• Tonga Culture

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    36

  • Uncategorised

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    2

  • Project

    'In the 21st Century, the capacity to communicate will almost certainly be a key human right.'
    Nelson Mandela

    Since its launch in 2001, the Tonga.Online Project has focused attention on promoting a Tonga voice over the Internet. The aim is to provide people in the Tonga area of Zimbabwe and across the Zambezi River in Zambia with access to the world’s most advanced communication tools, so that they may represent themselves to the outside world and reflect upon the social, political and economic environment of both the global and local village in which the Tonga live.

    The project derives its domain name, Mulonga (meaning River), from the local Tonga language. The name reflects the history and needs of the Tonga people. On one level, the Zambezi River, also known as Mulonga, has become a symbol that tells a modern story of the development of massive but unshared technology – the construction of Kariba Dam on Tonga homeland. Mulonga constantly revokes memories of how the Tonga people were displaced, nearly 50 years ago, to make way for the building of this dam. Yet, even today, they are still bypassed by the huge commercial benefits from tourism and electricity that now derive >from their former habitat, an environment which has transformed into the vast expanse of water known as Lake Kariba.

    On another level, the constant flow of the Zambezi is a symbol of continuity which, today, represents the needs of the Tonga people both to communicate amongst themselves and with others, and to preserve and develop their rich cultural heritage. The Tonga.Online Project seeks to establish and expand communication infrastructure with and amongst the Tonga by joining them with modern information and communication technology (ICT). A number of school-based telecenters - or Information Technology Centers ITCs - have so far been established and these already cater for the larger community, with more schools having been earmarked for development – even across the lake.

    Access to information has become a crucial question of political rights; hence the importance of this project as a tool to spearhead consciousness, continuity, empowerment and local development amongst the Tonga people. The educational potential of the Tonga.Online Project is limitless especially for those in this remote part of the country where no institutions of higher academic learning exist.

    The project does also reflect the digital divide and other uneven development in the 'global village'. Those gaps and imbalances are not only a question of access to resources but also of the capacity to use these modern communication tools. In a world where access to information has become a universal human right, the Tonga.Online Project lends support to higher levels of human development.  
     
    The project has been initiated by Kunzwana Trust and Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association AZFA with support from HORIZONT3000, HIVOS, WorLD Links, AlphaSmart UK, HMH Kunstereignisse, Upper Austrian Provincial Government, Ars Electronica and Austrian Development Cooperation.


    The bonds of friendship between people in Austria and Zimbabwe are reaching back to the seventies. By then the anti-colonial struggle as an expression of popular demand for political and social liberation was at its peak not only in Southern Africa and an inspiration for the democratic and social movements all over Europe.

    Since the Zimbabwe tour of Austrian musicians Attwenger in 1993 the focus of attention and activities has expanded substantially into the field of cultural exchange. Subsequently a series of projects involving artists from both sides was undertaken in close collaboration with various artists and other partner.

    A first culmination of this exchange programme was the encounter with Tonga culture from 1995 onwards, which saw a number of Austrian artists i.e. from Wiener Tschuschenkapelle or Stadtwerkstatt Linz visiting the area. In 1997 a project of six contemporary composers reflecting on the unique Tonga Ngoma Buntibe Tonkunst was launched. And a group of 30 members of Simonga >from Siachilaba village participated in the "Festival der Regionen" in Upper Austria province crossing the Dead Mountains / Totes Gebirge under the theme "Kunst.Über.Leben".

    Now, with modern ICT more tools should be at hand and applied to promote Tonga culture, livelihood and local development along the great River Mulonga.

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    • Awards

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      5

    • Project News

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      42

    • Mission

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      3

    • Partners

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    • People

      Project Contact

      Binga / Zimbabwe contact:
      Richard Simango
      office Tel ++263-15-573
      Binga ITC (330)
      This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

      Harare / Zimbabwe contact:
      Penny Yon
      This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

      Linz / Austria contact:
      Peter Kuthan
      Tel ++43-732-700327
      This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


      The project has been initiated by Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association(AZFA) based in Linz, Austria and Kunzwana Trust, based in Harare in close cooperation with HORIZONT3000 in Vienna and Harare.

      The website www.mulonga.net has been originally designed by Austrian artists Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber. The redesign, introduction of content management system and webadministration has been done by Stefan Kuthan.

