ZB nr 5(163)/2001, lipiec 2001

Kidlink is a global, non-profit organization headquartered in Norway focused on empowering youth through free educational programs. To help them get friends, and build inter-personal networks with peers around the world. Our motives are explained at http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/backgrnd.html.

Since our start on the Internet in 1990, we have rendered free services to youth living in 141 countries.

Kidlink operates 83 public conferences for youth and adults (mostly teachers and parents) in 19 language areas, a private chat network, and a multi-lingual web site of more than 100,000 pages. Languages are Catalan, Chinese, Danish, German, English, French, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Macedonian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Saami, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. Our services are administered by some 500 volunteers living in 42 countries. Most of them are classroom teachers.

Competing with 600 educational projects from all over the world, Kidlink received the 1st prize from the prestigious Global Junior Challenge competition's "Educational projects for users up to 18 years old" category. (http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/press/gjc.html)

We have served youth in 140 countries. Some join our youth communities to develop personal networks with peers in other countries. Others join through schools to participate in a range of educational programs. Check http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/c/curric.html for Kidlink's educational program history.

Empowerment and development of youth are achieved through educational programs, like the free, eight-month "Who-Am-I?" program. This program also motivates literacy training, supports schools' curriculum, and contributes to help preserve and disseminate traditional knowledge.

We organize computer training activities for underprivileged young people in order to improve their access to information. We invite NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) to become partners, use the Kidlink infrastructure as an element in their work, and the "Who-Am-I?" program as a vehicle. Our approach is at http://www.kidlink.org/kie/nls/abstract.html

Many of these initiatives include setting up community centers (Internet Cafés) in key villages to serve many schools. We call these community centers Kidlink Houses, and have 28 throughout Brazil, and one for street kids in Mexico City. (http://www.kidlink.org/kie/khouse/index.html) There are similar initiatives aiming at including more language and culture areas into Kidlink, and integrating them with the "Who-Am-I?" program.

Kidlink wishes to help strengthen these languages in an effort to help their youth build a positive self-assessment. So that they will be able to meet peers in other language and cultural areas on an equal level.

Training of teachers is instrumental. Kidlink not only works with them, but make them work together with us and become active elements of our approach. Thus, we provide real learning by using a strategy that works perfectly with teachers of every background. (In all language areas, most teachers are women.)

At http://www.kidlink.org/kie/workshops/index.html, there is a free Kidlink train-the-trainers program that is available through our web. We are looking for ways to have this "Who-Am-I?" program element translated into other languages. It is currently available in English, Norwegian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

A successor to "Who-Am-I?" with potential far-reaching potentiality has recently been developed. The multi-lingual "I have a dream" educational program, due to start later this year, focuses on helping youth realize dreams about their future and a better world. During eight months, they will plan, design, and implement an Internet based project to realize a dream in collaboration with peers.

The outcome will be increased ability to start local businesses, and an early start on knowledge networking for participating youth. The program will provide experiences in marketing, negotiations, decisionmaking, fundraising, international cooperation, organization, use of productivity software, evaluation. Information at http://www.kidlink.org/dream/about.html

I am presently in Angola, studying the feasibility of setting up Internet cafes with Kidlink contents. The abstract of this project will hopefully explain our goals well. Please see http://global.kidlink.org/kie/africa/angola/abstract.html. It will be continuously updated over the coming week.

This abstract explains Kidlink's goals, and also how our goals tie into many other parts of a society.

Kidlink does not discriminate between rich or poor, by color, or in anyother way. Still, we have always taken particular interest in those who are less fortunate, or who are belonging to "marginal groups," as you put it. These ranges from a child being mobbed at school to a member of minority being suppressed by neighbors.

Using the abstract referenced above, we would very much be interested in having the Who-am-I? program translated into Polish, and used by Polish kids - both those living in Poland and in other countries.

As you can see from the Angola plan, we are trying to include a special initiative for the Umbundu and Kimbundu languages.

In addition to Polish, we have the same dreams regarding your final statement: "Please remember about danger Slaw minority in center of Europe: Soraben (Wenden, Lousanians) in South-East part of former DDR, close to Poland and Czech. Necessary promote they language too!"

