Origami For Africa (OFA) was founded by Kyoko Morgan, who is a Japanese Origami teacher based in Cape Town. Our Gauteng branch is headed by Cheryl Gibbs, the librarian at Springvale Primary School. Mr Mtshali, the South African poet, who currently resides in Soweto, is our honorary member.
Our vision is to see origami becoming a popular recreation in Africa, so that many more people will benefit from and be inspired by this wonderful activity.
What is Origami?
Origami is now an international word just like Sushi and Karate. Originally a Japanese word from: Ori means ‘to fold’ and Gami (kami) for ‘paper’. It is the art of paper folding which is said to have started more than 1000 years ago with the introduction of paper making from China to Japan and gradually developed to a popular recreation in Japan. There was no written direction for origami models until 1797. All the directions must have been handed down from one generation to the next just like African folklore. With the accessibility of paper and advent of a new educational system in the Meiji era, origami was introduced to the school curriculum in Japan and this led Origami to become a popular recreational activity. The art of paper-folding has been practiced by many different peoples for centuries and not unique to Japan anymore.
Benefits of Origami
- Concentration
- Confidence
- Basic mathematical concepts
- Fine motor-coordination
- Eye-hand coordination
- Creativity
- Healing
- Peaceful interaction
- Others