The event, which is hosted by the Joy Foundation, will be held at the Dream View in Mokatse (Modipane) along Oodi/Modipane Road from May 3-4, 2024.
After last year's inaugural one proved to be a success, Africans will gather annually for this cultural event to celebrate abundance of their diverse culture. In an interview with Arts&Culture, the event coordinator, Joy Setshedi, she explained that the occasion presents a good opportunity for tribes to interact with one another. “The event is the first of its kind in Botswana and embodies unity in diversity as the name, 'A re Itsaneng Ma-Africa' outlines.
Our goal is for this event to grow into a multi-million tourism attraction entertainment event.
As the country grapples with unprecedented post COVID-19 pandemic aftermath, we see this event as one of the ventures to bolster the local economy. Our aim is to stage a cross-cultural event starting with kids’ activities, exhibitions, and bonfire where countries will parade. Our line-up consists of different cultural musicians, dancers and choirs from different countries,” she said.
Furthermore, Setshedi pointed out that their plan is to invest in African cultural diversity to show the importance of different cultures in areas such as traditions, song and dance, practices, languages, education, story-telling, communication and creativity, whose functions may be seen as essential for safeguarding and promotion of culture. With the theme, 'Connecting Africa Into One Family', she explained that A Re Itsaneng Ma-Africa also promotes travel and tourism opportunities to African countries. She said it also promotes philanthropic opportunities by highlighting the role of non-profit organisations doing good work in Africa.
The festival is said to feature musical performances, cultural dances, African foods, vendors, children’s games, arts and crafts from all the different cultures participating. She added that their event focuses on four areas.
This includes providing services to vulnerable children, parents to boost their tomorrow’s economic thrive, international and bilateral relations. She added that it also focuses on poverty eradication where they aim at facilitating access to the economy, to the underprivileged and the disadvantaged.
She added that they are using art to promote talents and breaking boundaries for underprivileged communities. However, she said they have sponsorship challenges, which mean that some performing artists will miss out on the opportunity presented by the event. “I know it is painful on their part as the majority of them rely on us to give them jobs so that they can be able to sustain themselves. The other challenge is companies that we engage for security are expensive," she said. Tickets for the event sell for P150 for children, P200 single ticket and P500 VIP inclusive of drinks and food.
