Linking the people of Africa has a paramount social, political and economic relevance. African Union (AU) is working intensively towards strengthening the existing resemblance among the cities of Africa. It is working to create common market for Africa. This market creates a ground for the interaction of the different culture and way of life of the peoples of Africa.
Thus, the continent needs to set strategy that could help enhance the tie among the capital cities in order to achieve this purpose. It should work on how to interact the various peoples of Africa with one another.
Julia Sattler, Director of the Goethe Institut, told The Ethiopian Herald that Enter Africa project plays its own part in bringing the culture of Africa together. It has teams in 15 cities of Africa. The team in each city works to uncover the challenges in the city and directs on how to approach them.
Julia told that the project has been running for two years in 15 Sub-Saharan cities. The hub of the project is in Addis Ababa. The fifteen cities are Addis Ababa, Dakar, Abidjan, Accra, Ouagadougu, Lome, Lagos, Yaounde, Kinshasa, Kigali, Kampala, Dar-es-salaam, Nairobi, Johannesberg, and Windhoek, according to Julia.
She further explained that Enter Africa is creative African network made up of interdisciplinary teams including game developers, city planners, storytellers, artists, architects, and engineers in 15 African mega cities. Enter Africa came alive in 2018 with the vision of creating a gaming ecosystem.
The Director indicated that Enter Africa is to open workshops in the 15 African countries. The workshop will bring the different people of Africa together. It displays the cultures of Africa. It will also preserve the culture of Africans, she said.
According to Julia the project aims at creating linkage among the African countries. The project has started functioning in fifteen cities of Africa. There are teams in each city. During the gathering for the game, the players will be discussing the challenges that are facing their cities and forward approaches to tackle them.
Mihret Redda, developer of D5 gamecon, explained that the games are designed to tell African stories. Indigenous stories of Africa will be narrated through the games. Thus, the players of the game will share the culture of their African brothers.
Mihret says Arada or ‘quest for omniscience’ was the title of the games designed by the developers. The Arada in the context comprehends the quality of expressing ones view in such a way that it cannot offend others feeling. “Arada does not only tolerate,but embraces the culture, way of life and views of others. We can be both African and Ethiopian at the same time”, she said.
The gatherings will discuss the issues of identity, race, ethnics, gender, social status, and so on. They also talk over sensitive issues in smooth manners. They will cultivate the habit thinking outside the box, as to Mihret.
She told that games are effective way of achieving the intended purpose because they are played by all people regardless of language, identity, age, and status because almost all people in one way or another play games.
The designer says that Enter Africa has a goal of creating a huge game market called ‘Puzara’, a market where all Africans interchange their exposure and experience. The teams have a vision of building a huge game organization in Africa in the future.She added that the project also aims to generate borderless Africa, Africa that shares more commonalities than the present.
Dagmawi Bedlu, a developer of one of the games chewataawaki, on his part, said that his games are designed in a way that could uncover the social, cultural, and infrastructural needs confronting the present cities of Africa and points on how to overcome them. The games depict the opportunities within the cities of Africa.
Mulu Ketema, attendant of the event, told that the games at the event demonstrate the techniques to overcome the difficulties in real life. It trains on how to deal with others in our social, political, and economic daily interactions,she said.
Mulu added that the crowd of people at the event discusses other social issues besides playing the games. Thus, the event creates a platform for the sharing of views, culture and experience among the people of Africa, she uncovered.
There are various challenges related to religion, identity, instability, and poverty. Thus, the people of Africa need to discuss on these issues to create a united, prosperous, and stable Africa,learnt from the discussion. Youth playing one of the games they created.
The Ethiopian Herald July 6/2019
BY GETAHUN LEGESSE
