{"id":4495,"date":"2021-07-16T08:56:02","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T07:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4495"},"modified":"2021-07-16T18:04:46","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T17:04:46","slug":"amazwi-storytelling-the-real-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4495","title":{"rendered":"Amazwi Storytelling: The real deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nAccording to the four-year-old in the house, Basil Mills is the\nbest. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBest out of three different children\u2019s shows he\u2019s seen at the\nNational Arts Festival. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazwi Storytelling<\/a> has things, props and stuff. \u201cWe saw a real wagon,\u201d chirps the four-year-old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJa,\u201d says mom, we did. But it wasn\u2019t the whole wagon, he showed us how to make a wheel.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cBut how do they make the iron go around the wheel?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cThey make it red, like Basil said, and bend it round.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basil\u2019s got all the intriguing stuff. A museum of it. Real iron helmets lined up on the heavy wooden wardrobe behind him, yoke for an ox-wagon, a rawhide rope, horns of gunpowder, a horn for brandy, great hat, a whole wagon wheel which he lifted up with mighty arms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAlso: a great drooping handlebar moustache, grey locks, and a twinkle\nin the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, he\u2019s done all the things he talks about. Name an outdoor adventure you can have involving animals and livestock in South Africa, and he\u2019s done it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBooks also come into it. Today, after a preamble about what life was\nlike on the highveld and the difficulties of piloting an ox-wagon\nthrough a town, he told the tale of Jock of the Bushveld, having met\nPercy Fitzpatrick\u2019s daughter. Not the whole tale, of course, but\nthe gist, with exciting details and anecdotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe press pic for Amazwi is one fellow Grahamstonian now ex-Makhandan\nObie Oberholzer took of him, decades ago. It appears in Raconteur\nRoad, <\/em>and Obie in his\ncaption describes driving onto the farm to photograph Basil, and\nmeeting his wife, gunbelt and Colt revolver slung around her waist,\nmounting a white horse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBasil, with his pet ox and boa constrictor and dogs and geese and\nkhaki shorts, is a learned man, having been asked by Guy Butler to\nrun the National English Literary Museum, now the Amazwi South\nAfrican Museum of Literature, where he has ever since been a\nraconteur to groups of children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Amazwi show on the National Arts Festival is free of charge, and\nvia a Zoom link, with Basil propping a tablet up on his desk;\nrelaxed, but quite professional. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nHe talks a bit fast, as if, carried away by how interesting\neverything is, is trying to fit a lifetime of discovery into 30\nminutes. Less info a little more time might allow more to sink in,\nbut if nothing else, our laaities attention was held by the\nuncomplicated enthusiasm in Basil\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIt felt like he was speaking just to us, because he was speaking just\nto us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWe unmuted ourselves at the end, to say thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four-year-old asked him for a playdate. Basil didn\u2019t hesitate: \u201ccome and visit anytime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treat your child to a Basil Mills storytime at 2.30pm today. Click here <\/a>for access.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo of Basil Mills by Obie Oberholzer, taken from Obie’s book, <\/em>Raconteur Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the four-year-old in the house, Basil Mills is the best. Best out of three different children\u2019s shows he\u2019s seen at the National Arts Festival. Amazwi Storytelling has things, … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1176,10],"tags":[60,1175],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4512,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495\/revisions\/4512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}