Cape Town – Cape Town pupils were bursting with pride for their school on Monday, after winning the EduKite competition at Zandvlei lookout in Muizenberg, at the weekend.
Grade 5 pupils from Silverlea Primary School in Athlone made their school proud for the second week in a row.
A week prior, pupils walked away with the first prize for their robotic design in the first Lego League Robotic competition.
The Cape Town Kite Festival, Africa’s oldest kite festival, has been hosted by the non-profit Cape Mental Health since 1994 to raise funds and awareness of mental health issues during October, which is Mental Health Awareness Month.
The organisation provides essential free mental health services to all who need it.
On October 9, a day before World Mental Health Day, young and old descended on Melkbosstrand beach for the Pop-Up Fly event for the Cape Town Kite Festival to create mental health awareness.
Silverlea Primary School entered the event’s EduKite competition for pupils from mainstream primary and special schools, and won.
According to principal Sharon Brink, pupils worked on building their kites for two weeks.
The theme for this year’s competition was #FlyYourDream, aimed at creating awareness for children’s mental health.
According to Brink, one in five children live with mental illness.
“I am proud of the team for being ambassadors for the school by creating awareness of mental health for learners. Mental health is as important as physical health.
More children could be struggling in silence. She said, “Everybody knows how to look after their physical health, but looking after our mental health is just as important. We need to learn to relax. Speak. Breathe and most importantly, dream…”
The team consisting of Cody Moselini, Caylin Neale, Leah Fransiscus, Caydee Macclune, Amy Baatjies, and their educator, Zeenat Larney won R3 000 for their school and first-place bragging rights.
They will also be featured on the SABC’s “Kids TV”.
Some of the children had this to say about winning, and the competition.
Cody: “You need to be positive about dreaming, as this affects your mental health.”
While Caydee explaind her coping mechanism: “Supporting my peers is very important for me as it helps us cope with today’s struggles as youth,” she said.
“I love painting and decorating the kites, and I learnt that it is okay to not be okay mentally,” Caylin said.
Amy said she loved working alongside her peers, and enjoyed talking and creating awareness about mental health.
“Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it. You can do it! Fly your dreams…”
Proud educator, Mrs Larney said it was heart-warming to see the pupils’ interpretations of mental health.
She also encouraged all pupils to speak out and ask for help.
“Pupils are mentally shouting out: help me, support me, notice me. All they want us as adults to do is take more notice of them and to care for them,” Larney said.