Must watch television: iLIVE

If you have to watch TV this Sunday, you gotta catch the Play Your Part television series which highlights the efforts of ordinary South Africans.

Episode 3 brings you a herbs farmer, an orchestra bassoonist and a community centre making a difference in the lives of matric students and has become the largest student feeder for the University of Port Elizabeth.

Episode three of Play Your Part – the show about ordinary South Africans doing extraordinary things – brings three more citizens who are making a difference in the lives of their communities. 

Brandon Phillips represents the changing face of South Africa. He has broken into what was arguably a form of artistic milieu that was the preserve of white South African.

He is the principal bassoonist for the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and, as the winner of the inaugural Len van Zyl Conductors Competition; he is the heir-apparent for the illustrious position as the orchestra’s conductor.  Quite a journey for the young man whose first gig was in a small ensemble in his local church in Mitchells Plain.

The serene mountains of the Magaliesburg are a far cry from the loud sounds and hard streets of Westbury where Jimmy Botha’s spent much of his youth. Farming was the unlikeliest of career paths for a city boy who had spent his adult life as a contractor for one the country’s large telecoms corporations.

But tilling the land has brought unexpected joy to Jimmy. He now runs the successful Tila’s Herbs farm which has brought much needed employment opportunities for the local population.

Having made inroads into the local food retail market he has bigger dreams, selling his crops to the serene mountains of the Magaliesburg  are a far cry from the loud sounds and hard streets of Westbury were Jimmy Botha’s spent much of his youth.

The Ethembeni Enrichment Centre has begun its life as an intervention in the education crisis that had crippled the country’s township schools. The idea was to provide a place for  Matric students who wanted to improve their marks. Today the school has over 400 students, and is a fully fledged high school teaching grades 8-12.

The secret seems to lie in the five basic that are strictly adhered to : 100% attendance; Completion of homework; Parent involvement; Respect for property and people and punctuality. Through these they seemed to have turned the tide on the low morale & ill-discipline that plagues some schools. 

The centre has therefore become the largest student feeder for the University of Port Elizabeth.

Play your Part, a 13-part series began two weeks ago and is broadcast on SABC 1, every Sunday at 12h30.