The Ulwazi Programme

Turning to traditional medicines in fight against malaria

Encouraging the use of traditional African herbal medicines could prevent some of the one million malarial deaths on the continent, according to specialists attending a conference in Nairobi. Many poor communities, especially in rural settings, cannot afford modern malarial drugs and many people die due to inaccessibility of treatment.

“Malaria kills many people in Africa, both children and adults, despite the availability of free treatment in certain African countries. While it is true many governments in Africa, with development partners, give free paediatric treatment for malaria, many still cannot access this facilities and resort to home treatment,” says Merlin Wilcox of the Research Initiative on Traditional Antimalarial Methods and the University of Oxford.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems Expo opens in Limpopo

An Indigenous Knowledge System Expo has opened in Limpopo to help raise public awareness and understanding of IKS in South Africa.

The four-day expo, which kicked-off today, will bring together innovators and crafters to demonstrate the economic value of products based on indigenous knowledge and technology.

Limpopo commended for indigenous knowledge partnerships

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor has praised Limpopo for forging a partnership to reinforce a shared vision of building on indigenous knowledge for future generations.

The partnership includes the Limpopo Department of Agriculture, Prolinnova – an NGO-initiated programme – to build a global learning network to promote local innovation in ecologically-oriented agriculture – and the University of Limpopo.

“This partnership is an attempt to build capacity in rural communities and aims to eliminate poverty through integrated rural development programmes based on the indigenous knowledge of the community,” said Pandor at an Indigenous Expo, on Tuesday.

Tribe teams with Google to make stand in Amazon

The chief of an endangered Amazon tribe unveiled the product of an unusual partnership with Google Inc. that pairs high tech with indigenous knowledge in an effort to rescue ancient rain forests and a dying culture. Almir Surui, speaking at the 20th annual Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, showcased Google Earth images years in the … Read more

Indigenous Games section updated

We have had a number of submissions to our indigenous games category, mainly from a Masters dissertation by Victoria Mkhize for the School of IsiZulu, University of KwaZulu-Natal. View them HERE.

Soccer in Durban

We are currently collecting stories, photographs and information on the history of soccer in Durban. Please contact us if you have anything you’d like to contribute to this category.