Trapped in a Refugee Camp but Flying into Space - The Sky is No Longer the Limit for 'Moja Kids'

4/5/2023

Using green screen technology and video communication, refugee children confined to cramped border camps in Bangladesh are able to express their ideas in any environment they can imagine and connect with friends in other countries.

2 mins read time

Rohingya children in Bangladesh have been shut away in refugee camps for years. With restrictions on internet use, they are cut off from opportunities to connect beyond the barbed wire fences that surround Kutupalong camp, and have little means to experience the outside world.

This all changed through the introduction of digital lessons, and the children’s very own online newsletter, called 'Moja Kids’.

Children record their news, talents, thoughts and experiences, and every weekly episode is beamed to peers in schools outside the camps, both in wider Bangladesh, and internationally, who connect by recording their own contributions.

These fun-packed productions have been airing to thousands of children since 2019, creating great elation from the children and fast becoming their ‘favourite things about school’.

This year, their excitement has grown tenfold, as the technology used in four green screen studios across the programme now enables children to experience adventures like flying in spaceships to explore the planets or even riding a broomstick to home villages in Myanmar, which they miss so much.

Rohingya child is on a broom flying over lush green landscape, created in a green room

Children can film themselves doing anything they like, including flying on broomsticks to their home villages in Myanmar

WATCH A QUICK TRAILER TO SEE MOJA KIDS IN ACTION

The goal of Moja Kids is to provide children with a blank canvas so that they can express themselves in any way that they choose, and with new translators, artists and technicians in place, the children cannot wait to put any idea they can dream up into reality.

The introduction of new friends in India has been swiftly followed by video contributions from three Child Rights Clubs in Uganda, who shared footage of their villages, and examples of local crafts and talents. This coming year, new international connections are waiting in the wings, excited to join the Moja Kids programme and share experiences from their communities.

Boy from Uganda is talking to the camera against the backdrop of a red building

Children from Child Rights Clubs in Uganda are joining in creating their own 'Moja Kids' videos

New to the programme are short cartoons in the Rohingya language, produced by our digital team using animation software, to share important messages about health, safety and human rights. Children have also loved the addition of brightly coloured puppets, who share weekly stories and life lessons.

Red puppet against the backdrop of a red theatre stage

“For most of the students we work with, these translated videos are the only content they have ever encountered in their own language, and their response to finally having media they can fully comprehend has been one of profound excitement.”

(JOHN LITTLETON - ASIA REGIONAL MANAGER)

With the endless possibilities of new friends and a new digital world at their feet, we’re excited to see what kind of new creations Moja Kids bring into being this year.

Visit the Moja Kids website to see these exciting productions for yourself or, if you're short of time, watch a quick trailer of their no.66 episode.