2007年VOA标准英语-Documentary Film Tells Story About South Africa

By Carolyn Weaver¹
New York City
21 May 2007
 

We Are Together (Thina Simunye) is an award-winning documentary about the children of Agape Orphanage², in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.  It is the first film by a 25-year-old director from Britain who says he scraped together the money to shoot the film over a three-year period. VOA's Carolyn Weaver has more.

Most of the 30 children at the Agape Orphanage in a rural area of South Africa have lost their parents to AIDS. They sing in a choir³ to raise their spirits, and to raise money for the orphanage. Paul Taylor was on a break from film school in Britain when he volunteered at the orphanage in 2003.

"I spent three months there with the children without any intentions of making a film,” explains Taylor. “[I] met these incredible children who had an incredible choir, as well. And when I returned to England, I kind of was looking for an excuse to go back to spend more time with the children, and also thought it would be a great idea to make a film with them, because they have such incredible personalities⁴, they'd be great ambassadors to tell a story like this."

"The number of orphans⁵ here is a big, big problem. It's increasing every day," says Zodwa Mqadi, a former AIDS counselor⁶, in the documentary film. She founded Agape because she was touched by the worries of dying parents over who would care for their children.

Like the other children in the documentary, Slindile Moya calls her "Grandma."  "I didn't know her,” she says. “I heard about her when my mother passed away, and my sisters didn't have money to send us to school. So my father took us to that place and we met her."

Slindile is the main character in the documentary – and credited as co-writer with director Paul Taylor. She was nine years old when she and her four younger siblings⁷ went to Agape, where the older children joined the choir.

Zwai Bala

Music director Zwai Bala spoke⁸ to the filmmakers about what singing means to the children. In the film he says, "Music plays a very big part in the culture of this country. We South Africans sing before we sleep, sing before we eat, we sing when we're happy, we sing when we're celebrating, we sing when we're sad – all the time."

During the three years of filming We Are Together, Slindile Moya's older brother Sifiso also died of AIDS, because the family could not afford his drug treatment. Director Paul Taylor says he hopes his film will reach viewers around the world, and build support for policies to stem the tide of deaths from AIDS in poor countries.

"The reason we made the film was to engage people with these issues and what was happening in South Africa,” says the director. “But we knew the way to do that was to focus on this bunch of children, because people can have such an emotional connection with the children. They can make this issue much more engaging and real to people, because of their humanity. And we were so fortunate that we found an incredible bunch of children, and that the Moya family was so welcoming to us and really allowed us into their lives."

Slindile Moya wants to become a nurse, and says she will always sing, too. We Are Together recently won a special jury prize and the audience award at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The $25,000 from the prize will go towards expanding the Agape Orphanage so that it can serve more children. 

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

3 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

4 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

5 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

6 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

7 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。