VIDEO: West girl (7) puppeteers for charity
“During Christmas time, she did a show at a squatter camp in Pretoria.”
A seven-year-old girl from Pretoria West almost gave up on her puppeteering hobby after she was criticised for it by an adult passer-by outside a Danville shop.
“Vanessa does puppeteering for the less fortunate,” her mother Gwendolyne explained.
“During Christmas time, she did a show at a squatter camp in Pretoria.”
“She wanted people to be able to hear her better and felt that it will help her in her shows,” she said.
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“However, when a woman approached us and criticised us outside a shop while giving a show that day, it broke my daughter down,” she said.
In anger, Gwendolyne took to social media.
“The post reached so many people – and I was very surprised by the outcome,” she said.
She said a Good Samaritan, Stefan van Achterbergh, saw the post and sponsored Vanessa with a boom box with a hand mic.
“She was very excited and she cannot wait to start doing shows again with her new equipment,” she said.
“It was wonderful to see that there are still good people out there willing to help.”
She thanked Van Achterbergh for his good deed.
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“She also regularly does recordings for children competitions on Facebook.”
Vanessa decided she wanted to do puppeteering because she enjoyed people laughing.
“She is a huge Jeff Dunham fan and said she would like to make kids and older people laugh,” Gwendolyne said.
Dunham is an American ventriloquist and comedian who has also appeared on several television shows.
“She always says that she is going to be a grade 1 puppet teacher with her puppet, Sparkle, and her kids will always be happy.”
Vanessa also enjoys playing with her My Little Pony toys, her mother said.
“She is a real drama queen and said that she wanted to do drama at school,” Gwendolyne said.
“She also enjoys netball.”
“I discovered her passion during a talent show on Facebook for Toys R Us. I wanted her to hula hoop,” said her mother Gwendolyne.
“She, however, asked why she had to hula hoop when she can do what Jeff Dunham does.”
Vanessa made her first puppet from a sock.
“She did not win the competition, but I discovered where my daughter’s passion was,” she said.
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