- IDM’s Culture Day brings joy to SOS Kindergarten
Fun, food and local fashion took centre stage last Friday as Francistown Institute of Development Studies (IDM) organised a culture day for the children at SOS Kindergarten.
Held at the school’s Francistown campus, the feel-good event, now in its second year, was organised to raise funds for the kids’ up-coming graduation.
With beaming smiles, children and teachers embraced the day, looking splendid in their cultural attire (mateise).
The children were taught on traditional cuisine, dance and objects, like: tatana, leselo and nkgo.
After the learning came the feast, with local delicacies such as: seswaa, morogo wa dinawa, dikhobe, setampa, bogobe jwa lerotse gobbled down by the hungry attendees.
Reflecting on the day, IDM Francistown Branch Manager, Elijah Moakofhi explained the institute saw fit to enter into a partnership with SOS Kindergarten as they feel it is critical to support children from an early stage.
“The objective of the event was to raise funds for the graduation. SOS Kindergarten is a multicultural school – as such the intention of the day was to educate the learners about the traditional cuisine,” explained Moakofhi, adding he was moved by the warm reception they received from the little ones.
“We intend to host this event every year,” declared Moakofhi, who thanked the community for embracing and getting involved in the initiative.
He further revealed the partnership was a two-way street, as IDM students studying Bachelors of Early Childhood Education are sent on attachment to SOS Kindergarten as part of their course.
“We do not want them to graduate without having gained in depth practical knowledge,” explained Moakofhi.
For his part, SOS Children’s Villages in Botswana National Director, Motshwari Kitso thanked IDM for their kind gesture, noting the day would live long in the children’s memory.
Admitting that nowadays the younger generation do not get much exposure to cultural practices, Kitso said, “So when a culture event occurs in school it becomes a perfect opportunity for our children to interact and also to even physical see cultural objects, dances, attires and food.
“As it was held, to us it’s an objective met because we always beg the community for slots in cultural events so that our children can also be exposed to the cultural practices.”
