Thousands of people gathered in Cape Town for a weekend of colorful kites at the 32nd Cape Town International Kite Festival this October 24 and 25, as the giant shapes floating above the city carried a serious message about mental health and community support.
First organized by Cape Mental Health in 1994, the event is Africa's oldest kite festival. Organizers said it serves as a reminder that one in four people in South Africa lives with a mental health condition, with many struggling to access help.
For 32 years, kite flyers from across the globe have gathered in Cape Town to see this spectacular sight, but these shapes taking over the clouds carry more than just wind. They carry a vital message about human connection and mental health.
"So many people are battling with everyday life circumstances that we are exposed to. In South Africa, in particular, we see high crime rates, gender-based violence, poverty. These are all risk factors that impact on people's mental health. More than one billion people globally live with a mental health condition. In South Africa, it's one in four who live with a mental health condition. We're seeing an increase in prevalence, particularly amongst our young people. The Cape Town Kite Festival really provides this platform to encourage people to put up their hand and say, 'I need help,'" said Ingrid Daniels, CEO of Cape Mental Health.
The festival also raises funds for free mental health services across the Western Cape.
"Looking at something beautiful. I think [it] gives everybody hope. It's not just about the beauty. It's about the message it gives and the color of the sky. It's everybody. It's a rainbow of colors," said Frans Marais, an honorary kiter at the festival.
"Today, I am here to support the awareness around it and for people to be comfortable to talk about it, because many people, they suffer in silence. And that is where actually the problem lies," said Bernadine Chilwane, a festivalgoer.
Indeed, raising awareness is only the first step. Breaking the stigma around mental health means making it easier for people to speak up and ask for help.
"There are a lot of people in the world that hide their mental health and don't actually tell their families and get to tell their families about. There's always someone in your friend group or your family that you can actually tell what you're actually going through," said Kyra Blackenberg, a volunteer at Cape Mental Health.
Cape Town Int'l Kite Festival helps raise mental health awareness
U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday, as chip stocks rallied on the Broadcom-Anthropic financing deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15.99 points, or 0.03 percent, to 52,377.57. The S and P 500 added 45.83 points, or 0.60 percent, to 7,722.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 308.43 points, or 1.18 percent, to 26,477.81.
Six of the 11 primary S and P 500 sectors ended in the green, with technology leading the gainers by adding 1.49 percent and consumer discretionary up 1.36 percent. Meanwhile, energy led the laggards, falling 2.2 percent, and real estate fell 0.91 percent.
Oil prices fell for a second straight day as diplomatic efforts raised hopes of easing Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery settled at 99.9 U.S. dollars a barrel, down 1.8 percent, while Brent crude for December delivery settled at 113.88 dollars a barrel, down 1.67 percent, its largest one-day decline since Oct. 5. However, UBS said it expects Brent prices to stay near 110 dollars a barrel through the end of the year. On the corporate front, Broadcom rose four percent after D.A. Davidson upgraded the stock to "Buy" from "Neutral" and raised its price target to 400 dollars from 350 dollars, citing Anthropic's initial public offering (IPO).
Broadcom on Monday disclosed a 63-billion-dollar financing deal with Bank of America, Blackstone, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to fund purchases of its artificial-intelligence chips and networking equipment for Anthropic, whose filing put its equipment lease commitments to Broadcom at 161.2 billion dollars.
"If Anthropic's IPO goes well, and it is able to raise the capital, we expect the path will be paved for OpenAI to do the same next year," said Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson.
Meanwhile, Boeing fell over 10 percent, the worst performance in the Dow, after reporting a third-quarter adjusted loss of 34 cents a share, wider than the 21 cents expected, on revenue of 24.19 billion dollars.
The planemaker said it will miss its target of about 500 Boeing 737 deliveries this year, with a stable rate of 47 jets a month now expected in early 2027. Boeing cut its 2027 free cash flow outlook to about 3 billion dollars, well below the 5.5 billion dollars analysts expected.
JetBlue jumped nearly 19 percent on projected expansion of profit margin, and General Motors gained 5.54 percent after announcing a move to switch listing from New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq.
Coca-Cola beat expectations and raised its outlook for a third straight quarter. United Parcel Service delivered a beat and raised its full-year revenue outlook to about 92.6 billion dollars.
On the economic front, U.S. consumer confidence rose to 91.7 in October from 84.2 in September, beating expectations of about 81. Meanwhile, new orders for manufactured durable goods rose 1.8 percent to 345.4 billion dollars and new-home sales ran at a 676,000 annual pace.
The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision on Wednesday, with traders pricing about a 90-percent chance policymakers hold rates steady at 3.75 percent to 4 percent, according to CME FedWatch.
U.S. stocks extend gains driven by tech rally
