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Sustainable
Development the African Way
Environment
Africa
May 18, 2004
Environment
Africa consolidated a fresh and successful partnership for the second
year with the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) by
adding another dimension to the festival: that of the environment.
Established in 1990, Environment Africa is a Zimbabwean non-profit
organisation with a membership of over 800 individuals, corporates,
schools and action groups. It has branches in Harare, Victoria Falls
and Manicaland.
Environment
Africa kept the Festival fresh by collecting the waste generated
for the purpose of recycling it. Plastic bins kindly donated by
MegaPak and metal bins provided by HIFA itself were taken to Harare
Children’s Home for painting by hand by the excited children who
used the symbols of the HIFA heartbeat, of nature and flowers (see
photos attached).
Furthering this
theme Environment Africa ran workshops to create an ‘Urban City
Billboard’ using recycled products, and painted by an art class
from the Harare International School. The idea was to have visitors
create their own vision of an element of the city which was then
added to the billboard to create a composite, ideal city environment.
Environmental
Arch
Strolling along from the Global Stage area into the Youth Zone
Ideas visitors to HIFA passed under EAfrica’s Environmental Archway.
The temporary white fabric arch celebrates the blue heartbeat: water.
Explained EAFRica excutive director Charlie Hewat: "It’s in
the planning stage of becoming a permanent feature of the city.
Seven poles, representing the seven catchments in Zimbabwe will
hold up the blue sky from where the rain falls into the river below,
which will be crafted using stones from around the country’s major
rivers. We hope that once it’s up, it’ll serve to remind all who
pass under it of the vital importance of our precious natural resources".
Tibetan
Prayer Flags
On
the opening day of the Festival enthusiastic children filled Studio
2 to paint insects on a series of Tibetan prayer flags. The colourful
flags were erected along the walkway close to Studio 2 where their
symbols and messages were released to the winds…
Talk on Urban
Renewal
Bev
Reeler and Environment Africa hosted a presentation and discussion
entitled in ‘A Spiritual Tree Journey’ on Friday 29th
April at 1230 in Studio 4! A small crowd attended and participated
in a lively and meaningful discourse to chart the way forward to
re-afforest Africa once again, with the support of EAfrica’s Tree
Africa Project. The project was launched by former South African
President Nelson Mandela and EAfrica executive director Charlie
Hewat in Malawi in April 2002.
Visit the Environment
Africa fact sheet
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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