Words Hannah Pool
Mali-born busker Hervé Goffins was adopted by a white Belgian couple at birth. As his new one-man show, Hervé, opens in London ARISE talks with the performer about race, adoption and his remarkable life story
Take us through the show
The show takes the form of a busking performance; I have some props and I’m telling my story. I’m a busker but with a difference – and the difference is my story, which is quite unusual.
How so?
I was born in Bamako in Mali, and I was adopted by a Belgian couple in the early 70s. My parents couldn’t have children but in their mind that was fine, they didn’t plan to adopt. They had been living in Cuba, where my father was teaching African studies at the University of Havana. Then mum got a job with UNESCO in Mali so they moved. One day they were passing a church and saw a notice on the door – it was written that a young student was looking for a place to stay, so my father said, 'let's help'. The student was my birth mother. When my birth mother got pregnant she was rejected by her family because she wasn’t married. My birth father also abandoned her and she didn’t know what to do, so my parents offered to adopt me.
That’s a lot to get into an hour and 15 minutes
It’s a one man show so I play a lot of different characters, I travel to many different countries, I play my white father and mother, but also my biological mother, my biological father, my brother. My parents have travelled a lot and they speak many different languages. It takes in Mali, Burkina Faso, Belgium, Cuba, Chile, Paris, Argentina; it’s an international story.
What’s the mood of the show?
It’s not about lecturing people. It’s a political show but with a lot of humour. I didn’t want a too heavy show. I have a lot of humour. And because I am a busker there are a lot of songs – from French to classical, to African songs and dance.
Have your adoptive parents seen it?
Yes. I did a private performance for my mother, and my father came to see the show. It was really moving because at the end I saw my father with tears in his eyes.
Have you met your birth mother?
I went to see her for the first time a few months ago – I was 38. I had some contact with her while I was growing up; she would send me letters occasionally, so did my biological father, and she came to Paris to visit when I was about five. Because my parents did their job so well I didn’t feel that I needed to go to see her. But meeting her was a great experience. She lives in Burkina Faso now, not Mali, so we travelled 2,000km together to see the rest of the family. They were very happy to see me, they knew my story and they wanted to know why I waited so long. I was really a member of the family, they had photographs of me.
In issue 13, ARISE asked ‘Should non-Africans be allowed to adopt African children?’ What’s your view?
My parents gave me a lot of love. They always let me be who I am, they didn’t have some preconceived ideas of how they wanted me to be as a man, and that’s really important. I know some couples who have adopted African children and it was a disaster because they had a preconcieved idea of how they wanted them to be.
Hervé, performed by Hervé Goffings, written and directed by Michael Birch, is at London's Tara Theatre from January 26-28.
For more info visit Tara Arts