Rising Inequalities
WATA Play & Educational Toolkit: Elevating African Stories & Knowledge in the International Human Rights & Ecological Justice Discourse
Project Team: Maïmouna Jallow
Geography: Africa & North America
Summary: WATA is a musical stage play accessible to schools, with an accompanying educational toolkit. The content explores various actions to clean & protect the environment. Through drama and humor, WATA places African history and culture centre-forward. The audience is invited to go on a journey filled with music, dance and heart-stopping costume and set design, and discover the stories of real-life women heroes who have often been erased from history books despite being instrumental in the fight for freedom and self-determination.
To ensure the content is strongly informed by practitioners from the fields of human rights and environmental science, the FORGE program will support WATA’s dramaturgy process, including the development and peer review of the WATA script, and the accompanying educational materials.
Synopsis
When an unscrupulous leader sells the waters of the Nubiya River to a foreign company, two young heroes must fulfill an ancient prophesy to unite the Orishas of the River, Rain and Sea and bring them back home.
The problem is, despite being twins, they are constantly bickering. Will they be able to put aside their differences and save the last oasis in Africa, or will their constant fighting also spell the end of an entire continent?
WATA (pidgin English for Water) is a captivating stage play designed for families that highlights the power of community. Drawing from rich African mythologies and centering environmental stewardship, audiences are invited on a journey to discover the inspiring stories of real-life women heroes who fought for freedom. Through drama and humor, WATA places African history and culture center-forward and seeks to foster connections with the global Black Diaspora and Indigenous communities. Alongside the play's development, an educational toolkit is being crafted to address climate crisis challenges with practical solutions appropriate for young audiences.
Experimental Questions
How might environmental and human rights practitioners inform the theatrical content of WATA’s script and accompanying educational toolkit?
How might theatrical performance make complex topics from rights and environmental stewardship dialogues more accessible to general audiences?
How might we bring more awareness to African voices, stories and knowledge within the fields of human rights and the environment?
Methods
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WATA is deeply inspired by Yoruba mythologies. These myths and stories have survived one of the most brutal periods in history, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and have been preserved and reimagined by Diasporic communities. From West Africa to Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, and beyond, the stories of the Orisha, our divine spirits, are a symbol of resistance and adaptability. This play celebrates this unsevered umbilical cord, and serves to remind us about our continued connection and survival.
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The play is essentially a story about the survival of a community in the face of environmental destruction. Our 12-year-old protagonists must embark on a journey to save their community from impending drought, brought about by insatiable greed and a disconnection from the sacred land. Theater becomes a tool to spur young audiences to unpack complex issues around land ownership, extractivism, resource management, and racial justice.
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On both sides of the Atlantic, children are not being taught their real history. For Black children in particular, it can have devastating effects on their sense of self. They do not know that the story of Africa did not begin with colonialism, or that the story Black Americans did not begin with their enslavement. And that is because history is largely taught from the perspective of the oppressor. Meanwhile, stories that have been transmitted orally by Indigenous communities for generations offer a counter narrative centered on values of community and our symbiotic relationship with the natural world. WATA is about creating a creative and educational resource to help build self-pride, self-knowledge, and self-love, as well as reimagine what community and environmental stewardship can look like for young people today.
Themes
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We will support schools and community theaters through in-person and virtual workshops to co-create performances on different stages and in different countries, focusing on Africa, The Caribbean, the United States and the UK.
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Developed after months of engagement with both teachers and students, the digital toolkit will provide additional materials to support learning on the themes raised in the play. The information provided will prioritize decolonial perspectives, and interactive activities will support students turn ideas into local climate actions. It will also support young people to reconnect with oral traditions and African folktales.
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We will facilitate intra-school activities, such as global exhibitions and dialogues, so that young people in different corners of the world can use the material as a springboard to exchange on a range of topics, including climate justice and environmental stewardship, as well as indigenous knowledge and Black history. The aim is for them to share their personal perspectives based on their local experiences, to explore new ways to further rights and justice for all and challenge rising inequalities.
Pathways to Transform
International Governance
WATA aims to empower young people to positively influence their communities, policy makers and leaders. Through the project, we seek to parter with international organizations that support education and climate action worldwide (e.g. UNESCO, National Geographic) in order to bring this curriculum to schools around the world. We also hope to stage the play within global policy-making forums, such as the United Nations Climate Conferences.
The play is rooted in ancestral African belief systems, which at the core are about living in harmony with each other and with nature, and it supports young people to use art and theater to propose alternative governance systems that put equality and justice at the forefront. By supporting young people to take local climate actions, and connecting them with each other to debate and reformulate new ways of living, they can challenge entrenched norms and participate in global platforms to amplify their messages.
Resources & Updates
Official “WATA The Play” Website
Visit the official website for WATA, a deep dive into the play and educational toolkit by Maimouna Jallow. The website offers deeper insights into the storyline, characters, writer/director, and events like the first virtual staged reading of the draft work.
Meet Maimouna Jallow
Maïmouna Jallow is a multidisciplinary artist, film/theater director and writer. She is the author of several children’s books, including I’m the Colour of Honey and Story Story, Story Come, an anthology of re-imagined African folktales. Her debut film, Tales of the Accidental City, is an experimental feature-length in which all the action takes place on Zoom.
A lover of theater, Maïmouna has also adapted novels for the stage. Recently she has served as Artistic Director of several co-creation residencies for young artists in Africa and Europe for various international arts organizations.