Chrysalis and some entrepreneurial kids from Uganda are at it again. This time they’re using Crowdfunder seeking to raise just over $500 to host The Ugandan Village Boardgame Convention. They are hoping to raise the money to host a boardgames convention in rural Koro a remote village in Uganda with no electricity and only just recently getting a borehole for water. The kids will be providing a week’s worth of activities working with other youth organizations in the area.
If funded they will be hosting a regional competition in a locally popular game, Omweso as well as competitions in Codenames Pictures, and one of my all-time favorites, RoboRally! They’ll also have available for trying out Alhambra, Cosmic Encounter, Ingenious, and 7 Wonders.
In one of their prior Crowdfunder campaigns they raised money for a roleplaying game group and this convention will use the game mastering skills they’ve learned for a “How Deep Can You Go? – Caverns of Koro” roleplaying dungeon adventure. Using simplified rules for a Pathfinder tournament the winner will be the dungeon delver that can get the farthest in 60 minutes in the Caverns of Koro, a dungeon created by 15-year old Patrick, now a Pathfinder veteran game master.
The kids of Koro can also expect to be introduced to the “next level” in board gaming, getting experiences with Ticket to Ride, Small World, and Farkle in digital form.
Hear it from the kids themselves in this video taken from their Crowdfunding campaign
Chrysalis Youth Empowerment Network is a charitable organization based in Birmingham, UK, but operating in Uganda, supporting the development of young social entrepreneurs from remote rural and disadvantaged slum districts, utilizing the unique methodology of the Butterfly Project.
Chrysalis has been training children to be changemakers and social entrepreneurs for the last seven years and we have been using modern boardgames to train them in a whole range of skills, from social to persuasion, planning to resource management, adaptability to tactics and much more. The children have loved the theming of board and card games and have learnt about new cultures, history, food and even farming, with the wonderful Agricola game. Our experience is that the games help with their self confidence, their ability to learn and generally provide creative influence and inspiration.
Interested in how their Pathfinder campaigns have been going? Check out this thread on the Paizo forums. But first, go support this great project to bring gaming-convention fun to Koro, Uganda!