      We are very grateful for contributions to the Tonga.Online project by: Uwe Allgäuer, Marianne Andersen, Peter Androsch, Hannes Atzinger, Sabine Bitter, Gary Brooking, Overson Chiyaka, Chief Siachilaba, Chief Sinazongwe, Melissa Coleman, Elizabeth F. Colson, Calvin Dondo, C. Dube, Dumisani Dube, Bert Estl, Dirk Foch, Eliada Gudza, Ish Hassen, Stefan Hecke, Sandra Hochholzer, Klaus Hollinetz, Siphiwe Hombarume, Anna + Hedi + Stefan Kuthan, Ingo Lantschner, Otto Lechner, Hubertus von Lindeiner, Christoph Lindenmaier, Dominique + Toni Mair, Dr. S.B.Mangena, Elizabeth Markham, Gladies + Saviour Miyanda, Stanford Muchineripi, M. Mudenda, Jonah Munalula, Clement Mungombe, David Mungombe, Peter Mungombe, Emelda Munkombwe, Jossam Munkuli, Dominic Muntanga, Justin Mupinda, Pottar Muzamba, Patrick Mwemba, Sengamo Ndlovu, M. Nyoni, Michael Pilz, Karl Ritter, Theophora Sianyuka, Noty Sianyuka, Blessmore Z. Siasweka, Werner Puntigam, Thomas Schneider, Richard Simango, Elisabeth Thomsen, Barbara Vitoria, Carsten Wagner, Kevin Wakley, Helmut Weber, Penny Yon, Simba Zwangobani and others.

      Keith Goddard on behalf of Kunzwana Trust.
      Peter Kuthan on behalf of AZFA.

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  • IT Centers

    Information Technology Centers ITCs or so called Telecenters

    In 2000, World Links introduced its Telecenter model to encourage school lab sustainability while promoting community development. World Links openned telecenters in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mali, India, and Brazil. Though different in every country, the typical World Links model is an important source of local-level program sustainability to underwrite recurrent costs associated with the technology and to improve community-school relations. Equally important, this model extends the benefits of technology, the internet and life-long learning to the entire community for a wide range of development applications.

    World Links telecenters are either school-based computer labs or community centers that are converted into telecenters for the purpose of introducing ICT skills and IT-enabled resources to underserved communities, with the intent of enabling adults and youth to participate successfully in the global knowledge-based economy. To that end, World Links empowers both the school and general communities to convert school-based computer labs or community centers to self-sustaining community-accessible technology learning centers. Increasingly, World Links has been introducing its telecenter model to non-school structures, including government offices, community centers, and NGO offices.

    While every World Links Telecenter is different, all World Links Telecenters focus on capacity building for several population segments, within and outside the school. At the school level, World Links builds capacity in principals, teachers, and students to manage the day-to-day operations of the school-based telecenter; this facilitates the building of entrepreneurial skills. Outside the school, the telecenters focus on introducing ICTs and IT enabled resources to underserved populations. To that end, World Links telecenters have provided communities with access to information on health, environment, and agricultural issues, while creating a safe, secure, and inviting environment for under-reached populations such as out of school youth, women, and senior citizens to acquire IT skills.

    A World Links Telecenter is a combination of a computer lab and a private Internet cafe. Whereas a computer lab’s purpose is pedagogy, and an Internet cafe's purpose is profit for sustainability, a World Links Telecenter seeks to fulfill both pedagogy and sustainability. At no point, however, will the quest for profits ever overpower the desire to diffuse technological knowledge. The profit-seeking nature of a World Links Telecenter exists solely to further its educational mission.

    Sustainability of World Links’ telecenter programs is achieved in several ways. While some World Links telecenters achieve sustainability through guaranteed government support for all recurrent expenses, other centers develop solid revenue generation models to support ongoing costs. In all instances, World Links works closely with key stakeholders to ensure that expenses are being met in the long term.

    The Tonga.Online Project has been collaborating with World Links since early 2001 in the establishment of ITCs at Binga Highschool, Siansundu Secondary and Siachilaba Primary School in Binga area in Matabeleland North. After the donation of computers by President Mugabe to some other schools in the district there is potential to expand the network of ITCs further and to reach out to even remote communities. In 2006 the first ITC across the lake on the Zambian side of the Zambezi Valley at Sinazongwe Basic School was established.

    Map of the area

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    • Siabuwa

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      3

    • Binga Library - PAP

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    • Sinazongwe

      Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association, Kunzwana Trust, Horizont3000 and the Tonga.Online team are very proud to announce a major step forward in the extension of Tonga.online project: Ziliikuchitika, it's happening in Sinazongwe across the river - Mulonga. The establishment of Sinazongwe ITC at Sinazongwe Basic School, Zambia has been completed. Five years after the start of the project in Binga, the network has now definitely reached the Zambian side of the Valley. What an occasion to celebrate together with the #50 edition of Tonga.Online newsletter!

