By Gladys Nomvuyo Sebeko

When we talk about heritage we talk about what we embrace as human beings. In South Africa we have different cultures but one heritage which is respecting each other’s beliefs. In South Africa, we have the joy of having more than just one heritage which makes us such a unique country. As the A! Network we also have or very own heritage which is community development. Since its heritage month, we got some time to speak to some Activators to hear how they will be celebrating this heritage month and what they think about heritage and this is what they said;

Nyadi Ralekhetla, Activator 2017 – Free State

“Heritage month to me is the time when South Africans should celebrate their diverse cultural heritage that makes up a rainbow nation. It is a very important month for us because a part of cultural history is celebrated. This month is a month whereby our people need to understand we celebrate the contribution of South Africans to the building of South Africa, and also they should remember that South African population is made up of many different cultures, which still need to be taught to our growing brothers and sisters.

To teach the small children from my community about heritage and culture I will be hosting an event where by children will be wearing their cultural gear and perform cultural dances while serving lunch of different cultural food. Will also create cultural games and quiz which will teach them more about different cultures.”

Sboniso Hadebe AKA Beef, Activator 2017- KwaZulu-Natal

“We always use the word CULTURE, assuming that we all have the same definition of it. I believe culture is a string of traits that we develop to protect what we value as a society. It is ever evolving as the dynamic of society change, we take respect as a value and then we have a string of change that show that value like greeting and Ubuntu.

On this heritage day I will be hosting an event called heritage showcase. On this event I will be haring different cultural gear and food with some information about that certain food or cloths. The community members will be engaging in some cultural games and dance. This event will also represent the stand against Xenophobia. Everyone is invited.”

Selekaya Seribe Bokone, Activator 2017 – Bophirima Province

Culture is something that involves the entire qualities and characters that are irregular to the society to a level that is distinguish another person from the entire society. These qualities include language, how you dress and food just to mention a few, it also include societal norms, values and taboos. To me culture simply means what you do when you celebrate life and how chose to celebrate it. There is no specific way as to how you chose to practices as your culture as long as you are not violating any human’s rights. What I really dislike is people abuse other people all in the name of culture and heritage. As the world change things change and some even change for the better with people understanding that culture does not mean abuse but celebrating how far we have come and where we are going as a nation.

On this cultural day I would be having an event that will be promoting the African knowledge of culture. This event will be teaching people how to love the books written by Africans for Africans and also how to love our cultural dance and poetry, we will also have an open discussion about including our African culture on the curriculum In order for the future generation to learn our history.”

It is important to learn that culture means whatever you chose to practice and makes you happy, it is not just all about who did what when and why but it is about how you and the people around you like to celebrate life. If we take a look at the A! culture for a moment we see that it is one culture that will last from one generation to the next because young people are passionate about community development and that’s our culture we know how we got here and how our ancestors did thing but now it is time to do things differently push new events and new heritage for a better south Africa.