam?
"Well, sir"
It was such a novelty
for us that long afterwards,
even when we knew
where we were going
[laughter]
[Desmond Tutu] we would go up
to a bobby and say, "Excuse me,
how do we get to such and such?",
just to have them say,
"Sir, you go that way."
"Sir" Ah, ah, ah!
And what it did for us.
For you who have never been unfree,
you actually dont know the awfulness
of unfreedom
when it gets to make you doubt
that youre a child of God.
[piano music]
Youll be fantastic people.
[Desmond Tutu] Theyre all going to be
incredible people.
One day
they will
they will be composers, they will be
they will be
heart specialists, they will be
all kinds of things
because you invested in them,
because you had confidence in them,
because you
trusted them.
[woman laughing]
[woman 3] And, you go one, two, three, up.
[Nokwanda laughs]
[Nokwanda laughing]
[opera music playing]
[singing]
[choir sings]
[Phumi] I sometimes worry about my
enthusiasm to want to see them succeed,
if I will not be putting
a lot of pressure on them
and they burn out and they dont succeed
or they dont go to areas
where they want to
because they dont want to disappoint me.
[choir singing]
[Phumi] But, it makes one very,
very proud that from this trip
that they are given an opportunity
to change their lives around.
They are also given an opportunity
to, you know,
to make an indelible mark
in this whole world.
[choir singing]
[laughs]
[silence]
[Julie] Yesterday, as we were
getting ready to start the day,
one of the girls
brought herself onto me
and then it was Phumis wife.
She told me that shes got bad news.
[suspenseful music]
[Julie] She told me
that Phumis son Tebogo
had been killed the previous morning
in a car accident.
He was really shocked
and he broke.
He is acting like a man.
He wants to be a man.
He doesnt want to show us
how hurt he is,
but I can see that he is hurt.
[choir singing]
[preacher] As the Kings Solomon
would have said,
there is a time for everything
and a season for everything.
There is a time to cry,
there is a time to laugh.
Theres a time for sadness
and theres a time for joy.
That you can only take solace
in that fact
that as the sun has set upon us,
as the sun has set upon Phumi
and his family,
but you know
that tomorrow there is a morning
in which the sun will definitely rise.
The joy will definitely come
in the morning.
And for Tebogo we pray to God
that his soul may rest in peace
and we pray that God
may give strength to Phumi and the family
and we also want to say
thank you very much, to God
and to everybody else
who has been of great support.
We pray for all these things
in Jesus name. Amen.
[choir singing]
[choir stops singing]
[light music playing]
[piano music playing]
[Phumi singing]
Stop.
One, two, three and go.
[choir singing]
[singing]
[speaking Xhosa]
Little toddlers.
[singing]
They would probably be doing that.
[singing]
Come on, sound like high school girls.
[Phumi singing]
It might sound dirty. Yes, high school.
One, two. One, all the tenor,
bass, one, three, two and four
[singing]
Soprano, alto, and tenor. You sing
[piano music playing]
[chatting]
[woman singing opera]
[woman] Keep the focus in the
[singing]
Right on top of it, right into
the core of the sound. Keep it there.
[student sings]
[woman sings] Keep it there.
[student sings]
[piano music playing]
[inaudible]
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] With kids you get kids
that are coming from all walks of life.
With our school choir in particular
wed even get kids that are troubled.
That are victims to substance.
That were part of gangs
and they get sent to the choir.
If you can get that one child
get out of that quagmire,
get that one kid
who would even come to school
on an empty stomach
get them to achieve
and get themselves out of that mire
I guess thats my passion in life.
Dont do this.
Lets not do this. Stop. I cant.
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] Yeah. If you can get that one kid
to achieve
and change his or her life around,
you know, I would,
as a person, have achieved.
So, thats
Yeah, I have to go to class now.
[piano music playing]
[piano music fades out]
[choir singing]
[orchestra tuning]
[audience chatting]
[woman in audience]
Could you turn my phone off for me?
Could you turn it off for me?
