September is a truly South African month and one where we all feel united in our heritage and cultures. South Africa is a beautiful mix of cultures and heritages, and what better way to celebrate this than to dress up in traditional attire? The Clover Mama Afrika’s spent Heritage Day dressing up, enjoying traditional food, celebrating with traditional dance and showing pride and acceptance for their various cultural roots.
Clover Mama Afrika is a sustainable Corporate Social Investment project that has been in existence since 2004. The project has been running successfully since 2004 and hosted 440 training sessions with over 2313 beneficiaries over the years. The benefits of upskilling can be clearly seen among the Clover Mama Afrika’s
Mama Kedibone Miyambo from Hammanskraal in Gauteng invited visitors to come celebrate and embrace their heritage on the day and invited everyone to wear traditional attire. The children from Moepathutse Children Centre were also dressed up according to their cultures. The celebrations consisted of motivational speakers, to motivate the children and educate them on the importance of embracing their cultures and the young adults were taught how to prepare traditional food by Mama Kedibone. Care workers Mpho Mashishi and Obakeng Thema, taught the beneficiaries traditional Tsonga and Pedi dances which was enjoyed by everyone. Another Social worker, Evah Moloisane, educated the beneficiaries by equipping them with knowledge of the different cultures in South Africa and to embrace the spirit of Ubuntu.
Ma Engelina Molete – Dopsonville, Gauteng
Mama Engelina proudly believes that Heritage is about embracing our true African identity and being. “It is about being proud of being African. It is a proud banner, showing off the African identity, experience, image, rituals and food. We had a wonderful Heritage Day this year and we truly feel it is a beautiful time to be an African on the African soil,” she explains.
Mama Rina celebrated Heritage Day this year letting the children in her centre colour in pictures to win prizes. They also baked traditional dishes from their own cultues which they all enjoyed together.
Mama Feziwe’s day started off a little sad when they were left without electricity, but they did not let this dampen the mood! They manged to get a potable speaker until the electricity came back on and the festivities carried on as planned. All the children were very excited to do their traditional dance activities as per their age groups and they had 87 adults and 189 children in total celebrating the day together. “We prepared traditional food for the day like isigwaqane (pap cooked with mielie meal and beans), spinach, samp and beans, tripe, chicken curry and also ujeqe (steam bread). It was a day well spent!” she explains.
Mama Yvonne du Preez – Upington, Northern Cape
Mama Yvonne du Preez from Upington in the Northern Cape hosted a cultural event at Mama Mary Visagie’s Oasis Skills Development Centre where they used the garden to show the various clothes of different cultures, created by the team. Everyone divided into teams on the day to work in the bakery and made food from a specific culture that they chose. They then dressed up according to their culture and presented the food they cooked for that culture, while also enjoying cultural music, drums, poems and even a fashion show
Mama Phumla Goje from Mncotsho in the Eastern Cape centre cooked various traditional Xhosa food on the day, like imifuno, pap with sour milk and sopi and enjoyed the day together with African dance. The centre promoted their culture and wore traditional outfits.
“I am so proud of the Clover Mama Afrika’s always going above and beyond in their communities. Heritage Day is a very special day for our Clover Mama Afrika’s and one that they also participate in and celebrate proudly. This day is always celebrated in no other way than the Clover Mama Afrika way, with centres making food and inviting their communities to come and share in the celebrations, yet again showing the selfless nature of our beautiful Mamas,” says Prof Elain Vlok, Clover Manager, Clover Mama Afrika Trust.
