Kambisa! is registered in the Netherlands and works with local partnerorganisations during projects in Zambia. Both offices are registered with the relevant authorities in their hosting countries. However, Kambisa! is looking for ways to expand it’s exposure, both in non-Western societies as in the West. If you are interested to start a branch in your home country, please get in touch!
Zambia
The first Kambisa!BeHeard. activities started from the Zambian capital Lusaka. In April 2003 we published the first Kambisa!-magazine, appropriately named ‘Nr.1’. It dealt with issues of pride and arrogance, with girls bleaching their skins and guys calling upon them to stick to their natural beauty. It featured some local popular artists as well as some delicate poetry, and fiery essays about the American invasion of Iraq, which worried many people at the time. After every few months we realised a new magazine, with a new topic based on the stories people from all over the country send us. A year later, the University of Zambia asked us to create a Kambisa! radio show, dealing with issues which concerned young people like their students. We made a live call-in discussion show, fighting stigmatisation and opening the debate by inviting guests with contradicting opinions. In 2007 we also started running the film project, during which we trained a group of young people and realised a few of their documentaries. Since then, we we ave been doing several exchange programmes with Dutch and Zambian participants. For more information on our activities, check the section ‘projects’.
Since 2017, we started building a community centre in Chilonga, aiming to give Kambisa! an independent base. We started from scratch, digging a road and a foundation, getting water and electricity, and organising workshops to encourage craftmanship and the preservation of local knowledge in the field of building, carpentry, energy, water and forestry. Once we have these basics in order, we plan to continue our traditional media projects.
Zoetermeer, the Netherlands:
Whereas the Zambian team mostly focuses on strengthening the possibilities to use one’s freedom of expression within Zambia, the Dutch branch aims to broaden the international dialogue and overcome local divides. Many communities seem to become increasingly divided: neighbours don’t talk to each other, elderly are scared of pupils of nearby schools, newcomers don’t feel welcomed.. many people just don’t understand how similar they often are. Therefore, we organise similar projects as we do in Zambia: bringing different groups of people together. We do so, for instance, by letting youngsters interview their neighbours, and letting them make a co-production like a newspaper or an exhibition, or by creating community food forests were several groups of inhabitants can meet each other.