07 Jan 2016

With the advent of modernisation, a lot of traditions and norms have fallen by the way side. 

Instead of children physically interacting at their grandmother’s homesteads, they are now glued to their mobile phones.

The loss of this real social contact has also dealt a major blow to traditional games. 

They are missing out on wholesome entertainment, says 76 years old Mr Ditebogo Bonthatile.

He says that although youngsters are not interested in the games, they kept the youth out of trouble.

 “They want to watch TV all day or go out drinking,” he says. 

Tshwanelo Rannou, 64, suggests that schools should allocate an hour to traditional games to preserve them.

“One day there will be no one to teach future generations about these games. 

It would be really sad,” she says.

The following are some of the games that children born post-2000 may never get to experience.

Black Mampatile

This is a Tswana version of hide and seek. 

Koi 

Koi refers to skipping rope routines that are accompanied by singing and rhythmic chants.

Mhele 

Mhele is Botswana’s response to chess. It is based on the Tswana traditional way of life with its pieces resembling cattle. 

It is mainly played by boys. It is not for the faint-hearted as it involves a lot of good hearted intimidation and insults.

Mantlwane

Matlwane involves children role-playing a family complete with adults and children with houses carved out of clay. Children will take raw food and pretend to cook them for the ‘family’.

Suna Baby 

Suna Baby is a team sport. It is a dodge ball game. 

The balls were usually made with old plastic bags or old stockings.

 Skonti Bolo/Sewerewere

This is a hide and seek game with a twist. One has to look for those in hiding while guarding a ball. 

Those in hiding can come out of hiding and kick the ball out of its designated spot. 

At that point, the ball guard has to re-start the search for those in hiding. The game can go on for the whole day. 

Diketo 

This was usually played by girls. Pebbles are collected and put in a hole. The idea is to juggle throwing one pebble up while distributing a number of pebbles to a dozen or so holes on the ground.

Molao Molao 

This involves an agreement between two people that whenever one calls another’s name, the response will be ‘Molao’. 

If this is broken, the caller institutes a one-time temporary law or decree. 

This ranged from ‘You are to fetch water for me’ to the more sadistic ‘You are to give me your food for the whole day’. It totally depended on the child’s imagination. 

Ke Dutse

This literally translates to ‘I am seated’. An agreement is reached by the players to each announce “I am sitting down” whenever they take a seat. 

Failure to do so results in a slap across the face, usually from behind when least expected. 

The games vary by name and rules depending on region of the country.

There are many other games that are left out here, that if not preserved will be lost forever. Ends