[violin tuning]
[flute playing]
[audience chatting]
[flute playing]
[orchestra tuning continues]
[woman] so this is four bars
before letter "A."
[church bells]
[wind chimes playing]
[church bells continue]
[trumpet playing softly]
[orchestra playing]
[background chatter in Xhosa]
-[laughter]
-[shouting]
[singing in Xhosa]
[boy 1 gasping]
[boy 2 shouts]
[Phumi] I've told the boys
the important thing is to not hold back
or try to copy the English style.
We have worked hard to get here
and a lot of money has been spent,
so we should show we appreciate that.
Now our work here has started
and this is our work.
Are we clear?
[cymbal music plays]
[Julie] When all this started,
Phumi kept saying,
"Hey, go and apply for your passport,"
and I thought, "Its not going to happen."
[Nokwanda] Is this really serious?
Are we really going or
Oh, now I started to feel that,
"Oh, Im going to England."
[Zukisa] The word flight was, flight,
no, man, its not there.
I am going to another country.
No, its not happening, boss.
It was my dream.
[piano music playing]
Altos this way!
Sssh.
[Julie] But when he got a letter
inviting the choir,
then I started thinking,
"Hey, this is real.
Its happening."
[applause]
[piano music continues]
[piano music ends]
[African music playing]
[honking]
[chatter]
[marimba music playing]
[woman] All right.
[woman speaks indistinctly]
[woman] If I take less time
than the other person
to finish that job, then it means Ive got
more power than that person. Seven?
Right, they say its the rate
at which were done.
Its the time it takes
for that job to be finished.
[speaking Xhosa]
Thats what makes a person more powerful
or to have more power.
[marimba music continues]
[woman] Which lines did you utilize
to calculate your gradients?
A, B and? BC.
[woman 2] So,
it is sexually transmitted, yes?
How does this virus get transmitted?
How do people get this virus?
Are the people prepared to abstain?
Why would you say no? Peer pressure?
[speaking Xhosa] [sings]
Come on, come on.
[in Xhosa] You must time
your own part, then sing one, two
You're not concentrating,
you're messing around.
You missed your part last time.
[organ playing]
[singing]
Okay.
Tenor and alt.
[upbeat music playing]
[Phumi] We are one of the best choirs--
school-based choirs. If not the best.
And a lot of the other choirs that are
usually our second, third best,
have had a stint abroad, and
we have not,
and then were beginning to wonder
"What is this?"
[singing]
Wow!
Ah! Whoa!
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] One, two, three. One, two
[singing]
[Phumi laughs]
Whatever!
[screams]
Okay. Lets hear soprano
and tenor one more time.
[inspiring music playing]
[Phumi] It's going to be a mammoth task,
you know, its a tall ask.
I have faith that they, yeah, it will all,
itll turn out well in the end.
[Phumi] You know, teaching is
a very, very funny profession.
I dont think theres any country where
teachers are paid huge sums of money.
I dont think were here for that.
I went down to the river
I sat down on the bank
I tried to think, but couldnt
So I jumped in and sank
I came up once and hollered
I came up twice
[Phumi] Then there must be something
in this profession of ours
that actually keeps us attracted to it
like a moth is attracted to the light.
Even when we want to wander away,
somehow there is a compelling force that
keeps bringing us closer to the light.
[inspiring music playing]
Theres always a lot of chatting
and counter-chatting,
so the game is not necessarily
only played on the field.
The talking itself, as well,
they score points.
[laughs]
[piano music playing]
[choir singing]
[students chattering]
[Phumi] Just so that you have the idea.
[in Xhosa] The plane leaves Cape Town
and goes this way over the sea.
The countries you'll be passing over,
starting with Africa,
are Namibia, Angola, Gabon,
Ivory Coast Mauritania,
Algeria, Morocco,
Portugal, Spain, Ireland.
Im told its very cold there and then
England. Thats where were going.
[speaking Xhosa]
England, UK.
[choir singing]
[Phumi] England, London,
right, like Hollywood, USA,
has a lot of glitz and glam
thats portrayed on TV.
