Preserving African history: Bamoun King's Palace
As with many ancient African civilizations you won't find much about the Bamoun Kingdom on the Internet. Founded in the 14th century in the north east of present day Cameroon, the Kingdom has a rich and varied cultural history.
The Bamoun language was suppressed under colonial occupation after the end of the First World War, and much of its history remains undocumented.
The Bamoun Scripts and Archives Project at the Bamoun Palace aims to preserve the history of the kingdom for future generations.
Computer Aid International has provided over 500 PCs to the project which are being used for educational purposes as well as to document the history of the Bamoun people online. The website www.royaumebamoun.com, launched by the palace, is used to announce cultural events and maintain a sense of community. It is often said that the Internet is dominated by western languages - but there is no reason, other than differential access, for this to be the case. The Bamoun Scripts and Archive Project has also been involved in collecting and photographing threatened documents, translating and in some cases hand-copying texts, and creating a fully usable Bamoun computer font. The kingdom believes in using new technology to preserve its traditions - using radio, for example, to preserve and teach the language, which is also used by many popular musicians in the kingdom.
The Bamoun Kingdom's story shows how access to ICT can help preserve African history and maintain a strong sense of cultural identity in present and future generations.
To donate PCs, monitors or laptops to projects such as these please click here
The Bamoun people perform a traditional ceremony