You may have seen that we are working with the Saami people (15.000 people), the Icelandic people (260,000), and Catalan (around 5 million, with a center in Barcelona, Spain). So, smaller groups, like the Nenets of Siberia, is not too small.

The Who-am-I? program is just an agenda consisting of suggested questions and activities. It does not provide any "correct" answers. The process ofdiscussing and sharing locally and with others that is what matters.

Kidlink is a global, non-profit user-owned organization headquartered in Norway. It focuses on empowering youth through free educational programs. To help them get friends, and build inter-personal networks with peers around the world. To train them in the art of growing up, and living, without imposing adult views, religious or political points of view on them.

The process starts by letting groups of kids discuss basic questions about life. It guides them to knowledge about themselves, their place, rights, friends, families, and roots. Usually, this discussion takes place face-to-face in a classroom or some other meeting place.

The agenda is provided by the free, multi-lingual Who-Am-I? educational program. Here are some sample questions from the program's "Resolving disputes" lesson:

What causes disputes among people? Are misunderstandings more likely to lead to trouble?
Why do you think people start making trouble?
What if the friends you hang out with want to do something you don't?

What do you choose - go with your friends or do "things" your own way?

Bullying is a kind of conflict that concerns many people. In your opinion what is bullying? Why do bullies do what they do?
How should we deal with bullies? How should we help their victims?
Which side do you choose if there is a conflict between your friends and your family?
How do you resolve disputes? Do you try to avoid people you disagree with? Do you find that listening carefully for what the other person really wants and needs can help?

When the group has reached some kind of consensus, Kidlink lest them share conclusions and views with youth around the world through the Internet. So that they can receive questions and feedback from prospective new friends.

When confronted with an audience of prospective friends in other places, the kids suddenly want to write and read. To explain and defend views on how to resolve disputes, to themselves to peers, and much more. They require information and knowledge to do their thing.

IMPORTANT SIDE-EFFECTS

The process creates interesting opportunities for teachers. They use Who-Am-I? to support classroom instruction within their curriculum: writing, research, social studies, history, geography, foreign languages, economics, mathematics, science, the arts, current awareness, as well as personal development, Internet networking skills, information and communications technology skills. It gives otherwise "boring" classroom tasks meaning for students.

To a community, Who-Am-I? is a means to increase its youth's knowledge and appreciation of their area, people, language, culture, the way the society works, and history. It is also a means to communicate this to outsiders using its students as agents. They will be set to collect and document elements of the community's culture that may be about to get lost, and their publications may be used as learning material in the community's language.

To parents, grandparents, and families, Who-Am-I? is a means for close cooperation with their kids on something important to them, and to coach them to important knowledge and experiences in the process.

To educational authorities, it is a means to help teachers enhance their curriculums, promote collaboration and sharing of educational experiences between teachers, and on-the-job training in the use of Internet in classrooms.

There are also interesting opportunities for libraries, museums, hospitals, staff working on preventive mental health, youth clubs, Internet cafÚs, refugee camps, anti-racism activists, NGOs working with street kids, etc.

THE ORGANIZATION

Since the start on the Internet in 1990, Kidlink has rendered free services to youth living in 141 countries.

It operates 83 public conferences for youth and adults (mostly teachers and parents) in 19 language areas, a private chat network, and a multi-lingual web site of more than 100,000 pages. Languages are Catalan, Chinese, Danish, German, English, French, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Macedonian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Saami, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. Its services are administered by some 500 volunteers living in 42 countries. Most of them are classroom teachers.

Competing with 600 educational projects from all over the world, Kidlink recently received the 1st prize from the prestigious Global Junior Challenge competition's "Educational projects for users up to 18 years old" category. The US Dept of Education has Kidlink on its shortlist "Teacher's Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet."

KIDLINK IN POLISH

The global Polish language community is invited to build a Polish language activity within Kidlink. The same invitation is granted to any other language in your country, large or small. See http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/language.html for more information. If interested, drop Odd de Presno a note at presno@eunet.no. He lives in neighboring Norway, and is Kidlink's founder and Executive Director. Presently, he is in Angola investigating the possibility of opening activities in the local languages Kimbundu and Umbundu.