Projects

Kunzwana Trust

KUNZWANA Trust has been established by Keith Goddard and his fellow trustees Fiona Lloyd, Phillip Marira and Debbie Metcalfe in 1987 as a non-profit-making organisation which fosters the practice and study of indigenous musics in Zimbabwe through the promotion of the work of performing artists and instrument makers for fair reward and the development of music research projects for educational purposes. The aim of KUNZWANA was to encourage the highest artists standards in Zimbabwean music and to provide artists and instrument makers with fair reward for the work they do.

projects ongoing

Kunzwana.net is not only intended as an online archive of past cultural activities but also as an inspiration and resource base for ongoing and future projects. This is in the best sense of Keith Goddard's work and legacy. The drive for cross cultural dialogue and exchange, for promotion of cultural diversity and development is more relevant then ever before. The ongoing projects are calling for support and participation.

The TONGA.ONLINE project in Binga district / Zimbabwe + Sinazongwe district / Zambia

For the Tonga people like me, there is something deeply biblical about the word MULONGA, yet it is a modern story too. One of massive but unshared technology. One of plentiful water but perpetual drought." (Dominic Muntanga)

 

The TONGA.ONLINE project in Binga district / Zimbabwe + Sinazongwe district / Zambia

For the Tonga people like me, there is something deeply biblical about the word MULONGA, yet it is a modern story too. One of massive but unshared technology. One of plentiful water but perpetual drought." (Dominic Muntanga)

 

Since its launch in 2001, the Tonga.Online Project has focused attention on promoting a Tonga voice over the Internet. The aim is to provide people in the Tonga area of Zimbabwe and the Tonga across the Zambezi River in Zambia with access to the world’s most advanced communication tools, so that they may represent themselves to the outside world and reflect upon the social, political and economic environment of both the global and local village in which the Tonga live today.


The project derives its domain name, Mulonga (meaning River), from the local Tonga language. The name reflects the history and needs of the Tonga people. On one level, the Zambezi River, also known as Mulonga, has become a symbol that tells a modern story of the development of massive but unshared technology – the construction of Kariba Dam on Tonga homeland. Mulonga constantly revokes memories of how the Tonga people were displaced, 50 years ago, to make way for the building of this dam. Yet, even today, they are still bypassed by the huge commercial benefits from tourism and electricity that now derive from their former habitat, an environment which has transformed into the vast expanse of water known as Lake Kariba.

Zongwe.OnAir project

Access to information by the rural communities of the Zambezi valley district of Sinazongwe in Zambia is still a very big challenge. Just like on the Zimbabwean side, national radio and Television reception in this area is very poor. Newspapers also rarely reach the area as it is over 100km off the main high way linking Lusaka and Livingstone. Newspaper vendors find very little persuasion to develop the Sinazongwe route. Privately run electronic media is also not available in the whole district except at Maamba mine, over 80km from the local population of Sinazongwe district. This situation makes it very difficult for the remote communities to participate in the democratic processes of the country. Since 2006 the Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association (AZFA) has responded to these challenges by assisting in the implementation of an ICT project at Sinazongwe Basic School, in partnership with Basilwizi Trust as well as with support from HIVOS. In 2007 some volunteers from Free Radio movement in Austria have stepped in to establish a Radio studio and to train some aspiring community members in broadcasting. This ICT4D and community radio project is now part of a wider education and culture support program of Basilwizi Trust and aims at ensuring the community takes part in national issues through information, educational and cultural promotion.

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