Twitterkids of Tanzania
In October 2009, in the Moivaro village of Arusha, Tanzania, in the shadow of Mt. Meru, on the same day Shepherds Junior School first connected to the electrical grid, students connected to the internet for the very first time. The same week Epic Change volunteers from the US trained our then fifth graders in the basics of social media, including microblogging on twitter, and blogging on tumblr.
Imagine: Students who have never even had access to a library now have access to an entire world of information. Children whose voices are seldom heard can now speak, in real time, to people across the globe. To our knowledge, it is the first classroom of its kind, a classroom in which primary school children in Africa are using twitter to share their lives with, and learn from, the rest of the world.
So often, we hear the stories of children in the so-called “developing” world from the perspective of the media, nonprofits, or friends who have traveled or volunteered. What happens now – when these students can share their own stories, and build relationships with the rest of the world, for themselves? How will the world be different when these children, who live so geographically far away, move into our virtual backyard? What difference will it make in their lives to know that their voices will be heard?
We would like our students to learn from and share their stories with people across the globe, as we believe their education is enhanced by these opportunities. We hope you’re as excited as we are, and want to follow and become part of this world-changing story of the TwitterKids of Tanzania.
To get involved, just tweet any of the children pictured below…
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You may read more about the TwitterKids of Tanzania in the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/tanzanian-schoolkids-twee_n_332310.html.
