“One day these Ugandan children, like our own, will need to make important decisions about their world. Access to the best kind of books will help them make the right ones.”
Elizabeth Ross, Director of The Kasiisi Project
One of the joys of "Living Barefoot" is seeing the books we produce positively affecting the lives of children around the world. Nothing is quite as inspiring as meeting like-minded organizations who are putting our core values into action, and few stories fit this example so brilliantly as the work of The Kasiisi Project.
The Kasiisi Project is a Boston-based non-profit organization whose focus is funding classroom buildings and scholarships, encouraging literacy, and working to give rural schoolchildren in western Uganda a chance for a successful future. Barefoot’s own Sales & Marketing Director, Melisa Schulman, recently learned of this wonderful organization and their growing cultural exchange with Weston Public Schools in Massachusetts. After hearing that many of the books donated to Ugandan children from the west are so culturally irrelevant as to prove useless, Melisa thought, “Barefoot can help!”
It wasn’t long before we were organizing an online fundraiser to supplement the already impressive fundraising efforts of Kasiisi’s dedicated staff. Colorful favorites from our Africa-themed collection were soon making their way across the ocean and into the eager hands of these bright Ugandan children. With titles like Mama Panya’s Pancakes, We All Go On Safari, and African Animals ABC, we hoped to provide these children with books that were relatable as well as educational. Or as Elizabeth Ross, Director of The Kasiisi Project, puts it (more eloquently than we could have hoped):
“Books that African children can understand, books about people and places that are familiar and characters that they can identify with; books with wonderful colorful illustrations and paper that is nice to touch; books that easily translate into the local language for the youngest children; books that are good to hold and a joy to look at; books that introduce our children to vocabulary and grammar, letters and numbers but most of all open a door onto a world where reading can become a joyous habit that teaches and entertains, that nourishes the soul, celebrates diversity and awakens creativity; that gives some of Africa’s most vulnerable children a chance at a brighter future.”
Click on the Barefoot Book blog link to the left to see a video about the project.