So, they have those ideas.
They are expecting
to find this world full of
fun, fun, fun. [laughs]
[choir singing]
[Busi] Its been a big dream for me
because Ive always dreamed
to be like a movie star,
shooting my movies in the Hollywood.
Im the star. But now to England, yeah.
Im also taking this one along.
This is my favourite dress.
[Zukisa] My earrings.
In this century boys wear earrings.
So, its not a crime.
We just want to look cute.
[Phumi] Just like Id assume is the case
with people who come here
who have never been to Africa,
I mean,
Im sure the pre-concept ideas would be
that we are moving around half naked
with animals and maybe
having a lion as a pet on my backyard.
You know, until a person
then comes to Africa and experiences it,
a person would never know what Africa is.
I think Ill allow them that space.
Im not going to spoil the fun.
[choir singing]
[phone rings]
[Phumi] Hello, maam. Is that [inaudible]?
Im all right, maam. I cannot complain.
Well, Im lying, I can complain.
My name is Phumi Tsewu. I am calling
from Cape Town, Fezeka High School.
Maam, I have a very serious crisis.
Im traveling with 77 kids to England.
These two boys applied
for their ID documents last year,
but Home Affairs then told them that
their documents had been water damaged.
They needed to re-apply and
They did re-apply this year in January,
but still don't have ID numbers, ma'am.
Upon inquiring with Home Affairs,
apparently these kids, the two of them,
dont have ID numbers.
Immediately, if we can get them ID numbers
or birth certificates
only then will they be able
to issue passports.
[chatting]
[phone rings]
[choir singing]
[Phumi] Music is a very strange, very,
very strange language.
It is used, I mean, we use it,
for instance, as a tool to,
not only to discipline children,
but to get them away from trouble.
In fact, we protect them
against being exposed
to gangsterism, to drugs, to
to alcohol abuse and so forth.
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] You have a lot of people that,
in fact, young people that belong to gangs
that are quite a threat
to the prosperity of the township.
These gangs infiltrate schools
and youd find the cliques also
existing inside
the schooling setting, yeah,
which pose quite
a serious challenge to the progress
of the learners at school.
[marimba music playing]
[opera music playing]
This is my favourite song from this opera.
Inside it,
its out and about to be a celebrity.
This is me.
"Teen talent Kaapse Jol. He wowed
the judges with his operatic voice.
Now Zukisa Nyaba, 16 years old,
has his sights set on fame.
And he's well on his way thanks
to the Teen Talent Competition.
The teenager who hails
from New Cross Roads, Nyanga,
made the top 10 in the competition
which saw organizers
bussing in contestants
from the townships and Cape Flats.
Zukisa's soaring voice left
the judges speechless,
'You are a rough diamond,'
gushed judge Mini Groove."
I have a low self-esteem.
Thats the problem.
Sometimes I think of things that are
the things that Im not supposed to do.
Like, sometimes I think
Im not a good person.
Sometimes I think of killing myself
or sometimes I think of
of Well, I just have the anger
and I dont behave right at home
and I'm cheeky and do unexpected stuff.
Thats how I handle the pressure.
So, I dont like to be disappointed.
[Phumi] Its okay
to be disappointed, Maizo.
Its actually okay to be disappointed.
When we were growing up, we used to
go to the ponds chasing wild ducks,
especially the small ones.
When you see it in the water,
you feel like you can catch it,
and you dive in the water.
You see it floating on the water.
Its as if its blown away by the breeze.
Right? But dive underneath
and look at its little feet
below the surface.
The duck's feet are the busiest ever
under the surface of the water.
So, appear cool,
but below the surface,
work like mad.
-[laughter]
-Right?
[kids playing and shouting]
[choir singing opera]
[Phumi] Its quite strange
how theyve taken to Italian.
They are able to sing music
in Italian and German
and they struggle to speak English, yeah?
They struggle to speak Afrikaans.
But, when they have music
in those languages,
in the languages of the opera,
they handle that music.
