Voices of the Savannah: Preserving Oral Stories Through Animation

Preserving Africa’s ancestral wisdom through story, art, and technology

African folktales are vibrant, poetic vessels of memory. They carry the weight of centuries — teachings whispered from elders to children, spun around fires, beneath acacia trees, under starry skies. These tales offer more than entertainment; they are blueprints of morality, humor, identity, and collective imagination.

But today, a silence looms. As oral traditions face extinction and elders pass without apprentices, we risk losing these deep wells of cultural knowledge forever.

Voices of the Savannah is a creative cultural preservation project that seeks to capture this fading oral legacy — beginning in Kenya and eventually expanding across the African continent. We are working hand-in-hand with tribal elders, local artists, linguists, and educators to record, animate, and immortalize traditional African folktales in an accessible, beautiful, and respectful way.

🎯 What We're Setting Out to Do

Our first chapter begins with Kenya — a country home to over 40 diverse tribes, each with a rich library of oral stories.

In Season 1, our goals are to:

• 🎤 Record 10 respected elders from different tribes across Kenya, capturing authentic retellings in their native languages.
• 🎨 Animate 5 select folktales in a distinctive hand-drawn 2D style that blends traditional African art with modern storytelling.
• 🌍 Subtitle each tale in both English and the local language, ensuring accessibility for both local communities and global audiences.
• 🏫 Distribute screening packs to schools — complete with learning guides, story activities, and discussion prompts to encourage intergenerational learning.
• 💫 Mint collectible “Elder Cards” NFTs to honor and support each storyteller. Proceeds from NFT sales will go directly to the elders or their families, creating a new model of digital patronage.

🎬 Why This Matters

African wisdom is vanishing. Each elder we lose without documentation is like a library burning down.

With “Voices of the Savannah,” we aim to:

• Preserve rare stories that are undocumented or fading.
• Promote cultural literacy among young Africans and the diaspora.
• Empower local communities through creative jobs (animators, translators, educators).
• Bridge generations, helping youth reconnect with their roots through stories, not lectures.
• Amplify indigenous languages, many of which are endangered and underrepresented online.

✅ What We've Done So Far

We’ve completed a short but powerful pilot episode in collaboration with the Pokot community of northern Kenya. The story — rich with symbolism and ethical dilemmas — was recorded on location, animated by a local team, and shown at two rural schools and a community center.

The feedback? Heartwarming. Children heard their grandparents’ voices in a format they could relate to. Elders, in turn, saw their legacy treated with dignity and care.

This early success gave us proof that the model works — and fuel to scale.

📽️ What’s Next

This funding round will help us complete Season 1. We’re already in conversation with elders from the Luo, Kamba, Kikuyu, Maasai, and Turkana communities.

In the next phase, we aim to:

• Build a dedicated YouTube channel to host subtitled episodes free of charge.
• Launch a mobile-friendly story archive with search by tribe, theme, or moral.
• Partner with teachers, NGOs, and libraries to incorporate these tales into youth education.
• Host community story circles to collect more voices, especially from remote or under-documented regions.

🌱 Join Us in Keeping the Stories Alive

Every folktale is a seed — and each retelling helps it grow.

By supporting “Voices of the Savannah,” you’re not just funding a project. You’re helping preserve a priceless, living heritage. You’re helping a grandmother’s voice echo into the future. You’re helping children discover that their history doesn’t just live in textbooks — it lives in rhythm, riddle, and roaring laughter.

Whether you're an educator, funder, artist, or just someone who loves stories — there’s a role for you in this journey.

📩 To collaborate, donate, or learn more, reach out to us at hello@voicesofthesavannah.org

Let the voices carry. Let the savannah speak.