The Tshwao people of Zimbabwe, numbering about 2500 people, currently living lives of poverty in the outer edges of western Zimbabwe in Tsholotsho and Plumtree are slowly rising up and claiming their space in development issues. After being moved from the then Wankie Game Reserve in 1928 (Now Hwange National Park) during the colonial era, have remained unnoticed and thus are living as subjects to other tribes. The project seeks to tell the Tshwao story through photo books story telling, video and through social network. The aim is to connect with others to share ideas, skills and expirience
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Bulawayo
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
From the time the Tshwao were moved from the then Wankie Game Reserve in 1928 (Now Hwange Nation Park) to this period in time, their culture has suffered drastically and have been forcefully assimilated to the Ndebele and Kalanga cultures. Their language, which was closely linked to the hunting and gathering lifestyle is currently under threat of going extinct.
The Tshwao have realised that losing their language meant loss of identity and have their risen to start reviving the Tshwao language through oral story telling, song and dance and would like to preserve the language by documenting the language and sharing it with other language groups.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
We are currently assisted by the African Languages Research Institute at the University of Zimbabwe headed by Dr. Emmanual Chabata.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
We aim to capture and tell the language development process of Tshwao and to tell the general day to day lives of the Tshwao people. Most people still believe that the San/Tshwao have gone extinct a long time ago and when stories about the San hits local newspapers, some people just think that they are being taken for granted.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
We are working closely with Radio Dialogue who have trained some of our members into citizen journalists and also we want to establish connection with Universities in Zimbabwe and abroad, who can assist in the documentation of the language.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
We aim to train 7 school children currently at John Landa High School and another 7 middle aged adults. The people will be trained as transcribers, voice and sound recording and basic computer skills including internet usage. From the general interest shown by the Tshwao people in preserving the language, I think the participants are motivated enough to see the project into fruition.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
The area populated by the San does not have network coverage. After the stories have been captured on video, camera and voice recorders, they will have to be taken to where there is network to be uploaded into the social networking sites. The other content will be distributed to the target communities
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
Ours is just a simple mud building measuring about 4*2.5 meters. We use either a generator or solar for power generation for our computers and projectors. Currently there is no internet connection, but still we will find ways to feed our content into the net for sharing.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
Having worked with the San for three years now, I have been accepted as one of them.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Power generation and the distance to be covered as the San are scattered in wards 1, 2, 7, 8 and 10. There is no transport linking these places the only available options is hiring a car (Which is expensive) or walking the 30 to 60 km in between the San communities
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
We are going to measure the success of the project by the number of transcribed files, dictionaries (word lists) created and the number of people learning the language.
We are also going to be publishing and posting articles of twitter and Facebook. The number of people following our progress will dinnertime the success of the project
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
The project is expected to started 1st of June after all the operational guidelines and procedures are in place up to October where we will be doing the monitoring and writing reviews and reoprts
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Travelling expenses (organizing participants) $ 60
Communication @ $50*4 months= $200
Training workshops for 14 people (Transport, food, stationary, allowances) $900
Power generation $ 450
Voice recorder $200
Camera-$200
Coordination allowance-$200
Total $2210
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Citizen journalism training, leadership training
Contact name
Davy Ndlovu
Organization
Creative Arts and Educational Development Association
