By Staff Reporter
Namibian comedian Fernando Filipe known by his stage name Fernando Tafish is a stand-up comedian, actor and director. Although he has been an active stand-up comedian, the past 12 months saw him travelling the countries 14 regions in towns like Karibib, Keetmanshoop, Otjiwarongo, Swakopmund, Okahanja, Tsumeb and Kamanjab, interviewing random people on his new show, Street Catch and getting hilarious answers from them.
“Street Catch is a project that serves to create awareness on environmental issues like, climate change, poaching, deforestation, and so on. The idea is to entertain the people on serious and important issues while being amused. Many of the time listeners tend to get bored and sleep when the speech or the teaching method is too formal,” Fernando said.
He added that the show was inspired by the trending Ghanaian Street Quiz, but that the questions are based on the Covid-19 pandemic. “Art is a very powerful tool when it comes to educating people, it is easier to convey a message through an element that is entertaining and enjoyable. Essentially, humour activates our sense of wonder, which is where learning begins, so it seems logical that humour could enhance our method of creating awareness on environmental issues. This method is also known as Edutainment,” he said.
According to Fernando, the overall objective of this project is to sensitize Namibian school-going learners to topics related to the environment and sustainable development.
“The aims of these clips is to motivate everybody that doesn’t know the answer, to go do research after watching and laughing and to empower them to get actively involved in environmental issues. The idea is to go all out in the streets and approach members of the public, The team approaches the people in the streets and asks them environmental questions,” He said.
Although Fernando is a stand-up comedian, he says being in the streets was easy and fun. “All I had to do is be serious and ask questions. I think what makes me unique is my ability to maintain a straight face during the interviews,” he said.