They are able,
even able to memorize the music
and, you know, get on stage
and perform as if they are natives
in the language.
[orchestra playing]
[opera music playing]
[Nokwanda] My biggest dream is to be
an opera singer like Pavarotti, you know?
A famous opera singer,
produce my own songs, you know,
and be a professional.
I want to go to university and study
and get my degrees and my diplomas.
The issue is a financial issue,
you know,
cause the fees at the universities
are much expensive.
If that's not possible,
I have to go and find a job cause
I cant just sit around doing nothing.
[chatter on radio]
Theres this attitude
that I dont have money, so,
why should I go, why should I go
beyond boundaries because
um because
I was meant to not have money.
I was meant to be poor because Im black
and I have to
therefore I have to stay there,
down, not go beyond, yeah.
[organ playing]
[singing]
[choir singing]
Yeah, why didnt you do that?
One, two, three, four
[singing]
[Phumi] Okay, tenor. [sings]
I think the reason why
theyre not moving any gear up
is because
the energy levels are quite low.
They probably really get that from me.
I may be leading in that regard.
Im dog tired, actually. Dog, dog tired.
Im just exhausted.
[inspiring music playing]
[Phumi] A slave pusher I am.
I have to push them
a little further than this limit
that they seem to have reached now.
[inspiring music playing]
You're worried aren't you?
Yeah, I am.
[Phumi] to travel with 77 children
to Salisbury, England.
All right.
There are bumps.
My contact at the national office,
she is no longer working
for the department of Home Affairs.
[in Xhosa] We knew
someone in the offices in Pretoria,
she says she's no longer
working for Home Affairs.
We wanted to get
the applications to her for fast tracking,
especially their ID numbers
because they
need to check their fingerprints.
Yeah, it would seem it's a slow process.
[mocking silently]
[Nokwanda] It might be crazy
but yeah Im so excited,
especially when Im packing.
These are the shoes
that were gonna be singing with.
So, I bought some of them,
and this is the tracksuit that Zuki
and Tsewu bought me the other day.
Yeah, I pack it first,
so that I wont leave it behind.
[upbeat music]
[Julie] Nokwanda spends
most of her weekends at Phumis place.
She sees a father in him.
So, I think that is, he plays
that father role in these learners.
[chatter in store]
[speaking Xhosa]
[Zuki] Sometimes,
um, one of them would,
like, the other time he came here
and he said hes really worried
that theres one boy there
that doesnt have
grey pants for school uniform
and he feels
that its affecting his confidence
and performance in the choir as well.
So, he was asking me
if we could provide
and buy pants for that boy
and we did, you know?
So, sometimes, yeah,
I do as well become a mother,
a mother to some of them.
Not all of them.
[piano music playing]
[Busi] I'm singing opera today
because of Mr. Teswu.
He taught me such a lot of things.
He plays such a big role to us.
[Phumi] This is like
my own little therapy.
You know,
I would have a very, very tiring day
and when I go to the choir,
when I go to see these kids,
when I, when they start singing
and they start to lighten up,
you know, their little smiles affect me.
I, in more cases than not,
find myself smiling.
[piano music playing]
Everyone is ready for England.
They cant wait for the third.
Yes, and also me.
Cant wait.
Im ready. Everything is ready.
Yeah. Im ready.
[piano music playing]
[Busi] The moment
that I started singing in 2005
I was, like, thinking of my Mom.
Maybe she will be here with me,
listen to what Im singing
and see
what her daughter is looking forward for.
My Mom passed away in 2000, yeah.
She had HIV,
but she didnt tell us
that she got HIV.
My mom was a secretive person.
She only told her friends.
[sad music playing]
She left me with nothing,
so my Grandmother was the one who was
doing all the things for me.
[Phumi] There are quite a few kids who
are in the choir who lost their parents.
There was one time
that we buried two mothers,
I think, two or three weeks apart.
[slow music playing]
[Julie] There are no more graves here.
No more plots.
People from Gugulethu have to go to Llanga
to bury their people
or they have to bury on top of the others.
