SRDC Summer Cultural Exchange Program
A Summer Camp in Support of the Liberia Library Project
Produced and Sponsored by
Sehwah-Liberia
and the
Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC)

APPLICATION:

Overview

The Liberian Summer Cultural Exchange Program will recruit 84 high school students. This includes students born of families from different countries in Africa, and the descendants of kidnapped Africans in the Diaspora.

The students will learn the necessary skills to become specialists doing effective research in the area of their choice. The finished product will be utilized as exhibits in the 21st Century Liberian Library Project Facility.

This cultural interaction will broaden the students’ view and vision of Africa, leading to more effective communication, along with developing skills in project management, compromise/consensus, negotiation, decision making and problem solving.

The success and completion of the Pilot Summer Cultural Exchange Program will lead to a trip to Liberia for the students who complete this summer program successfully. They would then become a part of the first phase of building the Library in Monrovia, Liberia (scheduled for completion by the year 2027). The Library will be the cornerstone of information accessible to Africans around the world in search of our common history and culture.

This document includes:

Class Descriptions 
Camp Schedule (List and Grid) 

Course Registration Form (Must be completed by Applicants)
Course Selection Form (Must be completed by Applicants)

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS:

I. The following courses are required for all students:

· CODING
· SWAHILI
· WEST AFRICAN FOODWAYS/COOKING

II. Students may choose one of the following specialized classes:

· AFRICA – Geography/Archaeology

This team will do a Geographical mapping of Africa, including all physical features of the continent, all the natural resources, and explore archaeological digs that expose our long history on the planet. The team will create a database of their discovery. They will also date and tell the history of the artifact/natural resource explaining how it was or is still used today.

End product: The team will create a virtual exhibit of the artifacts, natural resources, physical features of Africa and the historical story of our homeland. The history will have a written narration, as well as a video of the team explaining their discoveries.

· ORAL HISTORY

This team will learn how to do historical research and document the histories of the main ethnic groups of Liberia. The team will have a virtual team of high school students from Liberia who will jointly work with students from the U.S.

End Product: Production of oral tapes and videos for exhibits about the people of Liberia.

· LINGUISTICS

This team will begin the process of researching and documenting all of the African languages spoken in Liberia. There will be a virtual team in Liberia with which students will work. The team will get oral tapes, as well as written examples of each language.

End Product: A book for younger children, oral tapes and videos of conversations.

· CULTURE – Art / Music 

This team will research and document all forms of art, music and drama found in Liberia. There will be a Liberian team working with U.S. team. They will begin the process of collecting and preserving all the different types of art produced. They will research and collect all instruments designed and developed in Liberia/Africa.

End Product: Collections of Art and instruments. Oral report on tapes and videos of music for exhibits.

· PROJECT MANAGEMENT – Engineering / Architecture / Materials

This team will research the engineering needs, learn how architecture designs are developed and ascertain the materials needed for building the library. The team will look for both quality and best prices for materials.

End Product: Engineering specs, architectural plans and list of materials and samples. Report from each area in video presentation telling the story of building the library as a welcome exhibit from youth developers.

· ENVIRONMENT – Water, Soil, Sewage

This team will research the three crucial elements needed to have a fully functioning facility. The soil quality and depth which will determine how many levels can be built underground and how high the building can be. The team will determine access to water and sewage, as well as the impact of earthquakes seasonal (rainy, dry) conditions rainfall on soil quality. They will also examine the suitability of developing building materials (cement, bricks, etc.) from local soil.

End Product: A video explaining environmental research and how decisions were made that were considered best for the environment

· ASTRONOMY / IT

This team will research the night sky and African stories related to it. They will also determine the technical capacity of the facility and necessary equipment to create a vibrant interactive virtual world for the library.

End Product: The team will build a telescope and create an astronomy show for the planetarium.

III. Students may choose any or all of the following classes:

· YOGA
· ZUMBA
· AFRICAN DANCE

Camp Schedule (List)
Monday through Friday

9am to 9:45 am – Good Morning Activities. Students will have a choice between:

Yoga
Zumba
African Dance

9:45 to 10:00am – Snack – Fruit

10:00am to 11:30am – Class

11:30am to Lunch – Project chat and Music.

5 weeks, focus/camera on one ethnic group participating in the camp. Sixth week, Pan-African cultural program

12:30 to 2:00pm – Class

2:00 to 2:30 – Required Classes

Swahili (Monday, Wednesday)
Coding (Tuesday, Thursday)

Friday 10:00 am – Virtual Field Trip

Friday 1:00 pm – Required Class

West African Foodways Class; make an African dish for Family dinner

For the Camp Schedule in Grid Form, see below:

Pan African Summer Camp 2020 Camp Schedule Grid

For the Camp Registration and Course Selection Form in fillable format, scroll down and see below:

Registration Fee: $75.00 US
Includes: T-shirt, Cap, Backpack, Toolkit and Class Kit
Tuition: $150.00 US per Week for 6 Weeks = $900.00
Total Registration and Tuition: $975.00 US
Pay with PayPal:

https://paypal.me/srdcinternational?locale.x=en_US