In Namibia, the San people, Africa's most ancient tribe, are harnessing the power of virtual reality to collaboratively design an experience that comes across as a video game but serves to preserve their dying culture.
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00:00 (children cheering)
00:03 The Sand People are the oldest traceable tribe in Africa,
00:07 whose roots go back 20,000 years ago.
00:09 In the remote village of Donkobo, somewhere in Namibia,
00:14 the Sand People are using VR to co-create video games.
00:17 - When I enter it, I was a little bit scared
00:22 of the buildings and the ones of the cool hunting section,
00:28 because when you shoot an animal,
00:30 it comes as it pounce on you,
00:32 then it runs by your side.
00:35 It feels like it's a real thing.
00:37 - The local Sand People work together
00:40 with a group of researchers and designers
00:42 to develop VR games to preserve their knowledge
00:45 and wisdom for future generations to come.
00:48 The Donkobos Project is a collaboration
00:50 between Namibia University of Science and Technology
00:54 and Aalborg University in Denmark.
00:58 - I think the most exciting with emerging technology
01:01 is that you can actually capture experience,
01:04 a full embodied experience.
01:07 And I think so the most exciting has been
01:10 to retell a story that was told orally by an elder.
01:15 - When I tested VR for the first time,
01:19 I was not scared of it.
01:20 I got to experience hunting for the first time
01:24 because as women, we were not allowed to go hunting.
01:28 (speaking in foreign language)
01:30 - The co-design process takes into account
01:32 what gestures the Sand Community used
01:34 to interact with the VR.
01:36 This then becomes the basis
01:38 of developing an interaction system
01:40 that is authentically their own.
01:42 - Co-design for me is a respectful way of working together
01:47 because you appreciate that there are other people
01:49 that know something you don't.
01:51 And so what I bring is a technical understanding
01:53 and what they bring is, you know,
01:56 what does it mean down here if you wanna capture something
01:59 like indigenous knowledge or cultural heritage.
02:02 - There are estimated to be about 30,000 sand in Namibia,
02:07 belonging to the Hiram, Johan Sea and the Kwe subgroups.
02:12 And since colonial times,
02:13 they've been pushed off the traditional lands.
02:15 Sand have the lowest average incomes and life expectancy.
02:19 With the Dongobas VR project,
02:21 the Sand people have an opportunity to preserve
02:24 and share the traditional living experience.
02:26 Following the success in Dongobas,
02:29 the team is now looking to explore the possibilities of VR
02:33 with other indigenous groups.
02:34 And this is how the indigenous tribes in Namibia
02:38 are preparing themselves for the future.
02:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]