      Previously, Tonga.Online trainer Theo Sianyuka made a wide reach with project awareness campaigning in Sinazongwe and Mweemba communities of the valley, Mamba Secondary School and other schools, with the support of the Honorable Chief Sinazongwe and Mr and Mrs Miyanda. The computer technician attached to Binga High School by Horizont3000, Uwe Allgäuer, has joined hands with Gary Brooking from Arachnid Design in Bulawayo and traveled to Zambia, successfully installing 15 computers at Sinazongwe Basic School.

      Gary wrote: "The installation went well. Connectivity and communications are a big issue there. But apart from that there is a lot of support and enthusiasm for the Project. Theo has been very well received and she is a great ambassador for the project. The Ubuntu and Open Office I am sure will be a great success and a model for many other schools to come".
      The photos documenting the installation of the computers are already online. Thanks to Uwe and Tenashi for the pictures.
      The IT Centre is expected to be operational by 3rd March 2006. The official opening of Sinazongwe ITC with lots of Ngoma Buntibe and Budima dance and music at another Mulonga.Net Festival is scheduled for the beginning of September.

      "I feel there is a call from down under the lake waters for the BaTonga people of the valley on both sides to remain united, sharing the same development and catching up with the world" said Binga coordinator David Mungombe.
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    • Siansundu

      SYANZYUNDU SECONDARY SCHOOL
      P BAG 5714
      BINGA
      ZIMBABWE
      The school was established in 1985 as a central point to ten primary feeder schools, and is located at a growth point along the Bulawayo-Binga road. It is the second school together with Siachilaba primary to be offered and offering centre in Binga district.
      SERVICES OFFERED
      • Training
      • Typing
      • Printing
      • Internet and e-mail
      • Games
      The Siansundu ITC Staff comprises the following:
      ELIA ELIYA MUTALE: Diploma in education
      FRANCIS MUNGA : Diploma in education
      TUSWANANE NOTYGYRAH SIANYUKA: Student on Attachment / IT
      LACKSON SIAGUNYU CHUMA: Diploma in education
      Mission
      To facilitate a just allocation of, and access to development resources and development practices, access to training and education, strengthening of the Tonga on line programme through grass roots institutional development.
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    • Siachilaba

      Siachilaba Primary School, Private Bag 5712, Binga, Zimbabwe
      Headmaster: Emmanuel Sinampande
      This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
      Teachers i/c ITC: Mildred Cheteni & Norman Mudimba
      The Siachilaba community has enjoyed a close working relationship and rich cultural exchange with the Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association (Austria) and Kunzwana Trust (Harare) for over 10 years, which included 'The Nyaminyami Festival - A celebration of Valley Tonga Culture' in 1997.The Tonga.Online project is one of the outcomes of this valuable exchange. The Siachilaba ITC was established in May 2004, after electricity was made available by the ZESA Rural Electrification Agency. Five computers are networked and access is offered to all people of the community, regardless of race, age, gender, tribal background or religious or political affiliation.
      Siachilaba Primary School welcomed electricity for the first time on Tuesday 04 May 2004, after 47 years. The BaTonga people of Binga are descended from those who were forcibly removed from their traditional homes and fertile riverside fields in the 1950s, to make way for the filling of Kariba Dam.
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    • ITC General + Stakeholder Updates

      Information Technology Centers ITCs or so called Telecenters

      In 2000, World Links introduced its Telecenter model to encourage school lab sustainability while promoting community development. World Links openned telecenters in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mali, India, and Brazil. Though different in every country, the typical World Links model is an important source of local-level program sustainability to underwrite recurrent costs associated with the technology and to improve community-school relations. Equally important, this model extends the benefits of technology, the internet and life-long learning to the entire community for a wide range of development applications.

      World Links telecenters are either school-based computer labs or community centers that are converted into telecenters for the purpose of introducing ICT skills and IT-enabled resources to underserved communities, with the intent of enabling adults and youth to participate successfully in the global knowledge-based economy. To that end, World Links empowers both the school and general communities to convert school-based computer labs or community centers to self-sustaining community-accessible technology learning centers. Increasingly, World Links has been introducing its telecenter model to non-school structures, including government offices, community centers, and NGO offices.

