Heritage Month is done for another year, but building on our culture and history is an ongoing commission. This year’s theme was “Reimagine our heritage institutions for a new era,” challenging South Africans to not allow their monuments, museums and World Heritage sites like Robben Island and the Cradle of Humankind to become dusty relics of the past with no future relevance. Said Thobile Msani, leader of The Domino Foundation’s Life Skills team, “It’s one thing to have a heritage and another to have a resilient people to whom we can pass on a legacy.”
At the end of term, Domino’s team downed tools and celebrated their individual cultural heritages and their shared vision of ensuring the NPO’s beneficiaries have an inheritance to bequeath future generations. Thobile, the celebration’s co-ordinator, said: “Traditions and customs mean very little to people who are broken at their core with little hope for what lies ahead. Each of our seven programmes, working into the relief, empowerment and justice spaces, has an element of heritage-building It was very special for all the staff to come together to celebrate each other and what is being achieved through the areas where we work helping build healthy heritages to for those who come after us.”