There are no more graves in Gugulethu.
[piano music playing]
[Nokwanda] My township is a township which
challenges you
to make your own decisions, you know?
So, we have to choose
which side were going to go to.
You want to go
to the wrong side or you want to
to go to the correct side,
which youre supposed to go to.
[Phumi]
These kids are born into a reality,
a reality thats-- that is a precipitation
or remnant of the past.
Take a child whos born into a township
where everybody around
has a very low morale,
a very low sense of worth
and that rubs off
to almost everybody around,
to say that, look,
umm, you can dream all you want,
but at the end of the day
you will end up like us.
You are going to be
in the same pit with us.
[slow music playing]
[speaking Xhosa]
[organ playing]
[choir singing]
[Zukisa] Every day that I write
in my diary, I first put God.
I have a little prayer that I write.
"God, thank you for everything
and for the blessing that you gave me."
In my space I write everything
that I want to achieve in life.
If I want to become a better person,
what must I change?
[singing]
[Zukisa] "I want to become
the best artist in the world."
[Busi] I realized that acting was
my passion when I was about 12 years, yes.
I wanna be a movie star and
I am going to be a movie star.
Bad boys on their best behaviour
There's something about you
[Nokwanda] I wanna be
an inspirator to my community.
I want people to look up to me.
We have to have goals, like, we have
to have vision. We have to dream.
Like, I want to be a leader someday,
you know, and lead my community.
You must be some kind of superstar
'Cause you got all eyes on you
No matter where you are
You just make me want to play
I love that song.
[traffic sounds]
[opera music]
One, two, three.
One, two, three. One, two, three. One!
[singing]
We dont chase the pace.
You move. Think lighter.
[in Xhosa] If you go there
with an attitude like,
"I'm going to nail everything I sing"
then it's not going
to make any sense, you understand?
We should be prepared now.
We should sing well when we get there
and Phumi shouldn't feel scared
you might mess it up.
Listen to what you have learnt today
and photocopy it here.
[inspiring music playing]
[Peter] My name is Thobela, I am a tenor.
Im the soloist of the school.
I have sung solos,
many solos in competitions.
I dont want to talk much about England
because I still have problems
with passport.
So, its in between.
I dont know whether I will go or not.
[piano music playing]
[woman] What are you going to do
if you can't go?
I dont know what Im going to do.
[Phumi] I think everything
about this trip
is centered around the passport thing.
The whole passport issue
is just forcing itself
to be an issue through and through.
[in Xhosa] Do you have
details of this boy's mother?
Can you page
Peter Ntshanyana over the intercom?
Details like date of birth,
ID number. Peter has all that.
[announcement over loudspeaker in Xhosa]
[announcer] Peter Ntshanyana,
can you come to the office immediately?
[suspenseful music]
[in Xhosa] We need
your mother's birth date.
10th of February.
-The 10th
-Of February.
Her name?
-Deborah.
-Deborah.
Go find the teacher.
He may have another question, run!
[suspenseful music continues]
10, 02.
[Peter] It was going
to mean a lot because
it was going to be
my first time to go abroad in England
cause Ive never been overseas before.
Yeah, it means a lot.
[tense music]
[Phumi] I am going
to travel with Peter and Zolla.
I have faith.
[tense music stops]
The old man upstairs
has not let me down so far.
Hes not going to do that this time.
[Peter] I just pretend there is no trip,
but it's so painful
because I may never get another chance
to travel with my school mates.
Only God knows if I will go or not.
[woman singing]
[Phumi] The first dream was
a very little dream.
I wanted my choir
to sing with a full orchestra.
And then we realized that.
The second dream
was to take the choir abroad,
to one of the biggest,
if not the biggest stage, in the world.
and that does not
come bigger than going to England,
you know? So this, in my view,
is a realization of that dream.
[choir singing]
[woman] Here we come, London.
Here we come.
Five days countdown. Five days.
Five, four, three, two, one, blast off!
[choir singing]
[Phumi] A trip like this does even more.
