APC, the hope of Tsumeb

The Namibian Art Performance Centres Association (NAPeCAs) is a non-profit organisation founded by Vic Hans Leu and Lis Hidber which endeavours to promote arts in the widest sense imaginable - particularly in disadvantaged communities - with the view to propelling them towards self-reliance and self-sufficiency. The centres in Tsumeb as well as those in other parts of the country are focused primarily on human development and job creation.
The non-profit has already established three Arts Performance Centres (APCs) in the northern part of the country i.e. Oshikuku (1993), Omagalanga (2001) and Tsumeb (2003). Their resounding success has aroused nationwide interest and they are at present inundated with requests to start similar projects elsewhere. Currently the NGO is contemplating new centres at Otjiwarongo, Walvis Bay, Rundu, Okongo as well as extending the Tsumeb APC.
Lis Hidber, who is one of the founders of the Tsumeb centre, told The Zone that she came to Namibia for the first time during pre-independence where she was just meant to come and volunteer from Switzerland for two or three months.
After working with some of the children during her stay in northern Namibia, she already started feeling more of an attraction to Namibia and found herself willing to stay for longer periods. Lis left Namibia, but returned a couple of months later and hasn’t left since. That was about 20 years ago, when she was asked to help set up the APC Tsumeb by the Tsumeb Town Council.
Lis says that there is so much talent here in Namibia and in Africa in general and that she believes the talent here needs to be nurtured, so as to allow the students and teachers that are from disadvantaged backgrounds to be able to make something of their lives.
On offer at the centre are all classical instruments that range from strings like the cello, violin and harp, to trumpets as well as African dance classes and visual arts as well.
Their vision is to establish APCs throughout Namibia, and have also made it their mission to engage with the students in personality development, arts education, job creation and to have many of the students and teachers start careers in the arts.
The students are taught in thatched-roof, traditionally shaped huts. The walls were constructed with beer bottles, helps to regulate temperature. About 50 participants daily attend the programmes in music, dance and visual arts at the centre.
APC Omagalanga opened its doors in 2001 and operates from the premises of a local school. There co-founder Lis Hidber initially taught in an open classroom before she eventually opted for the erection of three huts in the school yard. All the centre's teachers were trained at Oshikuku and today are remunerated by the government who now owns the facilities.
APC Tsumeb started in 2003 on a plot donated by the local authorities. Currently sporting 15 rondavels (huts) and an open-air stage, the centre has 15 teachers and is visited by almost 140 students daily. Moreover, in collaboration with the town council APC Tsumeb also jointly hosts a plethora of youth activities on a regular basis.
Lis told The Zone that they were only getting funding from a Swiss donor at the moment that gives 3 500 euros a month to the centre from which all the teachers at the centre are paid.
The navy band consists wholly from APC Tsumeb students, with the military and police bands also consisting of APC Tsumeb students.
Lis mentioned that the centres need they need more assistance from the government to be able to upscale the work that they are doing now at the centre, as well as using those additional funds to be able to pay the teachers better, and make the centre space available to more students.
The instruments at the centre are all second-hand, which were donated by a school in Austria. There are students at the centre that cannot read or write, but have been taught to fix all the instruments, including the classical instruments.
Keith Vries