‘Do you regret being in Hong Kong?’

During a passionate presentation by one of our project managers, Dawit – who was born and raised in Eritrea – on the geography of the African continent, a child asked if he regretted being in Hong Kong. She showed genuine concern in her questioning as she saw that for Dawit, the African continent was a wonderful place to be. We believe that there have been many negative images that have been painted of the continent and moments like these are important to remind children and ourselves that we are constantly seeing a skewed image of Africa that is far from the realities of all the continent has to offer. Through her question we saw that for this girl, Africa too had become a beautiful place that one would regret leaving.

Food, Food, Food

On the third day of the camp the children had the chance to make their own food. They baked Mbatata cookies (Malawian) and Chimodho cake (Zimbabwean). We were impressed and pleased with the motivation the children had both to prepare and eat foods that they said were uncommon to them. Many enjoyed this food and the lunch food spanning across cuisines from the African continent and the African diaspora. Through the food then they learnt of the diversity and richness of African cultures.

Playing Pada

Playing pada was an important part of the childhood of one of our team members, Charleen, who grew up playing this game with friends. For her, being able to see this game passed on to different children at the Center and the joy and competition that they derived from this was something that brought memories to her. We believe that we can teach children about African cultures not only by telling them but also by showing and playing with them as this is also a method of recording histories. Through our playground that taught the children different games played in different places on the continent we managed to share a part of our cultures that we believe the children will remeber and hopefull pass on too.

African Kidz Club

If you missed the summer camp do not worry, you can still get a taste of it at our African Kidz Club held every last Saturday of the month, the next one coming up this weekend.