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. She also qualified in Sculpture and painting at the Pretoria Technicon. As well as that she became a lyrical soprano. Besides that she did 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 and Margaret Schliess where she also taught 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'', short stories Brood vir die engele. Die jaar to my ma begin sing het which lead to two dramas. She also wrote poems which were published in Tydskrif vir letterkunde. She started a reading group and worked as a jounalist and editor.