PHEELLO MOFOKENG: That’s it. Three, two, and action.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

We’re on the set of a South African soap opera called “Soul City.”

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #1: Camera back to one as well.

SUMMERS: Crew members work frantically, pushing cameras and lighting equipment around the set – a modern house with large open windows.

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #2: Final checks.

SUMMERS: This show is beloved in a country that loves its soap operas.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SOUL CITY THEME”)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Soul City.

SUMMERS: “Soul City” launched in 1994, when South Africa was just becoming a true democracy. The program ran on one of the biggest TV networks here and fast became an institution.

PHINAH KODISANG: When we started, it was mainly to do behavior change communication, and so storytelling was at the core of what the organization does. My name is Phinah Kodisang. I am the CEO of Soul City Institute for Social Justice in South Africa.

SUMMERS: At that time, AIDS was a fast-growing crisis across Africa with devastating consequences. “Soul City’s” mission was simple – to use dramatic storytelling to educate people and change the thinking around HIV/AIDS.

KODISANG: Even if someone in your family is HIV-positive, you can still love them. You won’t get it by touching them. You know, you won’t get it by loving and caring for them.

SUMMERS: South Africans of a certain age all remember seeing the show. Jude Tshisevhe is 43 and plays one of the leads in the new season.

Do you have memories of “Soul City” from when you were growing up?

JUDE TSHISEVHE: Of course I do. We’re losing a lot of youth, a lot of adults, because people didn’t know about this condom thing and how it works and how you transmit and how you protect yourself. So it saved our lives, really.

SUMMERS: But Phinah Kodisang says that over time, reality TV replaced soaps, and “Soul City” went off the air for over a decade. Until now.

KODISANG: There has been a cry from the South African population saying, “Soul City,” where are you? Look at what is happening with our children. I mean, we have screenshots on X and Facebook where people literally say, if “Soul City” was here, we wouldn’t be seeing the issues that…

SUMMERS: Wow.

KODISANG: …We are seeing in our communities. Bring back “Soul City.”

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #3: What’s his ETA?

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #4: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #5: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #3: (Inaudible). OK, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #6: We are seeing our makeup and wardrobe team, and they’re getting ready for set.

SUMMERS: Yeah, let’s check this out. I can see some racks of clothing in here. Beautiful makeup setup with the pink and yellow vanities.

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #6: And we’ve got our cast here, actually.

SUMMERS: So this is where the cast is? OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #6: Yes. And these two are dating in story.

SUMMERS: Oh, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #6: Yeah.

BOOLYEAH BASE: Hello, everyone. My name is Boolyeah Base (ph), and I’ll be playing the lead character of Samke Noble in the story of “Soul City: Let’s Rise” Season 1.

SUMMERS: Tell us about your character.

BASE: Samke is a 17-year-old girl that is a huge dreamer. She didn’t grow up with her father, so she has a huge void in her heart.

SUMMERS: Her character is an aspiring influencer who falls victim to a blesser. That’s an older man with money and power.

BASE: I’m a naive little teenager, and he lures me into a mentorship kind of relationship, but I’m not aware that that’s actually going to lead to sort of, like, a transactional relationship at the end, even though it’s not quite consensual.

SUMMERS: The “Soul City” reboot focuses on the stories of young women, who today are the most vulnerable to HIV infection in South Africa.

KODISANG: In a week, about 1,200 new infections happen in the 15- to 19-year-old age group. And this is among adults and girls.

SUMMERS: Every week?

KODISANG: Every week.

SUMMERS: That’s stunning.

KODISANG: Yeah.

MOFOKENG: Can I just see the top of the scene again? Just the top of the scene. I just want to try something.

SUMMERS: Director Pheello Mofokeng is reviewing some last changes with his actors.

MOFOKENG: So once you enter, once you close the door, enter, give us one, two beats, and then you can do the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: OK.

MOFOKENG: Yeah.

SUMMERS: He lets me look at the script.

MOFOKENG: The blesser’s lines – they don’t call them a blesser these days. The young kids call them Zaddies.

SUMMERS: Zaddies.

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #6: (Laughter).

SUMMERS: OK. Daddy with a Z.

UNIDENTIFIED FILM CREW #6: Yes.

SUMMERS: Yeah. What are we looking at?

MOFOKENG: We’re looking at episodes from today – that we’ll be shooting today from Episode 2. Rhulani (ph) is our protagonist’s best friend, and her father is a very crooked perpetrator who ends up manipulating her. Yeah. So he ends up manipulating his daughter’s best friend to have sex with them, and he abuses her.

SUMMERS: What do you hope that people who ultimately watch this take away from it? What effect do you hope it has?

MOFOKENG: Well, I – people need to ask themselves questions. I think people need to know what – first and foremost, what does it mean to be involved in a toxic relationship? And they need to say, how do I identify toxic relationships in my life? As long as the audience are asking themselves the questions, am I able to identify toxicity? Am I able to identify what this show is showing me? What am I doing as an individual? That’s pretty much it. With edutainment, that’s what you hope to do.

No movement, Sky (ph).

SUMMERS: “Soul City” is more than a TV show. It’s backed by a nonprofit by the same name that’s been working to reach Black young women and girls in marginalized communities for years. It operates a number of programs, including Rise Young Women’s Clubs. These clubs bring together small groups of girls to teach them about sensitive social issues and how to advocate for themselves. Kodisang says they work in schools without government services.

KODISANG: Classes are crowded, so we work in those settings. So Rise is about that. It’s about rising above those circumstances that you find yourself in.

(CROSSTALK)

SUMMERS: This is the first meeting of the Rise club here at the secondary school. It’s an empowerment group for young women to give them the tools they need to succeed. There are about 10 girls here, all wearing these navy blue and red school uniforms, and they’ve been talking about topics like gender equality and feminism and intersectionality.

Inside Phulumani Secondary School (ph), at the front of a classroom, Pascal Sithole (ph) leads a group of girls through a lesson. She encourages each girl to come to the front of the room and to write down what the words feminism, gender equality and democracy mean to them.

PASCAL SITHOLE: Adawin (ph) wrote, when people treated other people fairly. OK.

SUMMERS: What do you hope they take away from today’s session and from the program in general?

SITHOLE: I hope they take away the fact that we are here to empower. We are here to build sisterhood. We are here to help one another. We are here to empower each other as young girls.

(APPLAUSE)

SUMMERS: Soul City’s CEO, Phinah Kodisang, says the work in the schools is mirrored in this season of “Soul City.”

KODISANG: This drama that is happening now is centering a Rise girl – right? – where at the center you have a young woman who is being empowered, because once you empower this young woman, she’s able to say no to toxic relationships. She’s able to leave abusive relationships. But she’s also able to empower others – right? – because when you empower a woman, we know…

SUMMERS: Yeah. We do. We do.

KODISANG: …They are able to – they have a multiplier effect (laughter)…

SUMMERS: Yeah.

KODISANG: …In everything.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SOUL CITY THEME”)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Soul City.

SUMMERS: This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. Next week on the program, we cross the border to Mozambique, where a clinic run by a Catholic association from Italy offers a long view on the course of the AIDS epidemic.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Seeing childrens, you know, coming and say, maybe she can save my father, you know? My fear is going back on that part. You saw the paradise, you know? And now you are telling me, go back.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SOUL CITY THEME”)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Soul City.

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: Soul City.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Vocalizing). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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