Tjeko wants your bodybuilding advise !

Chad Thomas and Ben Podbury have done amazing work on Tjeko and Tjeka!

Now it's your turn! Could you give us some feedback on these caracter-drawings in our Facebook group?

You can participate here! Even if you are the first one!

Tjeko at Dutch Leisure/Recreation convention

For the second time in our short existence, we are given a change to go network in the leisure/amusementpark world. Through Hans van Leeuwen and Pleisureworld we will be at the 'Recreatie Vakdagen'.
December 1,2 and 3. These kind of meetings are very 'unpredictable'. Who to talk to, who to avoid :)
Truth is, we have nothing to loose. The best thing that can happen to us, is getting lots of leads to new connections - people that have connections, or people that can create connections.
I like it - It keeps me motivated in this temporary 'down-time'. Lets go for the unexpected!



soowpictures002
Originally uploaded by Pleisureworld

Article Park World!

With great amazement did we read an article in Park World, a magazine for the Amusement Park Industry. Ralph Owen, the director of the magazine has done an amazing job writing this article! Many thanks for his input and his excitement for our project.

Enjoy reading!

Website development

SO - not sure who reads what where - but we are working hard on a new website. If you just came from www.tjeko.info you just saw that the page is under construction. If you came here from our Facebook site, you know that we're also just trying to get things organized....

BUT IF YOU CAME FROM THE BLOG DIRECT, you should just click on www.tjeko.info, and sign-up for our latest updates.

It's an honor to to work with all these people to see Tjeko become a reality!

Signing Tjeko papers at Notary

OK - mayb it;s not a big deal to you: BUT WE SIGNED THE OFFICIAL TJEKO PAPERS!

Thanks to all people that have cheered us on so far! There is still years to go, but hey: this is the first official step! Thank you God for getting us on this road so far with everybody!

Soowpicture for Pleisureworld

soowpictures078
Originally uploaded by Pleisureworld

The fun thing of working in a network is that you have to remember who is who, and who is doing what for who!

www.soowpictures.nl made these pictures for www.pleisureworld.nl.
And www.tjeko.info got to enjoy the nice shot!

Explaining what is a social-profit fun park...

Tjeko at EAS (part 2)

So we got to promote Tjeko in a fun way - in the X-factor / X-periance.
And the Tjeko Project won! We won ourself an article in World-Park (one of the leading magazines for the amusementpark industry!) Never know how a cow catches a rabit (dutch expresion).

 

 

 

Tjeko at Euro Attractions Show in Amsterdam

It's been a milestone we've been working towards! This coming Wednesday we have been given a change to present Afirca's first social-profit fun park!
We've been featured on the website of http://www.pleisureworld.nl/VakbeursCongres.aspx?Titel=Pleisureworld-EAS-netwerk-meetings-dag-2

Now - nobody know us - nobody might even find us on this big convention. But we've printed a boat-load of stuff - and we're just going with a lot of excitiement! Somebody will be infected with the Tjeko - virus. ]

Look at our entrance! Welcome to Tjeko Fun Village!

New Tjeko logo!

Here it is! Special thanks to Ben Podbury! What an artist. Bro - it captures the feeling behind our initiative, and behind our Enterprise!




Presenting: The official Tjeko Fun Village logo...

design by: Big Picture Creations

You are looking at the 'tree-house' village, the heart of our park. This is where Tjeko, Tjeka and the other caracters play, imagine and have fun! Kids can enjoy every hut, on the ground and in the air! In every hut there's something else to do! Never boring - always Fun!
The lettertype is choisen on purpost. Our guys are not your typical cartoons, and they need a bit of a 'modern' feel! Lover every detail of it - I am proud! Please know... there is more to come!

 

A Ugandan visit to some dutch parks

A few weeks ago Bosco Mukiibi and myself went to visit 2 family amusement parks in the Netherlands. They were carefully selected among the hundreds (!) of parks and initiatives around the country. We wanted to visit parks that have elements we can take to Uganda. Of course the real big parks are nice, and we can learn lots from them, but the smaller parks give better examples of what we could actually achieve in Uganda. Hans van Leeuwen of www.Slimm.nl helped us pick two parks in Apeldoorn: FamilyFunPark Koniningin Wilhelmina Toren and Children Paradise Malkensloten. Both parks have complete different themes and concepts. One park works with a mouse who lives in 'the tower', the other park uses a piggy who has fun on the farm. They both focus on children, but both from different angles.
Bosco said it well: In Koningin Juliana Toren, there were many attractions with an on/off switch. Great for the 'thrills', but they don't really get children 'active'. Malkensloten on the other hand has many 'do-it-yourself' activities, and is low on the 'thrills'. We both agree that both parks have elements we want to try in Uganda. In Tjeko FunVillage there will be 'thrills' and 'do-it-yourself' activities in a themed world.
It was great fun to see these parks through the eyes of somebody that has not been exposed to many parks before. We wrote down many ideas, do's and don'ts and other practical tips. It was an amazing experience and we want to thank both parks for their co-operation
.

last week I went to talk to a gentleman called Hans van Leeuwen (www.slimm.nl ). He is an independent advisor in the Entertainment, Recreation and Sports business.

I started telling him our plans for Tjeko, showed him the amazing stuff Ben P did so far (www.bigpicturecreations.net ) and explained some of the things we want to do with the park. I had asked him to be critical with me - and thank God he was!

He liked the idea of Tjeko in Uganda a lot, but at the same time had some serious critic on what I was showing him so far. Not a totally clear, sharp and complete idea, but a lot of 'what if's' and 'we might’s'. Not good. So we're going to change that now! Thing is, I KNOW REAL WELL WHAT I WANT. Just thought it's sometimes better to leave stuff in the middle. Guess not! SO - here's the kicker! He offered us a booth of 3 meters on the 'Euro Attraction Show', a place where 250 businesses from the industry present themselves to about 7,000 park owners and managers from all over Europe. (http://www.eas-expo.org ). Now we're going to need every spare moment to get our plans SHARP. And we will - no doubt.

As you can see, we've tweaked the monkey a bit - to give him more of his own personality. We got 5 different caracters now.

tjeko caracter development

Tjeko needs to be the most 'in the open' development there is.
People that are thinking along - THANKS. If you ever see something that makes you think of Tjeko - please sent it to: info'at'tjeko.info
www.tjeko.info

Here is the sister of Tjeko! Tjeka! She is a bit younger than Tjeko, does very well in school. Here is her profile as of now:

Name: Tjeka
Age: 8
Sex: girl
Spieces: Monkey
Color: Green Orange


Caracter Trades:
- Self-aware
- Friendly
- a ‘know-it-all’ (but doesn’t always)
- Loves to study
- Adventures
- Be by herself
- Explore
- Have fun
- Family important – mostly with mom


You can follow Tjeko on twitter! His twitter name is: tjeko
That monkey is a modern monkey, i can tell you!

Let's build something AMAZING for the children of Uganda.

Tjeko update June '09

We went to see Suzanne van Ginneken, a playground and product designer of Children. Or for 'playing people' as her webside says. It's a small company that has done some remarkable projects around the Netherlands. This was the first time we shared 'Tjeko' with a profecional out of the field. (that is - outside of our circle of friends, Ben is ofcourse my coach and designer of Tjeko!)

It was a very fun meeting, were Suzanne shared many good ideas and insights

. She's followed it with a ton of great web-links, all to get us inspired. With Tjeko we are really in a inspirational fase. Filtering all we want, and all we don't want right now... I seem to have a lot of stuff in my head, that willl just have to wait! Now we're going to meet with a gentleman who seems to know EVERYBODY in the recreational industries in the Netherlands! Looking forward to see where he can sent us next!

We're on our way to build the FIRST social profit ADVENTURE-PARK in the world! (changed it from themepark to ADVENTURE park :-)

It's exciting - keep good ideas coming our way.

Since a couple of weeks I’ve worked 2 days a week on our Tjeko project. As many of you know, we want to create a social profit Theme Park for all children of Jinja Uganda.
Tjeko embodies article 31 of the Convention on the rights of a child, which states that every child has the right to (1)rest and leisure, to engage in (2) play and recreational activities and to participate in (3) cultural life and the arts.

We want to create a 'community' of animals that will help children discover these areas. They are very important in a healthy childhood, but are often completely neglected. Childhood is hanging by a thread, because of extreme poverty, a HIV/AIDS pandemic and the ever lasting turmoil in the North.

So far we've created Tjeko and Tjeka, two monkeys who live in a tropical rainforest.

What we want to do is create 3 animals that represent these 3 area's of Article 31. These animals want to help kids understand the fun you can have with (1)rest and leisure, (2) play and recreational activities (sport and games) and (3) cultural life and the arts.

My question to you is: What kind of animals should we use, and what should their personalities be?!

Help us create these cartoons! Leave your comments or emails!

Thanks!

This page is the begining of something new!  So many ideas!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION