New cartoon series to boost learning in Rwanda

The Know Zone is Rwanda’s first locally produced cartoon series – an educational cartoon created entirely by local artists and animators. “It is one of its kind, the first in Rwanda and I was happy to have worked on it,” said Timothy Wandulu, an artist who helped illustrate the programme. The series started four years ago in Nairobi as an educational show for Kenyan youth. The Mediae Company that produced the show decided to bring the programme to Rwanda. Know Zone Rwanda is aimed at improving the English, math and science skills of children. The one hour program is comprised of five to six shorter segments which include spelling lessons, educational games and an animated story at the end of the hour. Its target audience is 11 and 12-year old children. The Mediae Company employed Rwandan artists and animators to create the animated stories. “What they really wanted to do was to produce the show here in Kigali, the entire show,” said Christopher Marler, the director of the Africa Digital Media Academy in a recent ADMA film. Artists from Inema Arts Center and Ivuka Arts as well as animators from ADMA were involved in the process of animating the 13 episode pilot series. Artists were presented with a storyboard and an asset list, or an inventory of objects that needed illustration. Their task was to bring these characters to life. “I was given stories written in text,” Wandulu explained. “My creative process was comprehending what the story was and painting it in my own style.” The paintings were then digitized and pieced together by Rwandan students from ADMA to create the animations for the series. The Know Zone is hopefully one of many projects that will expand the arts and digital media industry of Rwanda. “What we’re showing is that if somebody else wants to make a cartoon like this, they don’t have to go to Nairobi or South Africa, they can actually do it here in Rwanda,” Marler said. The Rwandan government has only recently turned to art as an industry with the potential to promote economic growth. In January of last year, the Workforce Development Authority and Rwanda Arts Initiative joined forces to promote the expansion of the arts sector.