Kenya’s Safari Tales, an African story telling mobile application has launched on Google Play Store to help develop African digital content for children for alternative education and entertainment through mobile devices.
Speaking to TechMoran, Njeri Wangari said, “We seek to digitize, preserve and repackage African oral narratives in a fun and exciting way that African children can enjoy on mobile. We are seeking to solve literacy and access to storybooks and the increasing cost of storybooks especially in Kenya due to taxation.”
She added that the app helps in mother tongue & early childhood education. The app aims to help children learn to read best in a language they speak and understand well and because families have taken up technology and are using mobile devices a lot more, the app aims to bridge the content gap as a lot of book publishers haven’t ventured into digital books for children in Early childhood.
The mobile application for Digital African Folklore which also teaches children African Languages. Safari Tales is available and free to download in the Google Play Store. It comes pre-loaded with content in the following initial categories that are in English, Kiswahili as well as other Native African Languages. It has Folk Tales, Poems & Tongue twisters, Songs- Nursery Rhymes & Lullabies, helps users learn Kiswahili and have fun offline with a list of upcoming Kiddie events.
shortlisted among the 2014 Pivot East finalists in the Entertainment category, SafariTales features all African Folklore in one application, allows users to hear the narration as you read the story, users can also read the book in its traditional form or have an auto play like a movie, automatically reading and turning pages. It also has an in-built dictionary plus beautifully illustrated images and African Rhythms and sounds accompanying each narrative.
Wangari adds that mobile convenient, affordabile. The apps target market is private Nursery & Primary schools and parents with children between ages 3- 10 years. The firm will make money by sale of content through monthly subscriptions or purchase per title, sponsorship of stories and by offering school and library packages.
