Project:

Education of under 15 years old Pygmies of the Oumba Canton in the Ngounie.

Background:

In the canton of Oumba found in the Tsamba Magotsi deparment of the Ngounie province of Gabon, there exists a population who suffer due to an abuse of ISOLATION, have no education but who are the key to the development of the human soul.

Given the educational activities that are occurring in the rest of Gabon, the Pygmies of the Oumba canton should have access to education. Therefore, I wish to help this population get an education that is adapted to their culture and that brings together all the children younger than 15 of this area, in this way they will also be able to be integrated into the public schools that all Gabonese have access to.

To this effect, I am trying to put together a pilot project to start educating the Babongo Pygmy population during 2010, but due to the lack of material, I am looking for help to be able to get the required material and start teaching these children.

General Objective:

Contribute to the education of Babongo Pygmy children who are less than 15 years old.

Materials needed for their education:

• Exercise books
• Pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, etc
• Plywood to make a black board
• Pot of Black Paint
• Chalk
• Ruler
• Text books

Work Plan:

• Talk with parents of the students on the importance of education so that they will allow the children to go to the school.
• In the morning use the same education program the Ministry of Education. But in the afternoon put in place a educational program that takes into account the culture of the students.
• The teacher will visit the students on days off to see if they have the motivation to work outside the class.
• Evaluate the progress the students have done at the end of the year.

Information campaigns:
Current Information campaigns aim to develop and explore the following themes through movies and traveling performances:

Urban Milieu: environmental conservation and public health education. The aim is to encourage the youth to take care of the environment and also inform them about current health and social threats such as STD's, blood transfusion risks, AIDS, Malaria (taking into account endogenous factors).

Rural areas: The revival of traditional art forms and knowledge such as the conjuring up of forest genies with an environmental conservation message to make people aware of the real dangers of deforestation, poaching, AIDS, Malaria, STD and the Ebola virus. Educational methods will focus on using indigenous methods such as promoting local orchestras for the revival of ancestral heritage.
ANCE is also currently looking into organizing a show which marries together traditional and modern perspectives.

According to Professor Francis Hallé-Radeau des cimes:
"There is more to get by collecting new leaves from the forest than by cutting the whole tree down".

Today, young people following this universal forest culture are eager to use this knowledge in a way that ensures its place in contemporary society and thus secures its sustainability and conservation.