Members of MUKA performing on the steps of St Martins-in-the-fields, London

MUKA (Most United Knowledgeable Artists) is a group of young South Africans who, all at some point rendered homeless, began, in 1995, to create theatre projects, using drama, dance, music and poetry, to perform on the streets and in theatres and schools — initially in Johannesburg and then elsewhere.

MUKA aims to provide alternatives for young people who may find themselves tempted into lives of crime, drug dependency and prostitution. The group seeks to educate others about the problems faced by homeless young people and organises projects and workshops to help the young homeless to use the creative arts as cathartic means of escaping their situations.

The MUKA drama group has toured the USA and Germany and has won several awards, including the 1998 Source Theatre Festival (USA) Creativity Excellence award, for its work. In July 2000, CMS, through its Interchange programme, sponsored a fortnight of events and performances by the troupe in Britain. This sponsorship is an initiative that reflects the exciting trends in interchange to energise ‘the movement of people in mission’. During the tour, MUKA performed on the steps of St Martin’s-in-the-Fields, in the Millennium Dome, and in various schools and churches.

However, they, too, had definite ideas about his future: "My aunties were actually trying to get a job for me." Unable to face the alternative of returning to his parents, whom he felt he had already angered by dropping out of college, Peter, then 18, 'went straight to the streets, where I met all my friends in Hillbrow', a suburb of Johannesburg.

Peter would ask his homeless friends why and how they had ended up on the streets. He realised that most ‘were there for similar reasons, whether personal or political — the uprisings or loss of family or problem family backgrounds’.

Peter Ndebele (far left) and his fellow actors put on a show.

‘Hell on earth’

Peter is clear-sighted about the appalling risks, such as rape, maiming or even death, and the potential emotional damage that being homeless can entail — all subject matter for MUKA’s plays. "Homelessness is living in hell on earth. It’s a torture but the pain isn’t overwhelmingly sharp or strong; it’s like a dull, continuous ache."

Some of the pain consists of mourning lost opportunities. "You come to realise the pain after some time, to find that the time has gone and you are left behind. You find the people of your own age, your former contemporaries, have settled down and started families. Then you begin to say to yourself ‘My time is gone’.

"Much as you want to go back, to live the normal life, you are addicted to life on the streets. You tell yourself, ‘Where my old schoolmates are now, I don’t think I’ll reach that.’ Then your hopes are over. With a mind so discouraged you can’t begin to imagine a future. That is the pain that will really eat you up inside."

Peter’s also aware of the strengths and resilience of the homeless young. "Often the homeless look out for each other and create an alternative community, a family. Also, homeless people always have a great sense of humour. They are always sharing funny stories. They are always talking fun. They laugh and smile." Their instinct for survival is often deep-rooted.

He and his friends attended the YMCA drop-in centre in Hillbrow. "We used to meet there; we sang, we danced, we praised God, we acted out." I decided, ‘There is real raw talent here.’ One day I said to them, ‘Guys, we’re good singers, we’re good dancers but what more? What is our tomorrow? What is our future? What if we were to start an arts project?’ They were dubious. I persisted, ‘The life we are living is really a drama. We can create a story-telling play from it, mixing drama, music and dance.’

"So then we started to tell our stories, trying to create a show. Afterwards I could see that most of the kids were in tears. Raking up all those memories was like scorching their wounds again. It was very painful. So we exchanged our stories: I told someone else’s story, the other person told mine. That worked."

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