Press Release
London Based Mother of two creates educational platform to help show children the riches and importance of Black history
Tuntimo, the new FREE online interactive educational platform focusing on Black history learning content for young children aged 5-11, officially launches today.
The platform, created by mother-of-two, Oriana Gowie, aims to be the go-to source for information on black history for families of all races, as well as a learning tool for schools and other educational facilities.
The name - a play on words, was put together to mean " the Home of Children’s Black History". Tuntum – means Black in Twi (Ghanaian) + Imo – means knowledge in Yoruba (Nigerian) = Tuntimo
With over 200 profiles, over 200 quizzes, puzzles, games and word searches and 2,000 questions to help learning, this digital space is a fun and interactive educational resource developed with a team of historians, teachers and professionals, and includes a range of fun illustrations, animations, games and quizzes for children to get involved with, on a range of topics around Black British and African history, including famous celebrities, sports stars and athletes, acclaimed authors, poets, inventors, scientists, astronauts, former kings and queens of tribes and countries and many more, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Muhammad Ali, Fredrick Douglas, and many ‘firsts’, such as Barack Obama, Mae Jemison and many more.
Young people will be able to explore, question and learn about the eternal, rich legacy of Black history, through learning narratives and activities that are developmentally appropriate, and incorporate effective teaching strategies, and that help build a strong foundation of essential concepts and skills important for early childhood learners.
Oriana Gowie, a Talent and Recruitment Manager and Cultural Expert (and named one of Harpers Bazaar's Five Black Women Shaping the Future in 2020) is a working mother of two young Black boys. With the recent "social unrest", there has been an increased focus on the issues of injustice and inequality faced by the Black community, which has prompted a renewed interest in diversity and inclusion in what is included in the UK curriculum and education, which has impacted how she wants her children to see the world, and how the world sees her children.
After the equalities minister openly condemning the teaching of critical race theory in schools, many people are no longer waiting on the Government. With this Oriana began developing an online interactive educational platform focusing on Black history learning content for young children aged 5-11, parents and schools, and be the go-to source for information on black history for families of all races, as well as schools and other educational facilities.
Oriana Gowie, creator of Tuntimo, said: “I realised that there weren’t any platforms that were made for children to learn about Black history. There were a few educational sites to teach young children about history, but none that reflected Black achievements and histories in a positive light.
I wanted to create something for my children and the children across the country, and across the world, to use and learn about themselves and their friends. With the increase of racial tensions and global pandemic meaning that parents will be homeschooling, I knew this would be the best time for parents to help educate their children on the importance of Black history, that often isn’t included in the UK curriculum. It’s important of Black children to understand the riches and heritage of their culture and that their history goes beyond what is taught at schools.”
She also highlighted the moment of inception and the struggles of creating the site:
“I came up with the idea of creating a platform for children to learn about Black history and create something that would build confidence in young children about their identity. My aim was to design something that I would have loved to have had access to growing up.
To get the site up and running has been a huge challenge due to limited resources but I have had the support of great volunteers and people that have offered their services at a discount. I have had some disappointments too which comes with any project, needless to say, I was determined to create something so you could see what is possible. We have raised over £5,000 but the costs add up as we needed coders, illustrations and admin support etc. I even learnt how to design the website and other new skills (not coding yet) to save money and to bring the vision to life.
I am delighted to say we have created a website which is now live! We have included over 200 profiles of Black people that have achieved great things. We have tried to feature people from different parts of the world with different achievements. We hope that now phase 1 is now live, we will receive more donations to create a full platform with logins and dashboards so we can add trackers and provide age-appropriate content to the user.”
Tuntimo, is the new FREE online interactive educational platform focusing on Black history learning content for young children aged 5-11, officially launched this week.
Follow and interact with Tuntimo on all social media platforms @tuntimokids on Twitter and Instagram
--- ENDS ---
NOTES TO EDITORS
Find out more at www.tuntimo.com
For additional information and press enquiries, please contact info@opalpublicity
