Swakopmund Municipality hands over three Play Parks

Sharlien Tjambari

On Wednesday this week, the Swakopmund Municipality opened and handed over three Play Parks in Matutura to the residents of Matutura and Swakopmund at large.

The Swakopmund Municipality started with installing play-ground equipment and interlocking in 2019 and then tree planting.
Vilho Kaulinge, the General Manager for Economic Development Services at the Swakopmund Municipality said: “As our town continues to grow, the Swakopmund Municipality will continue invest in green initiatives. This initiative clearly demonstrates that our town places the health and well-being of our people at the centre of everything”.
Kaulinge said green spaces like this one not only makes the neighbourhood looks beautiful, but it also helps the community to stay healthy.
He said: “Research indicates that natural settings help residents to reduce stress, boost mental health, reduce blood pressure, improve mood and self-esteem, reduce risk of alcohol abuse and indeed increase social interactions.
Furthermore, re-search concludes that children perform better after taking a walk in the park rather than walking in town or elsewhere”.

Kaulinge urges community members in Matutura and where-ever there is a Play Park to form “Friends of the Parks” groups to discuss challenges and concerns of their park, lobby council to better maintain and improve their park, propose rules and long-term vision of their park, organize community events at their parks such as tree-planting, cleaning days and community festivals.
The Mayor of Swakopmund Cllr Louisa Kativa said: “We have recognised that parks are a great way to offer recreation and green spaces to residents of, and visitor to Swakopmund”.
According to Kativa, there are so many benefits of having parks within a community. In addition to embellishing our neighbourhoods and town, parks also provide a connection space, encourage activity in kids and are safe space for families to engage with each other.

Kativa congratulated the Economic Development Service Section and all other sections for the successful recognition and implementation of the three parks in Matuura.
Members of the com-munity are urged to take good care of the parks so that they can serve future generations.