On May 6th 2011, Mamelani hosted its very own Move for Health Day. The inspiration for the day came from the World Health Organisation's Global Move for Health Day which was celebrated on May 2nd. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the importance of exercise for improving health.
As part of Mamelani’s community-based health education programme, women attend workshops that focus on increasing health literacy so that they are better equipped to take care of their own health and the health of their families. Although the message of why exercise is important for health is shared during the workshops, we wanted to remind participants that exercising can be fun – and boy was it fun! almost 100 women attended from 13 different community groups. The day consisted of a range of games and activities – with women of all ages, shapes and sizes competing. There were hula hoops, skipping ropes and sack races; relay races and musical chairs, and the day ended with a dancathon, where mama’s got to show off their dance moves. The day was a huge success with participants sharing that they got a good work out, and got to put all their stress aside for the day. Roughly 66 of the 92 women present had their blood pressure tested, thanks to the Heart and Stroke Foundation who were present, and those whose blood pressure was higher than expected, have been referred to the clinic for care.
Mamelani would like to thank the volunteers who helped out on the day, Mediclinic and all the participants who made it a day to remember!
