LitCam – a non profit organization

Since April 2010 LitCam is a non profit organization. If you would also like to subsidise one of our projects we appreciate your donation!

Account for donations:

LitCam gGmbH
Dresdner Bank AG
Account number 95963701
Bank code number 500 800 00

From abroad:

SWIFT Code DRES DE FF
IBAN DE 10 5008 0000 0095 9637 01

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Reading and Learning Rooms in South Africa

LitCam launched the “ Reading and Learning Rooms” project together with our cooperation partners, the Cape Town Book Fair, VPUU, Women for Peace and UWC, with an opening event on Thursday, 29 July in the Women for Peace Nobantu Centre in Mfuleni.

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LitCam Conference 2010 „Literacy and Human Rights“

On 4 and 5 October 2010, the fifth international LitCam Conference will take place in Frankfurt, with thte topic „Literacy and Human Rights“.

Programme and Registration

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The LitCam projects in Cape Town

Sunday, 1 August 2010

At 2 p.m. on the dot we set off with Dreadlock Alien, a hip-hop poet from the Midlands in England, and Jane Hershall from the British Council to Harare in the township of Khayelitsha. Dreadlock Alien is well known for his rap poetry and slams. His texts deal mostly with social problems like violence or racism and people on the edge of society. This is why he would like to see one of the Reading and Learning Rooms in the township.

We are accompanied by Bongikhaya Q’ama, one of the people responsible for the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) initiative. Bongikhaya is the community facilitator and ensures that a functioning community system is set up in Harare. One of the successfully completed projects is the construction of the Harare town square, to which we are en route with Dreadlock Alien. As Bongikhaya explains to us, this square was once a place for trash disposal, which was even filled with corpses. Today the area is safe and even features a playground for children. The VPUU office is right in the neighbourhood and the office windows have a view of the entire square.

Young people also meet up regularly at the town square and rap sessions are held here on Sundays. Of course, Dreadlock Alien fits right in to this scene. As we arrive at the square, where many kids have already gathered, Dreadlock Alien goes straight for the microphone. Initially a bit restrained, the audience soon grows enthusiastic. The rap poems recited by Dreadlock Alien deal with problems that are also familiar to the youth of Harare: unemployment, racism, difficulties in school, drugs. The children quickly come to trust Dreadlock and get into a conversation with him. Two of the young people even muster up the courage to recite their own rap poems.

The next day, Bongikhaya reports how enthusiastic the kids and the teens were. He hopes that we’ll have a repeat of such events soon.

Monday, 2 August

We are visiting the Reading and Learning Room in the Women for Peace Centre in the township of Mfuleni. A writing workshop will be taking place here for the first time today, which is meant to provide the residents of the township with the essentials for participating in our writing competition, “Football moments – short stories from the townships”. The author Jill Morsland, who previously worked as a teacher, is hosting the workshop.

An illustrious group of eager learners awaits Jill, including three older woman, one of whom is the chef for the centre, two men who actually play sports with the teens, two girls and four cool guys who aren’t exactly sure yet whether they want to participate or not. However, Jill wins them over with her direct and sincere manner.

Jill begins with a short reading test and it is quickly clear that the reading levels of the participants are very varied. While for some it is already clear after one sentence that reading is natural for them, others have a lot of trouble. Nevertheless they all stick with it and deliver a short story at the end of the workshop. Some write four sentences while others provide four pages. Jill takes time for each of them, corrects them and gives each of them individual feedback. Even the cool guys, who are no longer acting so cool, are eager to receive an evaluation from Jill.

After a short tea break, Jill continues right along to the next event. She will read another short story from her fantasy novel for the children who have now gathered in the centre. However, since most of the young audience can’t speak English and only speaks Xhosa, the deputy director of the centre takes on the task of translating. She turns out to be an excellent speaker and quickly casts a spell over the children.

A bit exhausted, but very pleased, Jill says goodbye to the children and the employees of the Women for Peace Centre. What is remarkable is that, although she has lived in Cape Town for 30 years, today was the first time she was in the township of Mfuleni. It will surely not be her last time there — the writing workshops will be taking place even more often.

