Kite festival fills Cape Town skies with colourful message of hope for depression and anxiety sufferers

Colorful kites filled the Dolphin beach sky in support of mental health on Tuesday. (Photo:Lisakanya Venna )

12 Nov 2024

Run by Cape Mental Health in Cape Town, the day is a wild injection of freedom, fun and joy for those suffering from anxiety, depression and other conditions.

For three decades the Cape Town International Kite Festival, run by Cape Mental Health, has brought joy and inspiration to the city’s skies. This year, under the theme “Hope on a String”, the festival once again united local and international kite flyers to create a kaleidoscope of colour.

Against blue skies vibrant kites danced and swirled, symbolising the resilience and optimism that defines the human spirit. As the festival marked its 30th anniversary, it also shone a spotlight on mental health awareness.

This comes at a critical time in South Africa, as a 2022 study by the University of the Witwatersrand reveals that South Africans suffer higher rates of depression and anxiety than other countries.

By filling the skies with imaginative kite designs, participants and spectators alike celebrated the transformative power of hope in the province.

For Mari Ware-Lane, a Brackenfell-based kite enthusiast, this cause is personal. She has been linked to Cape Mental Health since 2003. Her family’s kite-flying hobby sparked a supportive partnership with the organisation, promoting mental health awareness through her colourful creations.

Read more: Practical steps to tackle South Africa’s disturbingly high suicide rate head-on

“With making our kites and flying them and filling the sky with colour, we hope people will come and join in the fun and see all the animals,” she said.

Ware-Lane said mental health problems can affect anyone and recommended that people who are struggling contact Cape Mental Health to “help you through all those dark days”.

Kite enthusiasts on Dolphin Beach. (Photo: Lisakanya Venna )

kite festival Imagination takes flight. (Photo: Lisakanya Venna)

The art of kite-making

Ware-Lane described her kite-making process. “It depends on what you would like to make... You cut everything out, all your little pieces, and then you start sewing on a normal machine.”

She recalled a funny mishap: “One of my first animals that I made was a frog, and I called it ‘Philip the frog’, but Philip’s front feet were the wrong way around, so he became a duck.”

According to Ware-Lane, kite-making can be a lengthy process, taking up to six months, depending on the design and one’s free time.

Photo: Lisakanya Venna

Mari Ware-Lane, a local kite flyer, adds a splash of colour to the festival skies with her vibrant kite design. (Photo: Lisakanya Venna)

‘It’s okay not to be okay’

Santie Terreblanche, deputy executive director at Cape Mental Health, spoke about the significance of the event. “Our theme… means just hold on to that string and look up. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your life at the moment, hold on and look up. There’s something better awaiting you. And ask for help.

“Do not shy away, do not hide it, do not pretend that you are okay, because it’s okay not to be okay,” Terreblanche continued.

Read more: The Sadag story — how one woman set up a mental health helpline for the whole of South Africa

“We are raising awareness of the difficulties and the stigma and discrimination that persons with a lived experience of mental health conditions struggle with every day. We need to include them, we need to embrace them and make them part of our community and society.”

Photo: Lisakanya Venna

Local kite flyer Mari Ware-Lane. (Photo: Lisakanya Venna)

Photo: Lisakanya Venna

Finding funding

Terreblanche added that the growing number of people battling with mental health is concerning, especially considering the pressure that facilities are under.

“People who struggle with mental health conditions will not be able to access mental health services, and that’s very sad because it affects your life, it affects your ability to work, to socialise, to make friends, to retain your employment.

“So, we would like to be able to provide those free services to the community of Cape Town and the broader Western Cape.”

But funding is always an issue. “Government funding is not increasing. We’ve lost some. It is getting more and more difficult to secure (it),” she said.

Terreblanche urged the public to help support Cape Mental Health’s mission to continue to provide these invaluable services.

“You never know when you may struggle with mental health conditions, and we would be able to help you.”

Amel Amina, president of the Tunisian Kite Association, visited Cape Town for the first time to join the festival and was excited to fly kites. “Kites make us feel at peace with ourselves,” she said. DM

To donate, visit www.capementalhealth.co.za, click on the kite festival page and join the BackaBuddy campaign.

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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Maverick Life

The art of kite-making

‘It’s okay not to be okay’

Finding funding