Pechiches is an ethnic-based educational project that develops an intimate relationship between children and literature. These books are about their local stories and culture. We also aim to empower public school teachers in Cartagena, while fighting for ethnic inequality. We will enhance the reading skills of children who come from impoverished areas and attend public schools with little resources. After a successful pilot with these books, we want them in every library of Cartagena.
What if you never found a character to whom you could identify in the literature you read when you were kid? Remember Huckleberry Finn's freckles? Or Pippi Longstockings red braided hair? Harry Potter's glasses? Where are little black and indigenous kids from villages in the literature used to teach them? Over 30 volunteers and a whole group of 120 elementary school students worked to produce a collection of 8 books ABOUT the village. Beautifully illustrated, this collection must be printed!
By creating an elementary school kids story book collection, and making 1000 copies, we will empower over 1000 librarians and 3000 teachers to teach produly about ethnic membership and multiculturalism in Colombia. Essentially, we will provide these children with the knowledge of their rich heritage & their cultural diversity. It is crucial for them to fully embrace diversity & understand their deep and wonderful roots.
We are not only printing books. We want a whole educational process to be ignited through elementary school libraries nationally. Reflecting about out multicultural past since early childhood will enable us to tap into our inner diversity and fight against discrimination. A book in a library can be read by over 100 kids, so 1000 collections can potentially touch 100.000 lives! Please help us put those other stories out there!
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
