BREAKING NEWS – Rising against a virus one flag at a time

A bunch of pre-schoolers from Bendor to Nirvana is in the forefront of a flag-bearing initiative that is seeing the South African symbol proudly displayed at homes and key points across the city and, by now, throughout the country in a display of patriotism during lockdown and in the fight against the Coronavirus.
Since the inception of the Ayesha Ismail Project – Kids Adding Colour mid-Sunday afternoon, the sight of flags attached to the facades of houses, places of prayer, tertiary facilities and other key points in Nirvana has instantly become the norm as residents started reacting to a call to show patriotism and support for the lockdown rule by displaying the South African flag.
It was learnt that the idea for the project took shape during a conversation between local medical practitioner Kabeer Ismail and businessman Shabier Valjie, who is owner of Mighty Tactical Reaction Service which is engaged in numerous efforts to uplift and keep the neighbourhood safe.

Ismail indicated that in addition the flag outside homes was also indicative of who supported the call to adhere to the rules of lockdown.
But it has been taken an unexpected step further as kids were encouraged to produce flags from recycled material in an effort to keep them from boredom. Through campaign leader Shaazia Bava and Ismail’s daughters,11-year-old Ayesha and 18-year-old Imaan who are contributing in respective ways, the children of the city and by now other locations elsewhere in the country have been brought on board to create their own flags while being kept busy during lockdown and taught the values of the all important emblem.
In the meantime the project has been expanded to other cities and towns after outside requests for inclusion started pouring in, according to co-organiser Suraiya Essa, who is otherwise also engaged in coordinating a local mask-making project to equip those in the front line of the war against the global threat. The mask-making campaign forms part of a bigger drive steered by Valjie towards securing donations of protective gear, hand sanitisers and water at roadblocks across the city.
To quote Valjie on the flag-bearing initiative: “We started with a symbol and it snowballed into something proactive.”
Ismail proudly pointed out that the flag at the entrance to his residence was created in conjunction with his four-year-old niece, Niama Rabihi who has been on visit from Morocco when the lockdown was announced. With the request for a photo with the flag, the little one’s on-line class was interrupted for her to venture outside to show off her contribution to the art work while still adhering to the terms of social distancing.
A few blocks down Bava’s 3-year-old son, Ammaar posed with a mask adorned with pictures of monster trucks against the backdrop of a flag posted on their exterior wall. His mom indicated the benefits of including him in the project and explained that she wanted to instil good in him from the start and was trying her best for him to partake in it. Shaazia further mentioned that she had reached representatives of most schools and the main early childhood development platform in Polokwane to become part of the campaign through Instagram page kids_adding_colour_sa, to which photos of the finished products can be uploaded.
On the other side of town in an estate in Bendor 4-year-old Riddhi Vallabh, daughter of Polokwane PR Councillor Khetan Vallabh initially had to be bribed with some treat or the other to be photographed to show her support of the campaign. Her handiwork, a flag painted on a recycled white vest, has taken pride of place in the front garden.
Khetan pointed out that their home project gave him time with his daughter – whose love for painting is evident from colourful droplets on the patio floor – while keeping an eye on a roast in the oven. Having drawn the outlines for her, he was quite nervous about her going over the lines, he quipped. Forty minutes after getting started their flag was hung out to dry before being stapled to a piece of wood and placed out in the flower bed, it was learnt.
Expressing the opinion that they got to show that they were respecting the call to stay home during lockdown, he summarised it as an inexpensive way to keep kids from boredom and being creative in one’s approach by applying basics found around the house.
A host of flags in varying sizes was donated by Polokwane municipal councillor Hafiz Shaikh, who resides in Nirvana, and already from the moment of the call going out flags were put up in public places across the neighbourhood by Mighty TRS reaction unit members on patrol in the area. Shaikh mentioned that he had a consignment of flags left over since the Fifa World Cup hosting in 2010 and that he had handed it over for distribution to around 30 spots. He was vocal on how the project has brought together the community. To this Essa added that Mighty TRS was considered “the glue in this community”.
While Ismail created #flagateveryhomesouthafrica for twitter use, Imaan made the flageveryhomesouthafrica page on Instagram. In addition the initiative is trending on Mighty TRS’s and Mighty Scrapyard’s facebook page. Anyone wanting to join the campaign can phone Essa on 082 786 2452 or Bava on 072 227 8607.

Story/photos: Yolande Nel