Samsam
How is it for kids to flee their country from war and ethnic violence? What do you play with when there are no toys around? And how can you learn when there is no school in the refugee camp? For Samsam Magazine, I interviewed Aliyah (blue headscarf, 3rd photo) who fled from El Geneina, Darfur (in West Sudan).
For the newest edition of Samsam Magazine, I interviewed Simantoi (9) from Maralal! As this edition’s theme of the magazine for schoolchildren in The Netherlands is ‘Media’, I asked Simantoi how she knows what’s going on in the world. She told me that because she is from Samburu, a region in Kenya, that she listens to radio a lot. Not only because they play songs in ‘Maa’, the language of her grandparents, but also because she likes to listen to radioshows about Samburu’s mythology.
“My favorite radio station is Serian FM,” Simantoi says. “They broadcast a lot of nice programmes, so I listen to them at least for an hour each day.” On Saturdays, the radio station makes a programma that like children’s magazine Samsam, is only meant for children. Children even come to the studio, which sits on one of Maralal’s hills. Together with Simantoi, I traveled to see Joseph and Nick, who explained us a bit more about the importance of radio in Samburu.
To read the whole piece (in Dutch), enlarge the picture below or follow this link to Samsam’s website.
For Dutch children’s magazine Samsam, I worked on two videos about malaria and robots. The small vids were recorded in Tanzania’s Dar Es Salaam and Stone Town and are made from a child’s perspective, as they are meant for a young audience in The Netherlands. Rukayya makes sure she doesn’t get stung by mosquitoes, as she doesn’t want to get malaria. And Christine tells me all about her love for robots and drones.
Samsam’s Karin Wesselink edited both videos. For Christine’s story, I also wrote a small piece that was featured in Samsam’s ‘Robots’ edition. The videos can be watched through Samsam’s YouTube account.
For Dutch newspaper / magazine Samsam, I met up with Swabir, a 12 year old boy who lives in the Kenyan city of Mombasa. His father is Head of Education at the renowned Fort Jesus, the number one cultural attraction of Kenya’s coastal area. But the fort has seen better days: due to coastal erosion, rising sea levels and erosion caused by rain water (all linked to climate change), the centuries old structure is deteriorating rapidly.
Together with Raphael Igombo and his son Swabir, I visited the fort to have a look at the recently constructed wall that should protect Fort Jesus for the next hundred years. You can read the story in the current edition of Samsam, online on their website or you can click on the image below to enlarge the article. Samsam is a magazine and learning method, which is distributed to and used by primary schools all over The Netherlands.
