The first President of Botswana Sir Seretse Khama who once said ‘tshaba ee senang ngwao ke mokang e latlhegileng (a nation without a culture is a lost one) must be turning in his grave. He would have hung his head in shame at a realisation that, undoubtedly Setswana culture, together with its language, were gallopping to their most inglorious demise.
Firstly, most child patrons were totally ignorant of traditional games and could not utter a single word in their native language. SOTS is a great initiative by young Batswana and it gives people a chance to celebrate Tswana culture through music, dance, food, dress and traditional games. This year the organisers of the event introduced a kiddie’s corner, where children were provided with a mixture of traditional and modern games. The traditional games the children were introduced to included mainane and dithamalakane. SOTS was held under the theme ‘Kwa re go yang’ and it was very relevant to young people because they are supposed to uphold Setswana culture for the future generations.
