UNDER THE BALBOA TREE

Pamojo is set in Africa under the Balboa tree. This is the place where many stories begin and end in Africa, so we returned to the Mother land to tell our stories. Africa is the place where the oldest bones in existance can be found so we all connect to the Motherland.

Jean Pierre Makosso is from Africa. He lives on the Sunshine coast and keeps his cutlure alive with performances, stories and dancing. He is also the director of Pamojo and one of the narrators.

He weaves a story of a crocodile who wants to capture and eat a rooster and captivates the attention of the children as each one of the performers tell their story and perform their song or dance.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY ON THE SUNSHINE COAST

Pamojo comes from the Swahili word meaning together and that is what we did as a community this year, 2008 for Black History Month. We put together a Multicultural affair that brought the community together in song, dance, music, stories, laughters and tears. This is not a one time event as we will again be putting together another one and this one will be focused around food. Food from around the world and people cooking and talking and sharing stories and song and dance.

The purpose of these events is to bring the ethnic community which is small compared to the whole, to the forefront to share their culture and experience on the Sunshine Coast. As a minority we may be unseen to many and events like this and the New Moon Festival put on by the Asian community are ways of bringing ourself forward and into the community.

We hope to be able to for the summer create an event with all members of the ethnic community where we will set up pavillions with food, drink, and entertainment from each one. What better way to enjoy one self on a summer day?

The bigger picture is to use these events to educate the community of our cultural backgrounds and expose the children to each others cultures and experiences.

I hope that you choose to be a part of this. I look foreward to hearing any comments from anyone of you.