Every year thousands of senior citizens in the Thohoyandou area come together to participate in the King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana fun walk – a 10km event aimed at promoting exercise. Recently the elderly people met at Ha-Tshisele village in Thohoyandou to walk to the Royal Gardens in Nandoni, Limpopo. The aim of the event was to promote walking as a healthy way to fight age-related diseases like sugar diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
“The king should make this walk a weekly event, as some of us really need this kind of exercise. Even though it was not easy for me to walk the entire 10km, I pushed myself up until to the end as I know that at the end I will be the one who will reap the benefits,” said Maria Munyai (71), one the grannies who took part in the walk.
More than 10 000 local residents joined the event, which was mostly attended by older people as children were at school. “It is painful and fun at the same time. If they call us to do this again next week I will definitely participate, as to me it will be a rare exercise,” added Munyai. The famous walk is organised as a form of heritage month celebrations in the Vhembe area…..more