Lifestyle/Culture
Africa's Hit Science Show for Kids is Coming to the U.S. via The Africa Channel By Amy Fallon
LORRAINE OLOLIA IS 10. She lives in Kampala, Uganda. And she recently came up with a new career goal. A TV show about science, produced by teachers from her junior high school, has inspired her. She's watched an episode on computer programming, another where two young explorers visit her country's Lake Victoria to talk about wetlands and learned how to make a model of a digestive tract at home using bowls, crackers, water, food coloring, bananas and oranges. She's even appeared on the show, making and launching a rocket with her friend Samantha. And now she wants to pursue a career in science. "It's boys who do all the fun stuff and sometimes a girl like me gets a little left out," she says. "But girls can be scientists and go to the moon." The show is called N*Gen (pronounced "engine), or Next Generation Television. N*Gen first aired on Ugandan TV in September — and since then, the show, which features a dozen 35-minute episodes, has been picked up by TV networks in more than half a dozen African
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countries. On Feb. 6, it will debut in North America and the Caribbean on The Africa Channel (https:// theafricachannel.com), airing every Saturday and Sunday at 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. ET. N*Gen is the brainchild of six teachers from Clarke Junior School in Kampala and East African nonprofit Peripheral Vision International (www. pvinternational.org), which funds and produces it. "Choosing a science focus for N*Gen is an absolute necessity because not only is it a neglected area, it is considered one of the hard subjects [for many students]," says Joy Kiano, a teacher who has a Ph.D. in both biochemistry and molecular biology and is a consultant with Peripheral Vision International. The show, targeting children ages 8 to 12, looks at science through an African lens. Weekly episodes are filmed in a studio in Kampala and sometimes on location (visiting a chocolate factory for an episode about food, for example). Kiano says it was important to feature African women in science. Some male teachers appear
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