Cape Town kite flying festival raises awareness and funds on World Mental Health Day
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South Africa Cape Town 09- October- 2022 Hudson Stilwell flying his kite. Cape Mental Health hosting The annual Cape Town International Kite Festival at Melkbosstrand beach encouraging young people to speak openly about their mental and emotional wellbeing. Phototgrapher Ayanda Ndamane African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town skies were decorated with hundreds of kites for the annual Cape Town Kite Festival as Cape Mental Health calls for winds of change to raise awareness this World Mental Health Day.
The annual kite festival took place at Melkbosstrand Beach yesterday with hundreds of young and old people relishing a day in the wind and sun, flying their kites as a celebration of joy.
PICS | Cape Mental Health hosted the annual Cape Town International Kite Festival at Melkbosstrand beach at the weekend.
— Cape Argus (@TheCapeArgus) October 10, 2022
Pictures: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA) pic.twitter.com/uiayX0bVLl
The oldest kiting event in Cape Town, Cape Mental Health this year focused on the theme #FlyYourDreams as a way to raise funds for the free services provided by the non-profit organisation but also to encourage young people to speak openly about their mental health challenges.
Executive Dr Ingrid Daniels said, “Our children and young people have been through a very difficult two and a half years and they have been exposed to those risk factors that influence poor mental health, such as disruption in schooling and isolation.
“They found it increasingly difficult as the months went by, not having had the skills or support, and we are concerned because there is major under-investment in child and adolescent mental health. So if our young children and adolescents are not given the necessary mental health foundations, we are making it incredibly difficult for them to navigate successfully in their adult life.”
She said a substantial proportion of adult mental health conditions originates in childhood with more than 50% of these conditions occurring before the age of 14-years-old.
Dr Daniels said that while the event will help raise awareness about a serious issue, it was also a way for people to have a “mental health moment” in the midst of what seems to be a difficult time.
“Kiting itself is an amazingly uplifting experience. When you’re sitting and watching a kite, you have to look up and there’s something very symbolic about it. Kite flying against gusting, soaring, turbulent winds is quite symbolic for the time we’ve been through. The theme #FlyYourDreams is giving the opportunity to dream again and have hope and vision for the furture,” she said.
Nicole Stilwell, who came to the beach with her sons and father, said, “Sometimes mental illness can cause you to segregate from people, so I think just being around people, it helps. I don’t suffer from clinical depression but I definitely am affected by cold weather, so for me when the sun is shining, my boys and I are out and it’s just a great way to get out and feel alive.”
This is just one pop-up of many other kite flying events by CPH as Dr Daniels encouraged kite lovers to come out to Zandvlei for the next instalment on October 29.
Rafieka.Williams@inl.co.za