Project Description 

We are four pupils in grade 9 (aged 15) and two teachers from Sweden  who are making a journey to Eritrea . 

Churches, Lion's club and the community of Alingsas sponsor the trip. 

We are leaving the 27th of September 1987 and staying for two and a half weeks until the 14th of October 1987. 

Why Eritrea? 

The people of Eritrea have fought a civil war against Ethiopia for 30 years. They finally won their independence in 1993. Refugees have been spread out over the world during the war and some have also come to our town Alingsas. 

Eritrea has been a goal for missionaries and aid projects from Sweden since the nineteenth century. 

 Purpose: 

• To study a country that is being built up after many years of war and also tries to develop itself in a more independent way than other African countries. 
• To try to get contact with schools and pupils before we go and then visit the schools while we are there. 
• To visit refugees who have returned from Sweden and see how they are getting on. 
• To study development projects especially in the rural western lowland area around the town Barentu. 
• To learn about Eritrean culture as music, songs and dance and also show some of our own culture. 
• To explore the country and visit interesting places concerning nature, history, culture. We are planning to try scuba diving in the Red Sea, make a trip in the Denakil desert (one of the hottest places on earth).

 Participating: 

If you want to participate in our project you can write questions to us before we leave. In this way we can take them with us and try to find answers for you. If its possible you might send some questions to us in Eritrea (the satellite connection is slow and expensive). You can also write to us after we have come home and to the other participating pupils in the world and discuss the topics that have arisen during the project. 

We are bringing a tape recorder, cameras, a digital camera and a video camera as well. 

When we are back in Sweden we are going to assemble all the material we have brought back on our homepage. 

Participation also requires that students answer the 4 Questions to join Kidlink, subscribe to the Kidproj list, and that adults subscribe to the Kidproj-Coord list. Here is a page with a quick description of what to do. 

To register for the project email the moderator, Mats Jonsson, listing the name of the school/group, city, state, country, grade/age, name of adult, and email contact address or use this web form. 

 
Suggested Question Topics: 

• Problems in development countries 
• How can we help them? 
• Refugee problems- coming home 
• Schools and daily life for young people 
• Culture, religion, history.... 
• Animals and plants 
• The different cultures and people who are living in the country.

 
Project Objectives 

• To experience and understand Eritrea and its people and culture. 
• To encourage the students international engagement and global thinking. 
• To increase the students understanding for problems and possibilities in development countries. 
• To learn about foreign cultures and see the differences and similarities to their own culture 
• To create possibilities for communication between youth over grade levels and boarders. 
• To train the use of the English language for the non-English spoken students. 
• To learn about wildlife in a tropical country and in the sea. 
• To learn and train the use of modern communication techniques.

 There are curriculum connections in almost every discipline and across most grade levels. 

Example from the Swedish curriculum: 

"The pupils widen their knowledge about nature and society and connections between them in different parts of the world and in that way gain understanding for peoples conditions of living." 

"The pupils reflect about international relations and global circumstances as well from economic, social, political as cultural aspects, understand the causes to international conflicts and also the meaning and consequences of struggle for peace and international cooperation in different fields." 

 
 

Timeline
1st to 27th of September:	Pupils and classes can join the project and send in questions to us. We are making a homepage where you can read about the project, Eritrea, and also the first diaries that we make to test the equipment.
27th September to 14th of October	We make our journey and can receive some questions and try to find answers for all questions.
15th of October to ?	We assemble our collected material on our homepage and also the reports. Our pupils will also send answers to your questions.

 

 

Mats Jonsson mats.jonsson@skola.alingsas.se 

Nolhagaskolan 

Nolhaga allé 

441 55 Alingsas 

Fax +46 322 10305 

Nolhagaskolan Eritrea page 

Information Contact: Patti Weeg, Title 1 Computer Teacher, Delmar El. School, Delmar, Maryland, USA. Home Page: http://www.globalclassroom.org 

KIDPROJ WWW Contact: Grant Dougall and Diane Smith 

  

Created August 25, 1997