GATHER AROUND FOR ‘MAINANE’
ESTeRES Agency is organising an event where the young and old will be treated to mainane - traditional folklore.
Founder and Director at ESTeRES Agency, Mitchelle Phetlhe says the old age art form of story telling is a great tool for bringing people together.
“Mainane are folklore stories which were traditionally told around the fire by an elder to children.
They would impart life lessons using tales of talking animals and other characters ensuring stories are exciting and gripping with a thorough explanation of the lesson or moral of the narrative,” she says.
Her observation is that with the advent of technology, young people are less interested in the preservation of cultural teachings that have been part of a typical Motswana’s upbringing for years, hence they are creating accessibility to mainane using different channels.
She shared with Vibe that many young people are of the notion that Setswana is hard to navigate, use or comprehend in comparison to their adopted European or modern ways and use of language. This she said is disheartening because a fair balance is necessary, when it comes to communication.
“We need to be aware of Setswana culture in order to keep it alive by sharing it with future generations for years to come,” she said.
Phetlhe, as a mother of two boys and an Arts and Crafts teacher at TTPG, is convinced that she has a natural way of connecting with children and identity activities that truly engage their imaginations. She told Vibe that this initiative is open for adults and children of all ages who appreciate a well narrated story, especially folklore.
Phetlhe said this event is expected to take place on April 6th at Thapong Visual Arts over school holidays.
She shared that in the past, ESTeRES Agency hosted Kids Holiday Camps in order to give parents and children something different to do over school holidays.
“For the kids it was meant for their personal development, independence, interacting with peers outside of school and reducing screen time, something that kids find themselves doing mostly over school holidays. For parents it was an opportunity to have kids spend time away from home learning lessons and activities they don’t necessarily attain from school, as well as a grace period for the folks as the transition of having kids home 24/7,” she said.
This concept of mainane was born when her children came home from a holiday excursion with their grandmother a year ago and excitedly narrated one folklore story ‘Chuele’ to her. She was inspired to host a family oriented event where parents such as herself could come and listen to folklore stories where ‘mainane a tlhajwa ka segologolo sa teng’.
Her expectation is for children to be able to have take away lessons from these stories which will assist in preserving the cultural gem for Botswana tales.
“I’m certain that for the children, this will be an opportunity for them to engage with their culture, in an afternoon to evening of traditional games and mainane. Setswana culture renown’s itself as being respectful and adhering to morality and social cohesion, and so it is important that our children grow up understanding one of the key values, Botho,” she shared.
Phetlhe is glad that Thapong Visual Art Gallery is their venue partner for the mainane event. “It is more than fitting as a host, as it is an art gallery which houses a variety of cultural art mediums and we all know art in itself is Story telling,” she said, further explaining that the mainane session is planned for the April 2nd which is at the start of the first term holiday.
Their vision is to host a session every school holiday where they make sure to vary the line-up and activities in order to cater for return patrons.
They have Rhodes, Pepsi, and S24 Water as their their official beverage sponsor who also encourages the harnessing and the preservation of beautiful culture of Botswana by sponsoring the initiative. All mainane told on the day will have English translations available.