Robotics and books will headline the Mandela Day programme at Sunday Made in Chatsworth Market at Depot Road Memorial Primary School in Bayview on 17 July.
The activities are a day ahead of Madiba’s birth anniversary celebrated around the world with a focus on community service.
Event organiser and local author, Kiru Naidoo, said that Mandela’s great love for children saw him promote their welfare on every front.
“Robotics helps our children leapfrog the digital divide into the fourth industrial revolution,” added Naidoo.
The organisers have secured a popular technology education expert, Divesh Maharaj, to present an interactive workshop at 11am where children will be taught to build basic machines from kits.
Maharaj has over three decades of experience in student development and electronic project design in higher education. He also has a school teaching certification in technology education and Mathematics and is an accredited STEM career development practitioner.
Naidoo further added: “A brief earlier session at the market drew crowds even of adults keen to see how these little machines are able to perform everyday tasks with some even powered by solar energy. Robotics has captured the imagination at schools but not everyone has access to those classes. It is for that reason that workshops should be held in public spaces to attract as many people as possible to this remarkable technology according to the organisers.”
The regular Sunday market has also teamed up with the Durban Chapter of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) to collect books for book clubs that are growing in popularity at local schools.
GOPIO chapter president Viran Singh is leading the way with a large chunk from his own library of history and heritage books.
Singh said: “Madiba was an avid reader even in prison and it is important that books open pathways for our children especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
Director of the forthcoming Durban International Book Fair at Sibaya Sun on 1-5 August, Anivesh Singh welcomed the book donations as a buildup to the fair in Africa’s only UNESCO City of Literature.
The GOPIO event will be at 12pm but members of the community can bring books at any time to the market. Chatsworth music sensation Claude Vadivel will entertain from midday until 3pm while the crowds take in the phenomenal community atmosphere on the school’s playground.
The day’s programme promises to be a great tribute to the elder statesman who was among the golden generation that paved the way to a free and democratic country.
