Durban North residents revel in indigenous games
Durban North resident Michaela Geytenbeek, who runs the Kinship Programme, said this year's funds will go towards a new programme which focuses on schools in the Inanda area, north of Durban.
IN the last few years, the Kinship Programme has run a series of fundraisers to help various causes, including transforming the lower end of the Virginia Bush Nature Reserve.
This year, the programme, which is an after-school initiative that facilitates immersive learning in nature for children, held an Indigenous Games event at Crusaders Sports Club.
Durban North resident Michaela Geytenbeek, who runs the Kinship Programme, said this year’s funds will go towards a new programme which focuses on schools in the Inanda area, north of Durban.
“It started out with a single school where we shared our expertise of how to utilise nature as a resource of education and blossomed from there. We have now partnered with 16 schools and offered the programmes for free. We’ve formed lasting relationships with the school, and we’ve even visited some of the schools on more than one occasion. The cool thing is we’ve used nature on the school’s doorsteps in Inanda. It has been a fun way to promote conservation and help learners grow. We’ve also been able to take three schools to Giba Gorge on educational visits,” she said.
Speaking on the Indigenous Games fundraiser, Geytenbeek said volunteers and residents took to the games like ducks to water.
Some of the games include Kgati (rope-skipping), Diketo (played with pebbles or marbles) and Intonga (stick-fighting) which all focus on physical and mental skills.
“I think the adults loved it as much as the adults did. We played a number of games, and people are still having a bit of banter over it, so it shows how much they enjoyed participating. It was also a way for us to promote an appreciation of some of the indigenous games to a new audience. We had teams of five participate in the games, and with Intonga, we swapped our sticks for pool noodles,” she said.
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