Youth festival to address water shortage

The Youth Empowerment Arts Education Association will host the country’s first ever, Namibian Youth Arts Festival “El Nino”, on 2 September at the Katutura Community Art Centre (KCAC).

The festival is to create awareness of climate change within the country and to find effective means that smaller communities like primary schools, high schools and even households can implement in their lives.

Leading up to the festival to prepare the youth and communities, the Association is conducting workshops which started earlier this month and will end on 31 July, where selected school and learners will be educated on climate change specifically on water awareness.

Learners will also have the opportunity to learn how to take care of the environment and facilitators will conduct the workshops and provide learners with the necessary means to complete the workshop.

Through the theme ‘EL NINO’ the festival will celebrate that fact that everybody is different but can and should live together in harmony and respect within the protection of the environment.

The Association said that through applying small changes in our daily lives, they believe that this will have a bigger impact in society and lifestyle.

Classes will be conducted twice a week with a workshop facilitator beginning at 13:30 and end at 15:30 at a selected school. The Associations purpose is to harness optimism and potential through education for youth empowerment with the aim of developing, educating and creating awareness through art, culture, social issues and events to breakdown mental boarders and change their mindsets.

Furthermore the Association also called for more schools to participate in the festival. “We are also looking to partner up with other organisations that are willing to participate in the festival while keeping them abreast of issues of water shortages,” they added.