Carnival atmosphere celebrating spaces

People played and performed at the Open Streets Day in Mitchells Plain

THE COMMUNITY of Mitchells Plain came out in numbers yesterday to celebrate the annual “Open Streets Day”. Eisleben Road resembled a carnival as residents participated in fun activities and the pavements were filled with a variety of stalls. The Cape Argus was also present on the day, handing out cupcakes to bystanders, and had the opportunity to take photos of people with the Cape Argus’s mascot, “Argie”.

The significance of this event is to celebrate public spaces. The day allowed visitors to walk, cycle, skate, play or perform in the street.

It was also a special day for the Cape Argus, which collaborated with Open Streets on the day as part of its 160th birthday celebrations this year.

The newspaper had its own initiative: to listen to what people thought of the newspaper and what they want to read more about. Our newspaper wants to strengthen the dialogue between the paper and its readers.

Members of the public were invited to write their very own headline on critical issues they thought should be addressed.

The open day event was a way to let go of the anguish the community had felt during the past week, after the discovery of the body of 11-year-old Stacha Arendse behind the Swartklip Centre in Tafelsig.

According to sisters Faldiela Floris and Zubeidah Cahuert this event is special. “We need this, with all the ugliness that happened this week. We needed something to lighten the mood,” Cahuert said. The sisters said the event was a great way to bring people from all walks of life together.

There were also many commemorative stalls, such as the Project Smile initiative started by Zayaan Moosa. The objective of her project is to honour teachers who sacrifice their time and effort to educate the young generation.

“This is a celebration of all the teachers of our community. We encouraged children to come and write a message for them, which we pegged up around our stall, then to later go to the different schools and hand the letters to their teachers,” Moosa said.

She said the initiative was created after her sister Zulfa suddenly died.

“This project was created in memory of her, because her smile is what everyone remembers her by,” she added.