Johannesburg - Local actress Michelle Botha might be renowned for her work in movies and television but over the past few years, she has extended her skills in a bid to provide much needed social and emotional assistance to the nation’s youngsters.
Botha, who has had starring roles in Winnie Mandela, Afrikaans offerings such as Dis ek, Anna and Getroud Met Rugby as well as working on the production of Takalani Sesame, founded Bizzy Hands Puppet Company back in 2012.
It was first known as M&D Productions but was renamed in 2017 and this month, the company will be presenting its first social-emotional show of 2023 at the end of January for pre-primary schools across the nation.
“Puppets are a wonderful tool to use with small children because they are non-threatening and non-judgmental,” Botha explained to The Saturday Star this week.
“Kids feel open to react more honestly towards a puppet than they would toward a teacher or parents so, when you are addressing issues it is the best medium, in my opinion, to use.”
Botha said that the series of puppet theatre shows will all have a social-emotional learning theme.
“These shows address social-emotional issues that a child might encounter and will guide them through the tools they can use in order to address their feelings surrounding the issue.”
She also believes that this platform will be a safe space for youngsters.
“Theatre is a safe way to expose children to difficult situations and show them first hand how to handle these situations and we also prefer using the puppets as they are less threatening.”
Botha not only founded Bizzy Hands Puppet Company but also makes all the puppets herself. She has also developed several shows divided into two categories; normal puppet shows, and shows that address social- emotional issues.
“It is a wonderful medium to work in, it is challenging but rewarding and children respond to puppets very well, so it’s a good medium to use when addressing social and emotional issues like we do,” Botha explained.
The esteemed actress’s company also offers puppet making for birthday parties and will be shooting a pilot for a puppet TV show which also deals with social-emotional issues.
“Through the Bizzy Hands Puppet Company, I hope to make a difference in our children’s and adults as well as caregivers’ everyday lives,” she said.
“If we can give kids from a young age the tools they need to be more self-aware, to manage themselves better, to be more socially aware, to have better communication skills and to make more responsible decisions for themselves, our society will do better.”
She also believes that youngsters with better social and emotional skills will have less alcohol and drug abuse, less violence against women and children, less unemployable people and a society where we care about each other.
“That is what Bizzy Hands Puppet Company would like to help with – creating a better society for everyone.”
Botha is now hoping to get funding to air the series.
“We shot the pilot last week, and once it is ready for viewing, we will pitch it to funders and sponsors which will hopefully enable us to film several episodes and create a whole series of social-emotional learning shows.
“We want it to develop into several languages, for everyone in South Africa to learn from, and hopefully we can take it to an international level as well, eventually.”
But Botha and her company’s latest stint in presenting social-emotional shows for pre-primary schoolers comes in a bid to address the aftermath of the devastating Covid-19 global health crisis.
She explained that after the pandemic, she received many emails from schools sharing how teachers were noticing developmental issues with toddlers, and social and behavioural problems with children.
“I started doing research and came across the concept of social-emotional learning and that in South Africa, it is a norm that if children can read, write and do maths they are ok.
“This is far from the truth because we also live in a society where violence against women and children is high and this is partly due to the lack of social, emotional learning. So, if we can make a difference, even if it’s only in one child’s life to break this cycle of abuse, dropping out of school, being unemployable because of lacking social, emotional skills, we must do it.”
Botha has significant experience in the puppet industry, a passion that started when she worked on the production team of the hugely popular South African child development show Takalani Sesame in 2011.
She began as a script translator on the show designed to support children's development through playful learning. She was then an Afrikaans speaking voice over artist for several characters including the Afrikaans voice for Kami and Moshe, and finally as a puppeteer.
This fascination grew and Botha decided to make her own puppets, mostly through the assistance of YouTube.
“You can only learn by doing and so over the years you start learning what works and what doesn’t and that is how you build your skill level and become a better puppet maker by failing and trying again and again and again,” Botha explained.
She also credits much of her success to Takalani Sesame.
“Puppeteering is very hard but I had the Takalani puppeteers teaching me before we shot, which was not ideal, but we made it work.”