This is a compilation of ideas written by the twenty-five children who attended the first Cederberg Stories workshop during the spring holidays.
We live close to the Cederberg Mountains. Every day we can see them when we walk to school, when we look out of the window and when we play outside. They are always there. We like our mountains.
There are many different kinds of plants and flowers in the mountains. The flowers are best of all when the winter rains have finished and the sun comes again. Last month it snowed on the mountains and we went and played in the snow. It was wonderful!
In summer there are rivers where we can swim. We love swimming!
A big part of our heritage is the many rock paintings in our mountains. The San people painted these a long time ago. There are also leopards in our mountains, but none of us have ever seen one!
Clanwilliam has an enormous dam to keep water for the farms where oranges and rooibos tea grow. The farmers sell these things to other countries overseas.
Some of us live and go to school in Clanwilliam. It is a very pretty place. People come here all the time to see the flowers and to play in the mountains. There are shops where we can buy things and a library. The library is a good place to go to if you have a project to do. There are books and also computers to work on. We like it because we can be connected with other people. There are also puzzles and toys and a television where we see children’s films sometimes.
Other children at this workshop go to school at Elizabethfontein School. That is over the Pakhuis Pass. It takes us about half an hour to get to Clanwilliam town. They do many things at their school. They sing in the choir and do reel dancing. That is very exciting as they dance the old stories for many people to see.
We are lucky to live in a rainbow nation. There are so many kinds of people here. We children understand each other and play together. We have freedom – but not freedom to do bad things.
This project is being run with the help and participation of Cederberg Municipality and their Senior Librarian Natalie Leens and with the Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project.
