Digital technology is providing a cultural and educational link between children in Brighton and Africa.

The city-based charity Fiankoma Project has been helping to produce exchange information about the village of Fiankoma in Ghana and life in schools across Brighton.

The project was set up by Sarah Lee after she visited Fiankoma in the early Nineties.

She said: "I found the people in the village friendly and open to other cultures.

"The television pictures we see of African people usually focus on poverty or war and I was seeing a very different view. In Fiankoma, there is a positive story to be told of vital, hard-working people enjoying life and working together."

Ms Lee returned to the village several times and was welcomed into homes as a guest.

She said: "I wanted to share my experiences with more people in the UK and realised technology was the best way to get the message across.

"I decided to use a combination of digital video, still digital photography and web sites. A couple of people in the village have televisions and this meant there was no problem explaining what I wanted to do.

"I spoke with the village elders about filming in the village and they were very supportive."

The project was given funding by the Department for International Development last autumn and plans were made for a return trip to Ghana.

Lou Brett joined the scheme as project manager and the two women took digital recording equipment to Fiankoma for a four-month visit that ended in April.

Villagers were shown how to use the cameras and schoolchildren drew pictures and wrote down their day-to-day experiences for use on the web site.

Ms Brett said: "When we had the web site up and running, we took Fiankoma teachers and pupils to an internet cafe in a nearby town to show them the results.

"They were fascinated the work they had been doing in their village was being broadcast all over the world. The next step was to provide similar material from the Brighton end."

Six schools in the Brighton area have been building links with Fiankoma.

Ms Brett said: "We have been visiting Brighton schools, showing the Fiankoma work and helping them make their own digital material along the same lines. The children love it.

"The project provides support for teachers using communication technology to promote cultural awareness in the classroom."

As part of the project, Whitehawk Primary School has been developing a web site about the school and the Whitehawk area, which will be ready by the end of the autumn term.

Head of literacy Charlotte Raby is co-ordinating contributions from pupils aged four to 11-years-old.

She said: "Everything has to be ready by February when Lou and Sarah will be making a return trip to Fiankoma.

"The children and many of the teachers are working hard to meet the deadline.

"Each school-year has a topic to prepare, from games to foods, to showing an average day at the school.

"Much of what the African children are talking about is similar to the interests of our own pupils.

"They all want to share information about their brothers and sisters and what they do in their spare time.

"The technology has brought them close in a way I would not have thought possible before and the information has been presented was in a manner they can understand.

"The whole school is benefiting from the project and the way it makes us think about our own identities."

For a separate strand of the work, the project leaders are keen to hear from people of black or mixed race origin in the Brighton area interested in taking part in the digital link-up.

Call Lou Brett on 01273 234866 for more information.

www.fiankoma.org
www.whitehawk.fsnet.co.uk