Children
enjoy a workshop |
Young people
in Norfolk are getting the chance to discover African music, Indian
poetry and Latin American dance, thanks to an educational scheme
with a difference.
The World
Voices project, run by the charity Norfolk Education and Action
for Development (NEAD), encourages children and their teachers to
find out about other cultures directly from people whose heritage
is rooted in the countries of South America, Asia and Africa.
Developing
global citizenship |
NEAD has brought
26 people and 17 different nationalities together to offer workshops
covering a host of topics - Chinese writing, American Indian history,
rainforest ecology and human rights in Chile are just some of the
subjects covered.
At the
launch of a booklet aimed at schools across the county, project
co-ordinator Sandy Betlem explained the idea behind the National
Lottery-funded scheme.
"The aim
is to get people from Africa, Asia and Latin America into schools
so that kids and school teachers can meet them and learn from them,"
he said.
"I think
it is very important in Norwich because Norwich is predominantly
white and kids have very few of those opportunities."
John Makina
is one of the volunteers taking part. The Oxfam worker from Malawi
is spending a year studying at the University of East Anglia; he
gives workshops on the geography and rural life of his homeland.
John sees the
NEAD project as a two-way opportunity - as well as bringing his
experiences of Africa to schools in Norfolk, he also hopes he can
take new skills back home.
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