During the 2010 ExChange project, pupils in Zambia and the Netherlands created art works representing their dream house. Whereas the Dutch pupils attended a secondary ‘VMBO’ school and a primary school for the gifted, the Zambian pupils attended community schools without regular access to computers or the internet. The kids drew, painted, sculptured or built a miniature of their dream house from any material they like. Then pictures of the dream houses were exchanged online and they discussed them, learning about each other’s life and reflecting on their own choices.
The project in Zambia was run by Gillian Lo-Wong, a previous 2009-Kambisa!ExChange participant who returned to continue Kambisa!’s work in Livingstone, Mongu, Lusaka, Chipata and Ndola. Assisted by Theresa Saili, a previous Kambisa!-workshop attendant, and Inonge Anandala, our Dutch PR co-worker, he managed to involve dozens of Zambian pupils from a variety of backgrounds. To do so, Gillian visited various community schools, giving the children basic computer lessons, and demonstrating how they can use a computer to share ideas with kids from another part of the world. To make sure the students had have a safe online environment to communicate with each other, Gillian also designed a special section of the Kambisa! website, designed specifically for this project.
With Kambisa!ExChange 2010, we:
- created interaction between children in Zambia and the Netherlands and expose them to each other’s creativity
- got children to think about the life of their counterparts abroad and
- enabled pupils them to reflect on their own positions, possibilities and ambitions
- gave kids from Zambian community schools an opportunity to acquire basic computer skills; and showed them how to communicate online
Kambisa!ExChange 2010 was realised with in partnership with the Diamant College & entrepreneurial centre De Kleine Loods in the Hague (the Netherlands), Leonardo-school De Carrousel, Zevenaar (the Netherlands), and various Zambian community schools in Lusaka, and Parins Primary School in Livingstone (Zambia):