Close to 40 children aged between seven and 13 years are currently participating in a two-day creative arts and culture training workshop at the Okahao Arts Centre in the Omusati Region.

The programme is organised by the Omusati Directorate of Education under its life-long learning initiative and is funded through the arts extension programme of the Ministry of Education.

The training's aim is to promote arts and cultural appreciation among children in the region from an early age.

The training was introduced this year to inculcate arts and culture knowledge and skills among children from an early age.

Okahao Arts Centre, which is offering the training, was established in 2016 to develop and promote arts and culture in Omusati and beyond because arts are sidelined and neglected in the northern regions.

"So we invite kids from different schools; some are from where we are now, from EM-Demi School in Okahao local; some are from Oshakati because the kids are coming for holidays, and we keep them busy during the holiday and help them learn more different skills, like the way they learn today."

The centre is now offering visual arts, dancing, keyboard lessons, guitar and recorder to children and school dropouts, youth and elders at a reasonable price.

The Okahao Arts Centre founder is calling on stakeholders, private donors and the broader community to invest in the future of the centre for maintenance, municipal bills and instructors' initiatives, adding that so far the centre is only supported by the National Arts Council of Namibia.

We spoke to some trainees who expressed appreciation about the training.