It says to them,
"You are the best among the best."
I mean, its an affirmation, you know,
that youre even worth
going to England.
You know, to such, and enter them in
a big festival, an international festival.
Its a private number. Hello? Oh.
From Pretoria, maam? Hallelujah.
Yes.
All right.
All right.
Can I quickly look for the document
that has the reference numbers?
Please hold.
[shushing the children]
I only have their birth dates,
but somebody is going, has gone to quickly
check for the reference numbers, maam.
[suspenseful music plays]
The other one
that Ive got here is 2809
Date of birth is 1989.
The other one, the surname is [inaudible].
[suspenseful music plays]
[in Xhosa] You know what?
I can cancel this trip shit,
I swear I can do that,
I swear I can.
Because one thing I'm not going to do
is put my reputation on the line.
Now, honestly.
This is one bullshit
that I'm not going to take,
and this really is bullshit.
I'm running around, wasting my time
There's me and Julie
wasting our phone credit trying
to make sure this trip is a success.
On the one hand.
Your little role
is to be at rehearsal on time,
I asked you nicely yesterday.
[silence]
And you two, where did you come from?
What time is it now?
4:05 p.m.
What the bloody hell
are you coming here to do?
Huh?
[silence]
Maybe you dont realize this.
Youre putting everybodys reputation
on the line here.
[in Xhosa] What do you think
were going there for, a holiday?
[woman speaking Xhosa]
[in Xhosa] We called you in here
because time has run out.
Yesterday, Phumi tried to call Home
Affairs, but they are familiar with us,
and nobody would talk to him.
We can't sleep because of the stress
from thinking we'll be leaving
you both behind.
Hopefully you understand
that we tried our best,
but it's out of our hands.
We couldn't do anything.
But, as Im saying,
youre still part of the choir.
I hope this is not
going to break your spirit.
Youll be with us.
Youll be with us. Well come back.
This is not the end.
There can be another opportunity.
[sad music playing]
[Julie] You know,
yesterday I was singing a song:
Lets go, go, lets go
Lets pack up our things and go
We dont know where were going
But Lord, we must go
Go, we must go
And I was thinking,
"Hey, Im going to England!"
[Julie laughs]
[upbeat music]
Squash? I hereby inform you
[in Xhosa] you have been chosen to sing
the third movement, Kyrie, in England
as a soloist.
[Julie] I had never thought I would ever
cross the seas.
And Im very thankful,
first to Phumi,
because its all because of his work
that well be traveling to England.
[speaking Xhosa]
Ah!
[man] I have 6:55. We see
youve landed and well see you shortly.
[man] How you doing, all right?
Good, welcome to London.
Can you believe youre here?
Exhausted?
-Quite exhausted, actually, yeah.
-[man] You didnt sleep on the flight?
I couldnt. I had to make sure that,
you know, the plane is kept civil. Yeah.
-[man laughs]
-Well, they were quite excited.
I mean,
you could actually hear them going,
"Ah" quietly,
and then into a crescendo of, "Whoa,"
and then when it took off
it was quite amazing.
[singing]
[inspirational music playing]
Hi.
[laughter]
Hello, Amanda. Nice to see you.
How are you? Are you very tired?
Very, very tired.
-Hello!
-Nice to-- And you as well.
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome.
-Im Sue. Hi.
-[man] I'm Francis.
Who are you looking for?
Jane Stamets? Oh, I dont know.
Ive got four. Four boys. These four.
[Phumi] Okay.
He says youre trouble.
Do we have
any younger sisters or brothers?
-[woman] Im afraid not.
-Theyre all grown up.
All our little ones
are grown up to big ones.
Youre going to be our youngsters
for the next two weeks.
[Busi]
Yeah, I cant believe that Im here.
Its been a long time.
Cool trees, man.
Wow.
Wow!
Wow!
Ive never seen
a bathroom like this before.
-Wow!
-Its cool.
