Daring to dream

Professional ballet dancer Michaela DePrince was just three years old when she saw a ballerina for the first time.

She was standing near the gate of the orphanage she was living in the West African country of Sierra Leone when she found a magazine with a female ballet dancer on the cover.

The image of the beautiful, smiling ballerina mesmerised the young orphan, who had just lost both her parents.

“I was just so fascinated by this person, by how beautiful she was, how she was wearing such a beautiful costume,” she remembers. “So I ripped the cover off and I put it in my underwear.”

At the time, DePrince - or Mabinty Bangura as she was then called - had no idea what ballet was. But she kept the picture, dreaming of one day becoming as happy as the ballerina on the magazine cover.

Years later, she achieved her dreams, and is now a professional dancer who has authored the book Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.

This endearing story mirrors that of Stefanie Katusuva, a 12-year-old self-taught gymnast who hails from Oshiteyi village in the Omusati Region.

Katusuva gained popularity after a video of her performing splits for a fellow pupil at Ogongo Combined School suddenly went viral.

For years her mother Loide Kangombe saw signs of gymnastic talent, including flexibility and agility, but because it's very uncommon to find or see other children in their village with skills like her daughter's, she didn't take it to heart.

This year at Katusuva's school a volunteer teacher organised a Valentine's Day show, and that was when Katusuva's talent was spotted.

“It was because of the volunteer teacher that the video went viral, but before that my daughter's gymnastic curiosity was ignited by now gospel artist Lady May. She watched a video and from then onwards kept doing splits.

“My cousin then decided to download videos of gymnasts performing and that's how she continued to feed her moves. Later on, she would watch gymnastics on SuperSport,” said Kangombe.

She added that harnessing her daughter's talent is a little difficult because there are no gymnastic clubs at the village or in Oshakati or Ongwediva.

“Back in the day there was a club run by one lady, but it closed,” added Kangombe.

She said many children in the rural parts of Namibia are talented, but because of poverty and few opportunities, their dreams die a painful death.

With little or no infrastructure for sport in the northern parts of Namibia, and at government schools, talented children continue to sit idle or focus on running or football.

“The schools hardly have clubs or instructors for this type of sport. Also, there are very few talent shows that can expose talented children,” Kangombe added.

After the video went viral, the young gymnast was invited to Windhoek to take part in a competition organised by the Windhoek Gymnastic Club. However, Kangombe said they are struggling to raise the money for bus fare and accommodation.

“Her teachers always advised me to send my daughter to attend school in Windhoek, where she will have access to clubs, but all of this costs money and I also want to keep an eye on her and monitor her progress in school. I also don't want her to think she is famous and forget that she needs to do well in school.”

Katusuva has three other siblings - two brothers and a sister - who are proud of their sister's talent. She wants become a professional gymnast or instructor one day. She encouraged young Namibian children to never give up on their dreams and to keep believing in themselves.

LIMBA MUPETAMI