Masilo Takes Ngwao Letshwao To Australia

Staff Writer | Tuesday October 8, 2013 00:13

'It was a desperate measure on our part knocking on his doors at that very last minute.  We had hoped that our area MP, being a member of parliament (Edward Raletobana) with contacts in parliament and cabinet, will help us easily.  In fact the MP had invited us to his office and promised to do his all to help us realise our Australian dream, and we came to his office to lay down our plan, but we were running out of time with no  positive outcome; fortunately  when we approached Masilo, another Gabane elder, our dream unbelievably came true,' he said. 

Rammoni said Masilo managed to talk to sponsors like Botswana Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 'He managed to convince the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to waiver our visa requirements, and we managed to get those visas for free and hussle-free; we managed to go and sell Gabane and our beloved Botswana in Australia through what we know best, traditional dance and music.

According to Rammoni, Ngwao Letshwao Performing Arts were invited to perform as part of the independence day celebrations in Australia on 26 September; which also coincided with the celebrations of 10 years of the Botswana's mission to Australia.Rammoni who has previously been based in America as part of cultural exchange, says while in Australia his group also performed at the launch of the 2014 national multi-cultural festival  on 27 September.  'We did very well there, and impressed the hosts so much that they invited us to perform again at the same event next year, from February 7 to14,' he said.  Rammoni says the trip to Australia was also supported by sponsors such as Department of Youth and Culture, Debswana and Gips.