IBBY-Yamada 2008: South Africa

This was a continuation of the 2007 project. The project was given the name Unknown 2 Known by the Zimele volunteers.  Children were encouraged to write stories of everyday life (the Known) and to collect stories from their parents, grandparents, and neighbours: family anecdotes, folktales and legends (the Unknown). This project was a joint Zimele-EMEP extra-mural activity and took place every other Saturday for 3-hour sessions at the local community library.  Each group comprised an average of 20 children who met for between two and four sessions, based on level of competence.  Due to the levels of poverty in the community of Lower Crossroads, a meal and juice were distributed to each child at every session.  It created a fruitful space for real human and social development and by doing so enhanced the children’s lives, bringing healing, building leaderships skills in the local volunteers, and fostering a sense of community volunteerism. The project is still running.