Tuesday, 3 August 2010

The performance by Dreadlock Alien in Kayelitsha went so well that we received an invitation to a short interview at the local radio station in the township. We set off at 7:30 in the morning — much too early for us. Neither our driver, nor Dreadlock Alien, whose real name is actually Richard, nor I are in great shape. In Kayelitsha, we meet Bongikhaya Q’ama again, who leads us safely to the radio station. Keeping one’s orientation in the township is not exactly easy and it doesn’t take much to get lost. Without Bongikhaya, we certainly would not have found the radio station.

Once we arrive, we are led directly into the studio. Two very relaxed and professional radio hosts pose the questions — for example, about where Dreadlock Alien comes from and what he did previously. We learn that Richard trained to be a chef and that, to this day, he not only participates at big festivals as a rap poet, but also oversees catering.

The interview lasts a half hour – time is quickly up. Radio is as ubiquitous in the townships as it is everywhere in Africa. And as simple as the technical equipment may be, the hosts at the station are very professional and can respond to the unexpected with flexibility.

We leave Kayelitsha and with that, the first official programme of the Frankfurt Book Fair Literacy Campaign for the Cape Town Book Fair comes to a close.

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Football meets Culture - Finals in Hamburg

“The children taking part in our Football meets Culture (FTK) projects in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart have been looking forward to this already for months: the final event of project year 2009/2010 on 24 and 25 June in Hamburg. Altogether 91 school children were here from the FTK cities.

to the report

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Meeting with the project team “Football meets Culture” in Stuttgart

Since 9 February 2010, football and culture meet each other at the Martin Luther School in Stuttgart: at the 4. “Fottball meets Culture”- project under the umbrella of the Frankfurt Book Fair Literacy Campaign (LitCam).

The members of the project team in Stuttgart are project coordinator Uwe Jäger, football coach Günther Schäfer, as well as the two teachers Katharina Geiger and Mrs Schelp. To meet the participating children in person, initiator and director of all the “Football meets Culture” projects Karin Plötz (Frankfurt Book Fair) and Fabian Heinl, coordinator of the “Football meets Culture” project in Berlin came to Stuttgart.

Both guests were fascinated by the discipline the 24 children showed at the training session with the experienced trainer and former German Football League professional Günther Schäfer. “It is a bit more vivacious in Berlin”, commented Fabian Heinl.

During the following intermission between football training and the supplementary teaching, the children posed enthusiastically for a group photo.

Also during lessons the children were dedicated: this lesson’s topic was the use of definite articles, which was playfully taught. To put up pictures and find the right word at the same time was not so easy sometimes.

Karin Plötz gave a word of praise to the whole project team: “I am very impressed by the great work the team is doing”, said Plötz. “The lessons are so vividly and playfully arranged that all of the children were participating with a lot of fun and ambition. And that the football coach is a real professional by whom the children are very impressed you can tell by their commitment: one child would just not stop playing and went on playing even on socks.”

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“Football Meets Culture”: Prize for favourite football book of the year

In order to make reading a bit more interesting to the young football enthusiasts participating in the Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt projects, this year for the first time they will also be able to choose their favourite football book. Several publishers have provided numerous football books, so the children will be able to read and discuss one book each month. At the end of the school year, they will then vote to choose their favourite book. A rating sheet has already been prepared, so the children can proudly act as official jurors.

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Spielen und Lernen

Damit es in den Pausen nicht zu langweilig wird, können die Kinder des Projektes jetzt z. B. auch das Spiel zum Buch ausprobieren, so „Die wilden Fußball Kerle: Das Rennen“.

Aber auch das einfache, altbekannte „Memory“ Spiel macht den Kindern Spass. Der Kosmosverlag sowie die Ravensburger AG haben für unsere drei FTK Projektgruppen freundlicherweise eine Auswahl von Spielen zu Verfügung gestellt.