A very special Zoom meeting

Today

was

a

special

day

in

our

kindergarten

and

in

the

forest

kindergarten

in

Freudenstadt,

Germany.

The

Zoom

technology

made

it

possible

for

the

children

from

both

countries to take turns singing songs for each other.

The

original

idea

was

that

photos

are

taken

while

the

children

in

both

countries

are

singing

and

these

pictures

would

be

placed

on

the

websites.

During

the

discussion

about

location,

time

schedule

and

which

songs,

a

new

thought

sprung

up

that

it

would

be

really

cool

for

the

children if they could see each other while singing.

The

pre-school

teacher

Petra,

who

lives

alternately

in

Namibia

and

Germany,

works

in

both

institutions.

She

and

her

travel-loving

friend

Ludwig

the

Fox

(hand

puppet)

showed

the

children

in

both

countries

pictures

and

gave

them

some

information from the respective other country.

Now

to

see

and

hear

the

"other

side"

was

a

great

experience

for

everyone

involved!

After

the

welcome,

the

children

took

turns

singing

the

songs

they had practiced diligently in the last few weeks.

The

children

in

Windhoek

were

wide-eyed

by

the

thick

snowballs

they

were

shown.

The

children

in

Freudenstadt

were

amazed

that

it

is

so

warm

in

Windhoek

that

'only'

long

trousers

and

T-shirts

or

sweaters are sufficient.

It

was

a

lot

of

fun

for

everyone,

educators

and

children

and

we

hope

that

many

questions

and

conversations

will arise from the experience.

Children

are

interested

in

the

world

in

which

they

live

and

other

cultures

are

part

of

it.

Cultural

diversity

was

celebrated

through

the

commonality

of

singing.

And

perhaps

inspired

one

or

the

other

to

find

out

more

about

the now no longer so foreign culture.