The Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Gladys Kokorwe has encouraged Batswana to engage in activities that depict their pride in the richness of their culture heritage, and urged them to discuss heritage presentations of research findings as well as presentations of publications and articles pertaining to Botswana’s heritage.
Kokorwe said this recently when she launched the month of July as the National Heritage Month.
The Minister said that the month of July is dedicated to the celebration of Botswana’s archival records, heritage sites and monuments.
“The celebration is intended to uphold the memories and the ever-evolving cultural legacy and traditions encapsulated in Batswana’s songs, game, dances, stories, dress, arts and crafts.”
Among activities that will mark the commemoration of this month will be cultural and heritage festivals that will be held throughout Botswana.
Some of them include Mbungu Wa Kathimana of Hambukushu, which was held in the first week of this month at Etsha Six, and the Dihosana Cultural Day of Bakalanga, which will be held at Mbalambi on the 25th of this month.
Others are Contemporary Music Festival, tradition Song and Dance festival and Drama festival to be hosted by the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture in Gaborone.
As part of the celebrations, Kokorwe was on Friday expected to launch the Francistown Records Centre under the ‘Archives, a Mirror of our past; Mapping a future society” theme. The event was expected to also feature, among other things, an exhibition depicting the historical development of Francistown and related history, including recordings of oral histories from the elderly in and around Francistown.
Meanwhile, throughout this month, the Botswana National Library Service will showcase the National Literacy Heritage of Botswana.
Starting this year, the Month of Heritage will be celebrated annually under different themes that have a bearing on Botswana’s appreciation of their heritage.
