Font:DW(Deutsche welle)
"Puppetry enables me to change the world"
Learning by Ear author Chrispin Mwakideu is a journalist, actor, playwright and passionate puppet artist.
Chrispin Mwakideu works for DW's English for Africa department.
He takes on different roles here, too – as moderator, editor and
planner. Chrispin writes radio dramas for the educational project Learning by Ear. This DW series is very popular among young audiences in Africa. Chrispin gets inspiration and story ideas from puppet shows.
Raised in Kenya, he couldn't remain silent in the face of the problems and abuses he observed. He has explored the questions that preoccupied him as a child through puppet theater.
The passion for puppet theater grew in the mid-1990s, when traditional puppet shows underwent a revival in Africa. People used them to dramatize problems that could not be expressed in words. Those included diseases such as AIDS and malaria, the environment, people with disabilities, human rights and democracy. African media did not go near these topics.
"In Africa, it is dangerous to criticize the political elite or the government. Puppet theater makes it easier. You can address different themes and portray people through different figures. When a play is critical, you can always say, 'That wasn't me; that was the puppet!' That's why puppet theater is so popular: You can protest with it."
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