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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-05-13, Page 23S Telling his story While enjoying a moment to relax outside Blyth Memorial Hall, George Bwanika Seremba expresses his excitement at being part of this years Blyth Festival season in Wilbur County Blues. The actor and playwright is also presenting his internationally acclaimed autobiographical story Come Good Rain, to the Blyth stage this Tuesday for two special performances. Buck & Doe for Charles Gulutzen & Terri Baskett Friday, May 22/98 Blyth Arena (Floor) - 9 pm - 1 am Music by D.J. "Sound Proof - Calvin Kerr Lunch Provided $5.00/Ticket Age of Majority Required Bus Available for details call 523-9652 'MK fi DOE CHRIS POLAND CINDY McCALLUM 501' May 23rd Music by DJ Lunch Provided Age of Majority 9pm - 1 am For info. or tickets call 527-1633 527-0668 MATTHEW GOOD BAND on their "underdogs" tour with special guests "STARLING" Start the Victoria Weekend off right! Thursday, May 14 with the OPENING ACTS START AT 10 P.M. (After Seinfeld) TIX 57. advance 810 at door One of Canada's Best Bands! THIS IS A FABULOUS SHOW Hwy. 8 West. Chrit,ri 482-1234 40th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY The family of Harvey & Betty Bradshaw invite you to their parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, May 23, 1998 at Belmore Community Centre at 8 p.m. — Dancing 9-1 We kindly request your presence only. Please no gifts! A donation box for Children's Wish Foundation will be available FRI. - THURS. MAY 15 - 21 FRI. & SAT. 7 & 9:15 PM SUN. - THURS. 8 PM OCEANS RISE. CITIES FALL. HOPE SURVIVES. _7174 rg PARENTAL GUIDANCE DEEPIIVIIPIACT tlOOP.,,POCImOVIO cors LONG DISTANCE? CALL 1-800- 5-3438 FOR TOLL FREE MOVIE INFO 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I U * PARK THEATRE a .' 524-7811 CODERICH THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1998. PAGE 23. trt t E neainmen brings top hits Hanover singer 1 to Wingham Hall Man shares his story of survival By Bonnie Gropp Citizen staff Listening to George Bwanika Seremba's story of survival told in a voice as rich and smooth as a frothy café lane, seems at first, a little incongruous. So too does wit- nessing the physical evidence of his ordeal on a pleasant, sunny spring day in Huron County. But for Seremba, the healing is complete. The therapy of writing the play Come Good Rain was therapeutic, its telling on• stage, as, he has done over 200 times interna- tionally and will for two perfor- mances in Blyth May 19, cathartic. And for audiences the play's mes- sage of the strength of the human spirit is one that inspires all. Seremba's story begins in the late 1970s when the dictatorship of Idi Amin begins to crumble. ''Simply put it is a story of political dissi- dence and survival," says Seremba, who was at that time a university student. Amin's regime fell, and it became apparent that Milton Obote, the president who had first inspired , then later was ousted by Amin, was probably going to succeed him. "We were big players at an idealis- tic age. I did not want to go back to the nightmare of Idi. Amin. When it became clear that Obote would be re-instated I did not want to be part of that. It was not an alternative to me." Taking part in rallys and demon- strations, Seremba said he became a "marked man" after he helped a well-known politician escape. On Dec. 10, 1980 Seremba was abducted by soldiers. After what he called a "kangaroo interrogation", ' during which he endured physical and psychological torture, his exe- cution was ordered that same night. Seremba had just turned 22. He was driven to a forest on the outskirts of the country's capital. Seremba refused to turn his back on his executioners. "I wanted them to remember me As someone who clung to dignity and courage. I wanted them to remember my eyes when they woke up at night with their wives beside them and think how even a person on the verge of death can tower above them." Five bullets struck him, then Seremba saw them raise a rocket- propelled grenade launcher. "My prayer was that my mother could see my remains. I had seen too many other mothers hoping against hope that their sons would show up, but their bodies were never found." Seeing the grenade Seremba knew there would be no chance of the body being saved, so as it fired he turned, and rolling, fell down into a marsh. Seremba hid neck deep in water as the soldiers put their guns on automatic fire. A hale of bullets followed, but the fatal one never came. Believing him dead, or at least mortally wounded, his assassins left and Seremba, summoning his strength, crawled to the road where villagers, at tremendous risk to themselves, carried him to their vil- lage. As it turned out Seremba's uncle was familiar to one of the vil- lagers and arrangements were made to move him home then into a hos- pital. With the soldiers now aware of his survival, Seremba stayed with his aunt, who nursed him. It is to her he dedicated his play. Through efforts on his behalf by a Canadian missionary, Seremba, a long way from fully recovered. boarded a plane on Dec. 28. He spent four years in Nairobi, before coming to Canada. In 1989 he returned to Uganda to visit the villagers who saved him and to extend his thanks. Seremba• says his mother had told him over the years that the villagers consid- ered him an adopted son. "They were keeping tabs on me. These people had witnessed the atrocities every day. They heard the gun fire in the forest. I was the first to come out alive. The people, like these vil- lagers who stayed there and sur- vived those years are the heroes of my play." It was actually the villagers who inspired Seremba to pen. Come Good Rain. "They asked me during my visit why I had never told my story." Remembering the rain falling that night in 1980, ''that gentle, pure African rain", Seremba came up with the idea for the title. Knowing it was time to deliver the goods, Seremba workshopped the play in Toronto, then in Febru- ary 1992, he performed it at The Factory Theatre studio. Now inter- nationally acclaimed, Seremba says, Come Good Rain hasn't been to Uganda, but it has logged a lot of miles." According to Seremba Blyth Fes- tival's present Artistic Director Anne Chislett was one of the first people he,knew when he immigrat- ed to Canada in 1984. "When I was workshopping the play she was the one person I relied on the most." Seremba, who is also part of this year's Blyth Festival summer sea- son appearing in Wilbur County Blues, hopes that his play Will offer people a look at a country "they once heard about. It's easy to look at statistics, but now they are hear- ing from one of those numbers. This is my testimony." "My joy is that I have lived long enough to tell it, to hear people laugh and cry. I've been blessed by the audiences and their responses." cp,PIT04 KEB TWIN CINEMA SURROUND SOUND STEREO LisTowEI, 291-3070 STARTS FRIDAY CINEMA 1 7 & 9:15 AA CITY OF f'I c":as ANGELS Meg Ryan SUNDAY MATINEE AT 2 P.M. CINEMA 2 7 PG JOHN TRAVOLTA, OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN GREASE SUNDAY MATINEE 2 P.M . 9 BLACK DOG AA PATRICK SWAYZE, RANDY TRAVIS COMING WED. MAY 20 GODZILLA A Hanover native who has achieved success in the country music industry will perform at Wingham Town Hall Heritage The- atre, May 15. Jamie Warren, a country singer who has earned Top 10 and Top 20 singles, will entertain the audience with chart tunes such as Ready to Run, What Goes Around, Watching Her Sleep, Fallen Angel, One Step Back and the Secret. The Secret, which deals with spousal abuse, has special meaning to Warren. Learning that there was not a toll free phone number women could call for assistance, he helped created the Warren Founda- tion to raise money to support such a service. Tickets may be obtained by call- ing the box office at 519-357-4082. Ear