Lepako promotes healthy living through culture
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday July 20, 2018 14:10
According to the organisation’s Keitumetse Sekhute-Segokotlo, Lepako was born last year on the realisation that the Setswana culture was diminishing each day. She said it hit her when she realised that child who is in Standard 7 did not know traditional games and even domestic animals.
“I was shocked when I realised that my child didn’t even know anything about farm life. He didn’t know how to milk a goat and was completely clueless about traditional games. I realised that many children out there might be going through the same ordeal and it was upon me to do something out it.
After brainstorming a few ideas, I realised that since we have a farm that is not far from the road and the village, I could turn it into a recreational centre,” she said.
Lepako is run from the farm in Kumakwane, three kilometres from the main road. She said apart from teaching the children how to milk goats, she brought along other ideas such as learning traditional chores like pounding cereals, go hehera and others.
Sekhute-Segokotlo said she wanted the children to know about their foods, more especially how the cereals are processed till they are ready for consumption. She added that their packages also include traditional games such as koi, mhele, charma, morabaraba and others.
Lepako also offers its revellers a chance to ride donkey carts. It has both farm animals and wild birds such as ostriches and peacocks. They also have rabbits and fish. This has attracted many schools in and around Gaborone who now have a chance to use the venue to teach their pupils Setswana culture.
Children from as young as pre-schoolers to tertiary students are said to have used the venue for various reasons. The organisation has also run bootcamps for tertiary school students, friends and employees from different companies.
“We also offer camping. We have camping grounds with toilets and ablutions. Clients can either bring their own camping equipment or hire from Lepako. We also have a quality PA system and professional DJs available for the duration of your stay. We cater for short or lala vuka events. Our venue is also perfect for hosting workshops away from disruptive city life,” she said.
Sekhute-Segokotlo added that they offer wellness and team building activities for the elders where they have obstacle courses such as belly crawling, balance beam, warrior, hanging tyres, walk the plank team obstacle, hay obstacle and many more.
She also said that they had experienced aerobics instructors who offer different types of aerobics explaining that those activities were vital for people’s health. Amongst the wellness activities, Lepako also offers tug war, five aside soccer game and volleyball.
Even though they offer food catering, they give their clients a chance to bring their own foods. She added that the venue had attracted people from diverse cultures and was flexible for all types or people as they had previously hosted people living with disabilities and offered them activities their were friendly to them.
Children entrance fee is P75 and covers all activities per child while adults pay P100 each that also covers all the day’s activities.