Encourage African Youth To Embrace Their Heritage

Across the African continent, heritage is under threat.   And yet we know that if we can encourage younger generations to play an active part in learning about their heritage, their cultural backgrounds - and those of their neighbours - we can begin to ensure its protection.

Young people like Sylvia who visited Bunce Island in Sierra Leone for the first time as part of our programme: “A feeling of sombre despondency took over the pupils as they traversed the length and breadth of Bunce Island listening to the events that characterised the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.  The tears that rolled down Sylvia's eyes were enough reason to preserve and save this endangered site from degradation” writes Mohamed Faray Kargbo, Education and Outreach Officer of the Sierra Leone Monuments and Relics Commission.

So our project, "Encourage African Youth to Embrace their Heritage" is doing just what it says on the tin by bringing together young people's love of heritage and modern technology!

The latest news is that youth from Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and Uganda are really getting to grips with their heritage through a competition to make video clips illustrating their passion for history and culture, or interesting activities they engage in through Heritage Clubs in their schools. The programme brings together the National Trust of Zimbabwe, the Monuments and Relics Commission of Sierra Leone, the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) and INTO.

Many mini-films have already been submitted and the juries in the various countries will convene in October to choose the winners.   

Once again, huge thanks to you, our generous donors who have enabled this exciting and innovative project to take place!

All the partners involved have learned so much over the course of the programme (including me!) and we are delighted to see young people benefitting from exposure to their cultural heritage – and learning more about what they can do to protect it into the future.  

Thank you warmly for your continued support.

Best wishes, Catherine

Our partners in Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe have just launched their first video competition!

We all know how important it is to engage young people.  Their passion and enthusiasm - combined with their savvy presentation skills and use of social media - can make all the difference.

This is Marie from Kampala.  Marie attends a heritage club at her school. She is passionate about heritage and culture.  "I want to tell you why people like me love culture: Culture is about many aspects of life. The way we build our houses, the way we behave, our historical sites - all have very precious values.  Such as greeting and respecting our elders, but not forgetting the way we sing and dance. Culture defines who we are in society.  I'm sure you all agree that as young people we need to preserve our culture or else it will die one day.   So let's live and love our culture."

Our competition aims to harness the enthusiasm and technological know-how of young people in the celebration of cultural heritage.  We are challenging them to create short clips or videos about elements of their cultural heritage, which they feel are important/exciting/worth sharing internationally.

The best entries will be shared on line and people will be able to vote for their favourites.  There will be one overall winner from each country, who will receive a prize, thanks to your support!

Heritage can be seen as irrelevant and something to 'move on from'.  And yet culture, historic buildings, landscapes and traditions are essential to shaping our future wherever we are in the world.  As Marie says, they form a vital part of our identity and we must keep alive even the most hard-to-tell stories to avoid making the same mistakes.

Thank you again for supporting our 'Encourage African Youth to Embrace Their Heritage' project.  It's really exciting that it's now underway and we look forward to sharing some of the video clips with you shortly!

Thanks also to those of you who made it to our World Heritage Day event in Cambridge on 18 April.   You can find out more about the INTO 'Trust Kids' resource we launched, based in part on the experiences of our partners in Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe.