Pechiches: Kids Books ABOUT Afrocolombian Children

 Spreading the word about Pechiches, a series of Afro-Colombian stories written by children.  I'm delighted to report that we will have a new sponsor in New Hampshire, a fellow assistant teacher in the Rassias program,Claudia Decker. Claudia has been a Spanish teacher in Nashua NH for more than twenty years and is  a trustee for the New Hampshire Writer's Project.  As a teacher, writer, and native from Colombia herself, Claudia fell in  love with this project. She will also be spreading the word to the American Asociation of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese about Pechiches during their conference in Puerto Rico in 2020.  This year, she will help us to raise funds and awareness through her chapter of the Spanish Honor Society at her high school. We will keep you posted of our progress as we plan to meet with her students regarding Pechiches on the 9th of September.

Dear donors

Since our last report we raised almost $1200, most of the money matched on Giving Tuesday, getting a new recurrent donor.  Also we raised oney selling handcraft made by NIHNA a indigenous artisan company that we support. This activity was made thanks to Vermont Law School and its Latin@x students. 

The first step in the Pechiches educational process was the production of the books, talking with the children about
- their daily routines (where and how they sleep, eat, play, study, etc.),
- their families (who makes them up, what they like to do together, how they celebrate what, etc.,
- their animals and the plants they or their relatives grow in their houses and its uses,
- their favorite places in their village.
(the children drew and painted themselves and all these things. We later visited their houses and these special places and took photographs.)
We then invited some guests to the school:
- A group of grandparents came to the school and told us all about how things were 50-70 years ago.
- Several of the representatives of the local leadership body came and explained what kinds of things they decide about, how they get funds sometimes and what they do with them, and how someone can get to be part of their assembly.
With all that input, a team of volunteers created the stories, and illustrated the books.

The second stage consisted of helping the children to grow in their understanding of the commonalities and differences among us humans. We gradually presented them with growing circles of identity.
We showed maps, photos, videos and some artifacts of their village, their island, local area, region, state, country and finally the Great Caribbean, and the World. We talked about each circle’s foods, dances, languages, customs and more.
It was fantastic to see the smiles exploding in their faces for example, when they saw and heard some African children dancing… it was almost identical to their wonderful and beloved local champeta!.

We want to continue raising money in june with a campaign call 10x10. Tell 10 friends and share 10 times in june we will spread the word!

Links:

• Our partners at the library in Ararca, where is Pechiches