Binga

The TONGA.ONLINE project in Binga district / Zimbabwe + Sinazongwe district / Zambia

For the Tonga people like me, there is something deeply biblical about the word MULONGA, yet it is a modern story too. One of massive but unshared technology. One of plentiful water but perpetual drought." (Dominic Muntanga)

 

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 the Tonga 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 today.


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, 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.

Time's Up heading Down South

In April/May 2014 we will have a team of young artists from Time's Up in Linz on board travelling the Tonga area on both sides of the River. They are very much interested to explore Binga, Harare and Joburg for future artistic collaborations. This helps us to widen the scope of attention for Kunzwana and for Tonga and ZIM cultures here in Austria. It should feed perfectly into the Kunzwana endeavour to transform cultural heritage into some resource and search base for common ground and relevant art production of future generations.

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