Virtual Africa

August 22, 2007

Many years ago a group of musicians got together and in the name of social justice, put on a world-wide concert called Live Aid. It was aimed at alleviating famine in Ethiopia.

Sadly, little has changed on the continent of Africa when it comes to the tribulations that befall it. There’s a very real attempt to create an SL presence that has as one of its primary goals, the linking between a South African based social justice organsiation and the virtual world.

Uthango Social Investments has created an offshoot blog site called Africa’s 2nd Life, our Virtual Reality, which is the information and news centre for Virtual Africa.

A look at the Uthango website shows this endeavour is aimed at developing projects that “are dynamic and innovative and focus on bridging the digital divide, micro-enterprise development, intercultural dialogue, crime prevention, community mental health and most importantly, infrastructure development.”

The SL Africa is a work in progress and it will be revealing to see how it can be used to help develop solutions to the problems and challenges being faced by the many countries that make up that continent.

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Written by Graham Sabre · Filed Under General News, Landmarks of note

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Alanagh Recreant 1 year ago 1 point
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Thank you very much for the publicity to our project. We are often asked what on earth we are doing in a virtual platform, when there is SO MUCH that needs to be done in our real (first world). Our answer has simply become: EXACTLY, for that reason - there is so much to be done, that we need to use the most creative and integrated solutions to solve complex global problems.

Certainly, don't we have more to loose if we DON'T participate in a global internet revolution of participatory media and immersive experience?

We look forward to use the collaborative and innovative spirit of SL to solve challenges in sustainable ways. It may interest some SL residents to know that (in principle) we only accept support from any individual/company in SL if they can relate to us in our real life projects in african communities...

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http://slafrica.wordpress.com/