Your Name and Title:
Barbara Cervone, Ed.D., President
School or Organization Name:
What Kids Can Do, Inc.
Area of the World from Which You Will Present:
USA
Language in Which You Will Present:
English
Target Audience(s):
Teachers, curriculum specialists
Short Session Description (one line):
In this session, participants will learn about a remarkable program, In Our Global Village, which has connected young people on four continents who gather and publish their own local stories and images so that the world can learn from them.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
In Our Global Village (IOGV) began with a friendship between Barbara Cervone, president of What Kids Can Do, and the students at a secondary school she visited in a rural village in Tanzania. “For us, greeting and shaking hands is like breathing,” these young people told Barbara, showing her the ritual three-part African handshake. “It communicates solidarity.” For days, they took her around the village, introducing her to its ways and traditions, its people and their challenges.
Soon a remarkable book took shape: In Our Village: Kambi ya Simba Through the Eyes of Its Youth. When the young authors heard that WKCD’s nonprofit Next Generation Press would publish their words, photographs, songs, and stories, they could not believe that anyone outside their village would care about their story and their lives.
In the seven years since, the solidarity these students created has traveled far beyond that first handshake. It has sparked a program that connects young people on four continents who gather and share their own local stories and images so that the world can learn from them. Students and teachers--from the jungles of Nepal to North Hollywood, CA--have produced more than 40 photo essay books to date, creating a one-of-a-kind virtual library.
In this session, you will learn all you need to know to become part of the In Our Global Village program.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:
Replies
HI Barbara,
Hopefully some of the teachers in iEARN's Finding Solution to Hunger project can join.
Diane
Hi -
Is What Kids Can Do a for profit entity?
Thanks,
Lucy Gray
Conference Co-Chair
Hi Lucy,
Yes, WKCD is decidedly nonprofit! Most of our funding comes from foundations and, with a modest income stream from books sales, which are put back into our budget to support other writing projects with young people. The book that started the In Our Village initiative, Kambi ya Simba Through The Eyes of Its Youth, has sold roughly 7,500 copies and all of the profits have been put into a fund to support advanced secondary school scholarships for students in the village. All twelve of the students who helped produce the book are now finishing university studies--in a village where no young person had ever gone beyond the village secondary school.It's an amazing story in its own right!