Pillow fighting, as demonstrated recently by a group of Wits students

RELATED LINKS: Netball keeps kids off street A PILOT project is helping to keep children off inner city streets after school and more are set to follow. Netball clinics are operating at Yeoville Recreation Centre and Alec Gorshel Park in Berea, every day of the week. Read more This week in Joburg A guide to what's happening this week in Joburg. Read more

Morabaraba, as played by a group of City of Johannesburg employees

Yeoville fun with offbeat and ethnic games FANCY your chances at pillow fighting? Perhaps the intellectual skill of morabaraba is more your style. Just get to Yeoville Recreation Centre, where traditional games are being revived. March 17, 2005 By Tabisa Mntengwana FLEX your muscles, put on your thinking caps and bring along your winning spirit to the Yeoville Recreation Centre for an energetic day of games. Region 8's sport and recreational department is hosting the day on Monday, 21 March at the centre in a bid to revive traditional and forgotten games. It is part of a national initiative involving young people, street children and senior citizens and games such as morabaraba, tug of war, bag races, pillow fighting, dithini, wheelbarrow races, ncuva, kgati, khokho, dibeke and three-legged races. The games start at 9am and run until 4pm and people are advised to register for the games if they are interested in participating. Registration is open at Hillbrow Recreation Centre, Yeoville Recreation Centre, Maurice Freemann Recreation Centre, Bertha Solomon Recreation Centre and Hosland Park Recreation Centre. Reviving traditional games is part of heritage conservation. "These games have been around for a long time but we have been ignoring them and it is time we make a difference," said Pieter van Vuuren, the sport and recreation marketing and communications manager. The sport and recreation department will provide equipment and coaches. It is one of Region 8's pilot projects to develop sport and other games in the area. In conjunction with the day's events, it will launch Ubuntu Football Cup intercultural tournament to give young people a chance to use their talents and skills. "The project will be launched on Monday, 21 March with the hope that it will bring a difference to our youth and make them realise their potential," Van Vuuren said. Reviving the games would also help street children change their lives and get on to the right track, he said. The games would not only allow these children to acquire skills, but they would help uplift those who wanted "to do away with crime and drugs". The elimination games for the football tournament will be on 3, 10, 17 and 24 April at Bezuidenhoutpark and the final will be played on 27 April 2005 at the Rand Stadium. For more information, contact Zanele Nkosi on 011 274 4800 or Pieter van Vuuren on 082 376 5514. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za