      While every World Links Telecenter is different, all World Links Telecenters focus on capacity building for several population segments, within and outside the school. At the school level, World Links builds capacity in principals, teachers, and students to manage the day-to-day operations of the school-based telecenter; this facilitates the building of entrepreneurial skills. Outside the school, the telecenters focus on introducing ICTs and IT enabled resources to underserved populations. To that end, World Links telecenters have provided communities with access to information on health, environment, and agricultural issues, while creating a safe, secure, and inviting environment for under-reached populations such as out of school youth, women, and senior citizens to acquire IT skills.

      A World Links Telecenter is a combination of a computer lab and a private Internet cafe. Whereas a computer lab’s purpose is pedagogy, and an Internet cafe's purpose is profit for sustainability, a World Links Telecenter seeks to fulfill both pedagogy and sustainability. At no point, however, will the quest for profits ever overpower the desire to diffuse technological knowledge. The profit-seeking nature of a World Links Telecenter exists solely to further its educational mission.

      Sustainability of World Links’ telecenter programs is achieved in several ways. While some World Links telecenters achieve sustainability through guaranteed government support for all recurrent expenses, other centers develop solid revenue generation models to support ongoing costs. In all instances, World Links works closely with key stakeholders to ensure that expenses are being met in the long term.

      The Tonga.Online Project has been collaborating with World Links since early 2001 in the establishment of ITCs at Binga Highschool, Siansundu Secondary and Siachilaba Primary School in Binga area in Matabeleland North. After the donation of computers by President Mugabe to some other schools in the district there is potential to expand the network of ITCs further and to reach out to even remote communities. In 2006 the first ITC across the lake on the Zambian side of the Zambezi Valley at Sinazongwe Basic School was established.

      Map of the area

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    • Recording Studio

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      6

    • Binga Secondary

      Binga High School, Private Bag 5722, Binga, Zimbabwe
      Tel: (015-358)
      This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

      Headmaster: Similo Ncube
      Teachers i/c ITC: Blessmore Zele Siasweka and Stanford Muchineripi

      Objectives/Mission Statement

      To offer enhanced education and improved quality of life for the Binga community through access to information and communications via computers and the Internet.

      Services Offered

      • Computer use
      • Access to Internet
      • Training courses
      • Printing
      • Typing and design service
      • music recording
      • scanning

      Background Information

      The Binga community has enjoyed a close working relationship with the Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association (Austria) and Kunzwana Trust (Harare)since 1999.The Tonga.Online project is one of the outcomes of cultural exchange activities over the last ten years. The Binga ITC was established in February 2001, officially opened by the Minister of Information Professor Jonathan Moyo. and enjoys the support and custom of a wide cross section of the Binga community, from teachers and students to fishermen and doctors. Binga ITC are proud to have given Introduction to Computers training to over 400 individuals to date.
      Fifteen computers are networked together with a scanner and printer, and access is offered to all people of the community, regardless of race, age, gender, tribal background or religious or political affiliation.

      The Binga Studio at the Binga ITC was established with a donation of hardware and software from AZFA and the Austrian jazz group Windhund, who visited in 2002 and generated a lot of attention for the project and rich cultural exchange for all musicians involved, in Victoria Falls, Binga, Siachilaba, Bulawayo and Harare. The aim of the studio is to offer the opportunity for recording and documentation of traditional music styles which are in danger of disappearing, and encouraging young Tonga musicians the opportunity to develop in line with their urban counterparts.

      Donors, Partners & Stakeholders

      The Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association source and procure hardware and software for the project. They also provided funding for the refurbishment of the classroom, electrical fittings, security, installation of computers, networking and training. Kunzwana Trust are the local coordinator on behalf of AZFA.

      Partners of the Binga ITC through the Tonga.Online project, are

      * World Links for Development - technical support and teachers
      * Horizont3000 - technical support
      * Arachnid Holdings - installations and networking


      Major stakeholders include local authorities, teachers, students, community craftspeople, musicians, traders and fishermen.
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  • Media

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  • Cultural Exchange

    Cultural exchange has the potential to contribute to mutual understanding and tolerance, to strengthen diversity of opinion and to promote debate on socially relevant topics.  It helps to move away from the clichees of poverty and wealth to adress the root causes of imbalanced access to resources and social injustice. Cultural exchange is inspiring friendship and solidarity amongst people thus encouraging forces which are able to confront these problems as global challenges. It helps to create alternative structures and networks in civil society and facilitates participation in political life. It releases creative energy and triggers fresh stimuli in local and international art work and development cooperation.
    more...

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    • Current Events

      Current activities and events, press coverage, workshops...