[woman] Youll have to imagine
that youre on the river in Wimborne
by the boys school and theres a family
of ducks going by with little chicks,
like you just saw on the
We must do this every morning.
[choir singing]
[Busi] To me,
England is like the same as South Africa.
[boy] If you notice,
there are old people in this area
and everyone is cleaning his house.
They are not
asking someone to clean their house.
Like, Ive seen a lot of old people,
like, 80s and 90s, cleaning their yards,
shaving their grass,
then I was like, in Cape Town
by the time you turn 60 years
you ask someone to come
and clean for you, then you pay.
Then, Im like,
"Oh, theres a change here."
In a place like this you can concentrate.
Theres nothing you would not do
that you told yourself you wanted to.
[choir singing]
[Helen] Hi, Lidiya?
Hello, its Helen here.
Lidiya, is Caroline there, please?
Could I have a quick word with her?
Well, the reason Im running late
is because I think I wasnt quite
assertive enough with the girls
about the timing
and theyre just being
absolutely normal teenagers
and taking ages to get ready.
[piano music playing]
[chatting]
[suspenseful music playing]
[applause]
[silence]
[choir singing]
[audience cheers]
[silence]
[singing]
[silence]
[applause]
[piano music playing]
[piano music fades out]
[birds tweeting]
[Helen] Is the dustbin nearly full?
[boy] Not yet.
Would you like that bit of rhubarb fool
that was left?
Do you remember?
[Zukisa] I would like to have that.
-Its sour.
-It's sour?
[woman] If youve finished that,
go to the garden.
Well show you
what it looked like earlier.
-[Zukisa] This is the rhubarb?
-[woman] Its rhubarb.
-[Zukisa] This is it.
-[woman] It needs quite a bit of sugar.
-[Zukisa] Is it sour?
-Its very sour, yes.
Ill tell you whats quite nice.
Well go and wash that
and Ill put a bit of sugar
in an egg cup
[boy] You can eat it when
You can eat it like this, yes.
Ill show you.
No. No. It needs washing first
and you need sugar with it
because its very sour.
[Zukisa] Do you have vegetables
around this garden?
Yeah. These are vegetables, look.
Potatoes. In here
Ive got lettuces and rocket,
but Ive got it covered up to try
and stop the rabbits pinching them.
[Zukisa] The rabbits? That little animal?
[woman] Yeah. That little thing with
the long ears that was on the lawn.
[piano music]
[Zukisa] Theyre hungry.
They are thirsty, man.
[woman] This is rhubarb. Try it.
No, I
[boy] Its sour?
With sugar on it its not too bad.
You probably won't like it though.
-Cowards!
-[boys laugh]
When I was a little girl we used
to do this all the time. I used to have
[Zukisa] Let me try.
Thats nice.
Its not too bad, is it?
[Zukisa] Try it.
[opera music plays]
[girls speaking Xhosa]
[opera music continues]
[speaking Xhosa]
[opera music continues]
[woman 2] When Priscilla and I
were in communication before they arrived
she asked me if she could call me Mum,
which was wonderful.
My instant reaction was to think
"How lovely, how warm and how open."
And so Priscillas calling me "Mum"
and shes calling Simon "Dad."
But, of course,
with that comes all the responsibilities
of being a surrogate mother
and having two additional
children in our family.
[piano music playing]
[woman 2] Im trying to be
a Mummy to them,
but a Mummy to a 15 year old, rather than
to the child that she was
when she lost her Mum,
and I, sort of,
I hope Im getting it right.
I hope Im being warm enough
and kind enough,
but not so emotional
that they find it difficult.
[piano music playing]
[newscast music playing]
[TV newscaster] Hello, the latest news
now from South Today, Im Jo Kent.
A South African activist,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
is the guest of honour
in Salisbury this weekend.
He was invited as part of celebrations for
the citys International Arts Festival
and will also receive special recognition
at Salisbury Cathedral.
[joking and laughing]
[Desmond Tutu] I remember
what it meant when my family and I came
for the first time to England in 1962
um and apartheid
was at its height then.
