My name is Lara and I am a volunteer with Bikurim (
http://www.bikurimbooks.org/en/ ), a non-profit organization that uses literature to promote diversity, multiculturalism and dialogue in Israel. We are currently working on a book project entitled "Everywhere Tales." Living in Tel Aviv – some with and some without legal status – are tens of thousands of immigrant workers, refugees, and asylum seekers from various countries. Project "YoniTaf" from the Mesila organization runs day care and kindergarten services for children from this unique and diverse community. Israeli society’s attitude toward this population is ambivalent and recently the government has denied refugees many of their basic rights. However, young children from these communities attend kindergartens in Tel Aviv every day. These kindergartens often lack many basic supplies and their environs are often quite spartan. In addition, there are currently no children’s books that their teachers (who are English speaking) can read to childre
n coming from others countries and continents to reflect the culture from which they come. The “YoniTaf” project therefore reached out to Bikurim in order to work together to publish such a book.
"Everyday Tales" is a collection of stories from eight different cultures representing the major communities that the work immigrants and refugees come from. The texts will be written in three languages ​​– the source language, Hebrew and English. Eight Israeli illustrators have volunteered to illustrate the different stories. The book will be distributed in the kindergartens of the immigrant community in Israel, as well as kindergartens and libraries throughout Israel, and also bookstores and direct distribution partners through various organizations sponsoring the publication.
We are currently in need of Eritrean folk tales in their original language and in English. The tale only needs to be around 250 characters or less. We are especially interested in stories which reflect the themes of tolerances and acceptance of the “other.” If you do not know any stories on those themes, then any happy, uplifting story will work. Please let us know if you can help or know any suitable stories. Perhaps you may be able to crowd-source stories from your readership. Feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions about our organization or this project.
Thank you for your time,
lara_s_robinson@yahoo.com
Received on Wed Nov 14 2012 - 10:35:53 EST
