Februaly, 2014
The Standard
"Meet the digital children"





The standard

Meet the digital children


By rebecca gichana As the government intends to roll out laptops for standard one pupils in the whole country, a group of young researchers have already gone digital. Children from different schools around Nairobi have formed a club dubbed Young Researchers. The club joined Pangaea, a non-profit organization, with the headquarters in Kyoto Japan last year with an objective to bond children across the World on the Internet. Pangaea has allowed children aged eight to 14 coming from different cultures to nurture their curiosity and friendly feelings for each other without having to trabel to learn new languages in different countries. Generation Next caught up with the children during their live interaction with children from a village in Tokyo, Japan over the weekend at the National Museum of Kenya. Mitchelle Okallo of St Joseph Kang'ethe primary school was among the children at the event. "It feels nice when communicating in a foreign language. I have been able to make friends in Japan although I have never been there," says Okallo. The standard six pupil adds: "It is fun. I joined the club last year and I can say am working harder to learn more international languages in future for easy interaction" One of the teachers at the club, Daniel Arap Mitei says this is a good tool to bring peace among nations. "Last August, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of Pangaea in Tokyo where I was given a chance to attend. This is a wonderful program for the children since it brings them together and they are able to learn more on how to use the Internet," says Mitei. Pangaea offers universal playground on the Internet since the children speak different languages they convey their feelings using pictograms. "I have knowledge on how to use the computer and I can be able to type as first as I can. This club is has given me knowledge on how to communicate live with other children from Japan," greenyard Junior School's Mbacha Kamande tells Generation Next. Currently, Pangaea has bonded children in Kenya, South Korea, Austria, Malaysia and Japan. New villages will be established this year in some parts of United States of America and Brazil. Other activities that children learn during the interaction include language brief voice games, matching the game and asking questions.