To meet up with a London bobby,
um, and say, "Excuse me,
how do we get to such and such a place?"
And the bobby says,
"Well, maam"
Maam?
"Well, sir"
It was such a novelty
for us that long afterwards,
even when we knew
where we were going
[laughter]
[Desmond Tutu] we would go up
to a bobby and say, "Excuse me,
how do we get to such and such?",
just to have them say,
"Sir, you go that way."
"Sir" Ah, ah, ah!
And what it did for us.
For you who have never been unfree,
you actually dont know the awfulness
of unfreedom
when it gets to make you doubt
that youre a child of God.
[piano music]
Youll be fantastic people.
[Desmond Tutu] Theyre all going to be
incredible people.
One day
they will
they will be composers, they will be
they will be
heart specialists, they will be
all kinds of things
because you invested in them,
because you had confidence in them,
because you
trusted them.
[woman laughing]
[woman 3] And, you go one, two, three, up.
[Nokwanda laughs]
[Nokwanda laughing]
[opera music playing]
[singing]
[choir sings]
[Phumi] I sometimes worry about my
enthusiasm to want to see them succeed,
if I will not be putting
a lot of pressure on them
and they burn out and they dont succeed
or they dont go to areas
where they want to
because they dont want to disappoint me.
[choir singing]
[Phumi] But, it makes one very,
very proud that from this trip
that they are given an opportunity
to change their lives around.
They are also given an opportunity
to, you know,
to make an indelible mark
in this whole world.
[choir singing]
[laughs]
[silence]
[Julie] Yesterday, as we were
getting ready to start the day,
one of the girls
brought herself onto me
and then it was Phumis wife.
She told me that shes got bad news.
[suspenseful music]
[Julie] She told me
that Phumis son Tebogo
had been killed the previous morning
in a car accident.
He was really shocked
and he broke.
He is acting like a man.
He wants to be a man.
He doesnt want to show us
how hurt he is,
but I can see that he is hurt.
[choir singing]
[preacher] As the Kings Solomon
would have said,
there is a time for everything
and a season for everything.
There is a time to cry,
there is a time to laugh.
Theres a time for sadness
and theres a time for joy.
That you can only take solace
in that fact
that as the sun has set upon us,
as the sun has set upon Phumi
and his family,
but you know
that tomorrow there is a morning
in which the sun will definitely rise.
The joy will definitely come
in the morning.
And for Tebogo we pray to God
that his soul may rest in peace
and we pray that God
may give strength to Phumi and the family
and we also want to say
thank you very much, to God
and to everybody else
who has been of great support.
We pray for all these things
in Jesus name. Amen.
[choir singing]
[choir stops singing]
[light music playing]
[piano music playing]
[Phumi singing]
Stop.
One, two, three and go.
[choir singing]
[singing]
[speaking Xhosa]
Little toddlers.
[singing]
They would probably be doing that.
[singing]
Come on, sound like high school girls.
[Phumi singing]
It might sound dirty. Yes, high school.
One, two. One, all the tenor,
bass, one, three, two and four
[singing]
Soprano, alto, and tenor. You sing
[piano music playing]
[chatting]
[woman singing opera]
[woman] Keep the focus in the
[singing]
Right on top of it, right into
the core of the sound. Keep it there.
[student sings]
[woman sings] Keep it there.
[student sings]
[piano music playing]
[inaudible]
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] With kids you get kids
that are coming from all walks of life.
With our school choir in particular
wed even get kids that are troubled.
That are victims to substance.
That were part of gangs
and they get sent to the choir.
If you can get that one child
get out of that quagmire,
get that one kid
who would even come to school
on an empty stomach
get them to achieve
and get themselves out of that mire
I guess thats my passion in life.
Dont do this.
Lets not do this. Stop. I cant.
[piano music playing]
[Phumi] Yeah. If you can get that one kid
to achieve
and change his or her life around,
you know, I would,
as a person, have achieved.
So, thats
Yeah, I have to go to class now.
[piano music playing]
[piano music fades out]
[choir singing]