App allows South Africans to share Heritage Day history

The app will be available for download on Heritage Day, 24 September 2012.

"One of the challenges we face as a nation is that society is changing and information about our culture and heritage, which is usually passed down to the younger generations by the elders, has been lost," explains Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, chief executive officer at Avatar.

"We want to contribute to Heritage Day celebrations and decided to create this mobile application, aptly named Origins App, with the aim to preserves one of the cornerstones of our culture, one that speaks to the core of our identity - our heritage."

Melting pot of cultures

The company's creative director, Veli Ngubane, says that the internet has naturally been positioned as the melting pot of cultures and traditions. "At the company, we feel that creating the application is the best way of preserving information being lost to future generations."

The application will be continuously updated and improved, to act as a hub of information. "Users will be able to contribute information about their own surnames and in doing so ensure that the South African heritage never goes extinct," concludes Ngubane.

An explanatory video will be available on the company's YouTube channel.