Siv Ngesi helps Khayelitsha yoga teacher with women’s trip to watch 'The Woman King'
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A yoga teacher from Khayelitsha – Nokuphiwo Jada – is raising funds to take 40 women to watch the ‘Woman King’ this weekend. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - Forty women from Khayelitsha will be treated to an experience of a lifetime when they see the recently released movie “The Woman King” at the V&A Waterfront over the weekend.
This after fitness fanatic and yoga teacher Nokuphiwo Jada from their neighbourhood managed to raise funds for 40 tickets, complete with goodie bags and life lessons from prominent businesswomen.
Inspired by the lessons she took from the movie and what she said was the relentlessness shown by the women in it, Jada said she knew that this was her opportunity to inspire other women.
The movie, inspired by actual events that happened in the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful African states in the 18th and 19th centuries, follows the story of the Agojie, an all-female unit of warriors who protected Dahomey with their skills and ferocity.
“The Woman King” , according to the movie’s synopsis, follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca, played by Viola Davis, as she inspires the king to take on the enemies determined to violate their honour and destroy their way of life.
The movie also features numerous South African artists.
Jada, who teaches plus-size women the art of yoga, said for some of these women, between the ages of 25 and 54, this would be their first time inside a cinema.
“Ninety-nine percent of them have never seen the interior of a cinema, let alone experienced the exhilarating feeling that comes with watching a movie in that setting.
“When I watched the movie, I was triggered as a woman who comes from humble beginnings. I launched the programme online and within a week I already had more than half of the tickets donated by clients from the international yoga community, who were more than willing to give these women the experience of their lifetime,” she said.
Jada added that one of the two South African actors heavily featured in the movie, Siv Ngesi, donated 50% of the tickets.
“What the movie has taught me is resilience, which was shown by the Agojie women. These (Khayelitsha) women, some of whom I grew up with, are fighting different battles in their lives and I know their struggles.
“And with this outing I want them to take even the slightest lesson from the movie to inspire them in their lives,” she said.
Ngesi said he wanted these women to take away many teachings and the most important lesson that they were more than enough and their dreams were valid.
He said he wanted young women to see the movie and experience the black woman magic that is “The Woman King” .
mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za