Rare Africa Day treat for young urbanites

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BY FIDELITY MHLANGA Being born and engraved in urban culture with no appreciation of cultural and traditional ways of living has become a norm for most kids. It takes a few parents to groom their kids to appreciate their culture and tradition. And on Africa Day, Afrodrop Modelling Agency gave kids a rare taste of […]

BY FIDELITY MHLANGA

Being born and engraved in urban culture with no appreciation of cultural and traditional ways of living has become a norm for most kids.

It takes a few parents to groom their kids to appreciate their culture and tradition.

And on Africa Day, Afrodrop Modelling Agency gave kids a rare taste of their African culture at  Mauya Kumusha Cultural Village in Marlborough. Models from ECD to Grade 7 clad in different African clothing were taught to  pound using mortar and thistle, manual grinding and fetch firewood.

Kids were conscientised about the roles of gota (bachelor pad), hozi, dare (court yard) and dura (grain store house).

They had a rare treat playing mbira, hosho and beating the  drums.

Kids also got to know traditional games such as nhodo and tsoro and how to use the bow and arrows.

Esther Kabhizi, a 10-year-old Grade 5 pupil, said  the experience was exciting as she was exposed to culture and tradition.

“It’s exciting to know our tradition. It is my first time to see a set-up like this. I am in love with my culture and tradition,” she said.

Twelve-year-old Keith Mutandiro, another Grade 5 pupil, said he was exposed to some African dishes for the first time.

“We are being taught to know our culture. It was my first time eating nhopi (pumpkin porridge) and samp, among others. Being exposed to gota where boys sleep, for me, was so exciting,” he said.

Traditional foods that were served on the day included sweet potatoes, samp, maheu, pumpkin porridge, honey, dried vegetables, madora/amacimbi and millet porridge.

Mody Severa, Afrodrop executive director, said it was a special way of celebrating Africa Day.

She said they were taking a leaf from  the first lady auxillia Mnangagwa’s programmes.

“Having seen the first lady running these programmes, seeing her teaching citizens that we should dwell on traditional dishes, we saw it fit to teach the children and appreciate traditional dishes. I urge Zimbabweans to support this programme and make use of traditional meals even at home when packing food for their kids,”  Severa said.