Namibian colouring book launched
Educating young minds in a fun way
The colouring book is aimed at educating young Namibians in a joyful way about their own culture and that of other Namibian cultural groups.
A Namibian-based colouring book aimed at educating young kids about their own culture or cultures of other Namibians has hit the Namibian market, with co-creators Risto Kandele and Petrus Nghipandulwa heading the project.The colouring book, titled 'Namibian Culture Colouring Book', features various Namibian cultural groups, including the Oshiwambo, Kavango, San, Afrikaners, Damara, Nama, Ovaherero, Ovahimba, Basters and Zambezi people. In addition to the Namibian groups, the Tswana also appear in the book.
"The young minds will be educated and will be colouring in contents based on traditional attire, foods, drinks, and traditional customs across all tribes," said Kandele.
The book has a small narration on each page, traditional objects are identified and spelt in that tribe's language with a short simple exercise at the end of the book to test the knowledge obtained through colouring.
Joy and learning
The book contains short descriptions on each page and traditional objects on the pages are further identified in the specific language of the tribe represented.
To keep young minds active, the book includes simple exercises to test the knowledge of the target audience.
To Kandele and Nghipandulwa, celebrating and remembering Namibian tribes is of great importance.
"We have noticed with great concern that the new generation is losing touch with and knowledge of our local traditional norms," Kandele added.
Museum partners
The project took the pair approximately three months to complete, and some of the challenges they faced were the designing, editing and printing of books.
With the National Museum as their partner, Kandele and Nghipandulwa managed to get the project off the ground. The content for the colouring images was received from the museum, and the rest of the work was done internally.
The team will be looking into more projects in the colouring book space, but will also venture into the technology space in the future.
Distribution
Apart from the colouring book project, Ngipandulwa is a chartered accountant and social entrepreneur with over 11 years of experience in auditing, taxation and project management. Kandele is a social entrepreneur with over six years of experience in tourism, education and most recently, technology.
The Pupkewitz Foundation recently came on board to distribute the books nationwide to various pre-primary schools. For more information, the pair can be reached at [email protected].