What will be the result of bringing together cultures that have preserved their memory, languages and traditions in spite of repression and poverty?

Thanks to Rising Voices, enthusiastic youth and volunteers are discovering new media and sharing their stories with the world.

2008 is The Year of the Preservation of Endangered Languages, as proclaimed by UNESCO, and projects such as Global Voices are changing the approach of how to reach those who are marginalised from the media, by bringing old languages to the web in a context where you can also meet people in the environments in which they live.

As an example, you can see the amazing work done by Voces Bolivianas. They won a small grant to encourage bloggers from marginal areas from Bolivia, and now they can show the world their real stories, real insights of people's daily lives. And there is more, they actually can empower people´s creativity.

If you click and see what Cristina Quisbert has done with her blog Bolivia Indigena, you will learn more about Bolivian people's lives and their clothes, you are invited to watch a Bolivian wedding and to listen to traditional music that musicians are happy to share. These are places not covered by mainstream media or tourist spots.

There are ten different projects with many results like the one you saw from Bolivia, showing different realities full of energy, colours, magic, stories, faces and all willing to share it with us.

tags: International culture traditional knowledge a2k global voices

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