Kaloumba,A history of 15 years
Our work is addressed towards all persons who show an interest, primarily to children but also to adults.
We believe that games are for everyone, and although they belong more to the world of children, adults are nevertheless enthusiastic.
We create and organize game events and activities open for everyone. We also collaborate with various social institutions such as schools, retirement homes, youth centers and socio-cultural associations.
Four people created the association “Kaloumba” in 2002. Each one had an experience in hand-crafting, especially wood, in creative arts and crafts. Three members had extensive experience in animation (youth work).
In the beginning, we started constructing games by recovering wood with tools belonging to various members. The town of Fontenay sous bois (Paris, France) provided us with a space for three days a week, which we used as a workshop.Six months later, after having constructed twenty games, we started to organize our first events.We organized our first traveling project during the months of July and August 2003, which also allowed us to acquire a van. Our first LUDOBUS. Since then, the association has been open to new members, who create games in the workshop and also undertake and support us in various interventions.
In seven years we have conducted over 300 events with various audiences, constructed more than 120 games from over twenty countries – some of them over 5000 years old – and organized 4 national and 9 international projects.