Engemi Ferreira

Engemi Ferreira (1943-2019)

Biography

Born Engela Wilhelmi Ferreira-Jordaan on 19 March 1943. She was born on a plot outside of Bloemfontein, Ferreira, but grew up in the former South-West Africa, now Namibia. She studied Drama under Anna Neethling-Pohl, Truida Louw and Francois Swart at the University of Pretoria.

Others skills included qualifications in Sculpture and painting from the Pretoria Technicon, performing as a lyrical soprano and studying modern languages, philosophy and psychology at the University of Pretoria. She was one of the foundation members of the Max Stibbe Waldorf School in Pretoria with Mario Schiess and Margaret Schiess, and also taught there for a while. She spent many years in Mpumalanga where her husband farmed with trees. They also lived in Lydenburg and Vermont.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and /or performance

She was an author and wrote Die jaar toe my ma begin sing het and a collection of short stories Brood vir die Engele. Die jaar to my ma begin sing het led to two dramas. She also wrote poems which were published in Tydskrif vir letterkunde. She started a reading group and worked as a journalist and editor.

Her own plays include: Een Aand op die Trein na Pretoria (cabaret, 19**),

Sources

Rapport Weekliks, 20 October 2019