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    • ABC

      The co-operation between Binga Crafts Centre and ABC (Auhof Basket Company), HAK Auhof School in Linz, Austria has gone online by establishing special websites. The students in Linz are commited to promote the marketing of Tonga baskets.

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    • Simonga

      The ngoma buntibe group at Siachilaba takes its name from the composer (mwimbi), called Simonga, who fled with his relatives from fighting chiefs in Zambia to Siachilaba sometime towards the beginning of this century. He was the grandfather of Sialwindi Munkuli, the present leader of Simonga and the keeper of the horns in central Siachilaba today.

      In 1994, Simonga presented a performance of Valley Tonga buntibe music as part of a Festival Trail, the last segment of the Houses of Stone Festival organised by KUNZWANA Trust. In 1995, a similar event took place as part of a cultural safari organised by members of the Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association in Linz, Austria in conjunction with KUNZWANA.

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    • Soundbridge

      An ambitious "sound bridge" provided for a connection between the festivals in remote Zimbabwe and in Linz / Austria. Recordings made by Karl Ritter at Mulonga.net Festival on Saturday were taken by Gary Brooking on Sunday morning to Bulawayo and uploaded there to Austria via Internet. In Linz, accordionist Otto Lechner, another Windhund musician, responded to these sound files and loops with his own reflections on Sunday evening at the „sound park“ along the river Danube in Linz. This performance was again livestreamed to the world via Internet radio station emap.fm in Austria.

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    • Parade Linz09

      Linz, an Austrian City, will be the European Capital of Culture for the year 2009. This means that the whole of Europe, for the whole of 2009 will be focusing on Linz for cultural activities and artistic displays from all over the world.

       This was seen as an opportunity to expose the Tonga Culture, and what better way than to have one Ngoma Buntibe group representing the BaTonga from both sides of the Lake: symbolising the oneness in culture, though separated by International borders and huge waters.

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    • Ars Electronica 2002

      Tonga.Online project has been recognised with a "honorary mention" in the Net Excellence category and is invited to take part at the Ars Electronica Festival from 7-12 September 2002 in Linz. This will provide for a platform of reflection and interactive communication for the project and will contribute to raise attention and support for the Tonga community.

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    • Landesmuseum, Linz

       Exhibition "Tracing the Rainbow" about life, arts and culture in Southern Africa at the State Museum of Upper Austria province in Linz. Last year, Director Peter Assmann and Curator Stefan Eisenhofer invited us to present some results of our cultural exchange programme between Linz / Austria and the Tonga area. This invitation sparked the idea for the TONGA.ONLINE project as a way to communicate with the Tonga community directly.Part of the exhibition is a TONGA.ONLINE Project Room where visitors of the exhibition have an opportunity to get immediate access to Tonga people and Tonga culture using the Internet as a tool for communication.

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    • Windhund Tour News

      The Windhund Tour of Zimbabwe took place from 4-16 September 2002. They travelled to and performed at Victoria Falls (informal), Siachilaba, Binga, Bulawayo and Harare. Throughout their tour they shared their stage with Zimbabwean musicians, including the traditional Tonga group Simonga, Binga High School Choir and Drama groups, the afro-jazz group Submarine in Bulawayo, Shona mbira artist Ms Sonnie Chikoka in Harare, and many African jazz artists at the African Banking Corporation Jazz Festival in Harare, the final performance of their tour.

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    • Virginia Mukwesha

       In autumn 2002, ARGEZIM (Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association) invited the Austrian musician Otto Lechner and his "Windhund" group to visit the Tonga and promote the Tonga.Online project in Zimbabwe. This time, the "Windhund Zimbabwe Rewind" programme will span from samples of music from their Zimbabwe tour to another reflection of Tonga music. They will be joined by Virginia Mukwesha and her Mbira-Trio, who are quite popular for their fusion of traditional and contemporary music styles.

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    • Thomas Mapfumo

      Windhundrecords proudly presents The Lion of Chimurenga Music and Chimurenga Rebel Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited for another WINDHUND ZIMBABWE REWIND: a reflection on Tonga Ngoma Buntibe music and promotion of the Tonga.Online project. The event is also celebrating the actual extension to Sianzyundu and Siachilaba and the Award of Distinction won at Prix Ars Electronica 2004.

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    • Ars Electronica 2004

      The Tonga.Online project - an offspring of the cultural exchange between Austria and Zimbabwe - received an Award of Distinction from the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica 2004, in the category "Digital Communities". The award was handed over by Austrian State Secretary for the Arts and Media Franz Morak in New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion on 23 June 2004 in conjunction with the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit.

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