“It was a simple enough proposition. Assume forty children from Fass are writers; assume they have something to say and guide them through the creative process.
The naysayers were many. “It won’t work.” “Their levels of French aren’t good enough.” “Yur level of French isn’t good enough.” “These are poor kids from a quartier, not elite private school students.” Still, my faith in the project, in the forty children before me, was undeterred. There were writers amongst them, I knew.”- Karima Grant Abbott
This the kind of faith in the competencies of all, particularly African children that led Executive Director Karima Grant Abbott to host a joyous children’s book publishing party with these 40 young authors and illustrators, and their proud parents, at Douta Seck, a well-known cultural center in Dakar, Senegal.
Karima’s vision of focusing on children’s play and leadership strengths has expanded beyond her initial book project in the small neighborhood of Fass. The published author and organizational consultant has now founded the project of her life, ImagiNation Afrika, Africa’s first children’s museum in Dakar.
Through ImagiNation Afrika, children in schools across theWest African nation’s capital have recently learned about the intersection of mathematics and art through the creation of a forest of Sierpinksi Triangles for IA’s first exhibition, Union Fait le Beau, held in December 2011 and now touring throughout Dakar. Children ranging from elementary to middle school age created the 300- triangle exhibit in time for the holidays. With bursting pride, they can now show friends and family the ongoing installation at the Institute Leopold Sedar Senghor (French Cultural Center) in the center of the city. Soon, the museum’s young co-founders will see their work “moving” and building through regions outside of Dakar.
Grant-Abbott has taken little time to rest after significant local travel with her mobile exhibit team. She is now ramping up for the hundreds more children who will be part of IA’s March 2012 exhibit: Hide and Seek. In this fractal-based exhibit, hands-on activities connecting fractal concepts, African village and city design, Senegalese culture, scientific experiments, artist-led math workshops and mythical themes will be the point of new play and interdisciplinary learning exchanges between local artists and children.
Though the project prepares to serve this significant number of children and many more in the future, Grant Abbott’s approach is far from a numbers-and-statistics-only endeavor.
“This project is all about my faith in the possibility of creative processes practical contribution to development, my wonder and trust in children, and my passion for Africa. IA has gifted me in return with a vision so powerful, it humbles and strengthens me all at once,” she explains.
Grant-Abbott’s relationship to her community and programs in Senegal are extensive.
“My roots in Senegal run deep. My mother, my primary role model, is Senegalese and I have been visiting and living between Senegal and the United States (among other places) since I was a very young child. I and my family have been living here for almost ten years now and as much as Africa continues to gift me (and the world), I owe on the very real challenge of development,” she says.
The leader’s approach to country development has included intent collaborations with the communities she has lived in and worked with for the past decade.
This vision of development includes a one-year plan to launch “amazing local mobile exhibits” developed with international partners. Her approach uses play as “fundamental” to leadership and learning, and within the year, she aims to promote the adoption of this idea by three schools in Dakar and three in regions outside of the capital.
“In 5 years, [I envision] a physical site (or two) as the base for a continent’s worth of activities supporting learning and leadership,” she continues, with the relentless faith she had while working with her forty young authors and illustrators in Fass.
And, not surprisingly, Grant Abbott’s ten-year plan for the ImagiNation Afrika movement will encompass thousands of neighborhoods across the continent:
“IA projects, museums, and mobile exhibitions expanding in at least 25 countries in Africa [in addition to] a global community of over 1,000,000 members.”
While initiating what she sees as a long-overdue network of museums, creative learning spaces, intellectual exploration zones, teacher education resources, and an increase in places to play, Grant Abbott is equally a highly regarded educator and organizational leadership consultant, not to mention, mother of three vibrant and curious children. She and her husband currently live in the Yoff neighborhood of Dakar.
To learn more about ImagiNation Afrika, please contact Karima Grant Abbott at imaginationafrika@gmail.com, visit our website at www.imaginationafrika.com, like us on Facebook and follow our Twitter feeds.
Imagining Africa: ImagiNation Afrika Connects 