Chadian actor brings theatre to impoverished neighbourhoods

For years, Chadian actor Bonaventure Madjitoubangar organises readings of poetry and plays in the streets of capital N'Djamena to bring culture to impoverished neighborhoods.

Bonaventure, who is also a comedian, has been in the world of storytelling for nearly five years. He has a good number of novels in his possession. 

According to him, any writing is not negligible. However, he is inspired by the writings of great writers. These collections allow him to feed his mind.

"Culture should be accessible to all. If we want to have a wonderful world, a harmonious world, everyone should be focused on the same dimensions to be able to dream together. And without culture we won't be able to initiate development," said Bonaventure.

The young actor does not have a fixed place to tell his stories. He performs in public spaces. A way for him to give everyone the opportunity to discover him and his story.

"The koundou (balafon or African xylophone) is part of me, it's my identity, it accompanies the musicality, and what is beautiful in theatre is that you can't work alone. Theatre brings other disciplines together. And other views also enrich what I do in theatre. So it builds a bond while offering this identity to which everyone can identify internally," said Bonaventure.

Bonaventure has been an inspiration to the local community where he hails especially children who give an ear to his beautiful and inspiring narrations. Residents from Chagoua locality can’t get enough of him. "I was just walking, I saw that he was performed, I got interested and that's how I came to listen to what he is saying and I'm really happy with what he is saying," said Ourombe Walter, a Chagoua district resident.

Another resident said, "as I speak to you if he wasn't around our children would be crying. Every two or three months, he brings the children together, he gives them drawings, he teaches them how to act, to draw."

Bonaventure is not only an actor, he is also an artist and owns a theatre house called 'theatre and momentum'.