13 Jun 2018

For the love of culture and the rising need to preserve it for generations to come, the youth of Metsimotlhabe have come up with a cultural festival event scheduled for June 30 at Gaphatshwa main Kgotla.

According to the event organiser, Emily Chizake the cultural festival would give people an opportunity and platform to share ideas, accept, protect cultural diversity and most importantly promote solidarity in the community.

She highlighted that through this festival the community would be afforded an opportunity to celebrate and embrace their culture and traditions and even pass it onto the younger generations.

She said it was disheartening at times when children do not know their roots and even traditional food.

Chizake said they would be serving Setswana cuisine and also taking the opportunity to teach and demonstrate to children on how to prepare different Setswana cuisine.

Speaking in an interview, Chikaze was hopeful that they would deliver an event above par, and in doing so, they had partnered with different stakeholders such as the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Food Security to empower young people to venture into agriculture as it had proven to be a viable business that could sustain lives and the country at large.

She further said village elders, supermarkets and the community were also contributing ‘greatly’ to the success of the event.

As preparations for this event are at its peak, Chikaze, who is currently unemployed lamented that the greatest challenge they were facing was that they were not receiving enough support in the form of sponsorship and mentorship from organisations.

Chikaze said the community would be in for a treat as they have different activities which include among others, traditional dance, Setapa, Moribo, Tsutsube, Hosanna and fun filled traditional games such as mhele, diketo, dibeke and koi.

The event will be graced by the area councillor Moemedi Mokgachane and other village elders.

Chikaze also revealed that the event would be held annually, adding that Facebook has provided a great mileage about the festival in spreading the message.

She said the event is not only a cultural festival but it also offers people a time to be proud of who they were, socialise and exercise through playing different traditional games hence contributing to good health..ENDS