Atuu’s One Book Project to Increase Literacy

by Raja M Ali

Everybody accepts that life can be unfair. But maybe it is not.

At the surface level, Atuu Waonaje’s life is an embodiment of injustice, cruelty and unfairness. He was born poor in an impoverished country and became a refugee at 15 years of age. Still a teenager, he lost his parents, had no possessions and was forced to take care of not only himself but also his brother.

How can fate be more unjust to a person? But looking deeper, we realize that while nature took many things away from Atuu, it also gave him gifts — such as compassion, drive and the confidence to make something out of nothing — which few of us can claim.

Turmoil, calamities and injustice didn’t bog down Atuu and while still in a refugee camp in Tanzania, he started CELA, the Centre for Youth Development and Adult Education, which was so successful that it won him the Women’s Refugee Commission Voice of Courage Award in 2007.

CELA, however, is an old story and Atuu is not resting on his laurels. He has recently started a new project called One Book Project (OBP).

Atuu observed that:

• There is neither a resource centre nor a library in his city, Fizi Territory (in the Democratic Republic of Congo), which means a large number of students have no access to information except what they learn at school;
• Young guys have not much to do after school. They generally do not have a habit of reading for pleasure or information and most even don’t know how to use a dictionary;
• People have books which are unused.

Ordinary people would have looked at the situation and done nothing but Atuu started OBP which collects books from various individuals and then puts them in a resource centre/library for use by locals. The main aims of the project are:

• Promoting a reading culture among community members who have lost that culture due to the war. Maybe starting a reading week.
• Empowering villagers with skills through books and connecting them with the world.
• Increasing literacy.

Atuu has already managed to collects a small number of books but for his project to achieve these aims, he needs your help. You can reach him by email.

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Country:

• Somalia

Description:

• Shafie Primary and Secondary School is an IDP school, established 1994, has 1870 students, grade range from 1 to 14.
• Subjects taught: Science, Maths, Social Studies, Arabic, English, Somali, and Arts.

Comments:

• I believe this can take a big role in the development of children and youth. We request from RESPECT full collaboration.

• Since January 2005, a group of 8 urban Burundese refugees ages 13 to 18 years has correspond with the Bourg Madame High School Solidarity Club in the South West of France.

• The members of the Club come from several high schools in the city of Yaounde.

As the Country Coordinator for RESPECT Ghana I believe that issues of refugees everywhere need our urgent attention but should we always wait to see our brothers and sisters, mothers and children become refugees before we start showing our love and concern? Are we as a people and global citizens well informed about issues of refugees and on the rights entitled to refugees for international protection under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol? How about the rights of refugees, enshrined in the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights which gives the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution?.

The fundamental truth is that whether we like it or not, we are all global citizens and in today’s globalized world, we cannot escape the fact that actions taken in the Europe and North America, Asia and all over the world do have reverberations in Ghana, and in a similar vein, war in Africa affects Europe and North America as well. We can no longer afford to ignore our common humanity or focus our vision narrowly on our own interests, our own people or our own problems. This is the true meaning of globalization. The world’s problems, and the world’s successes, today belong to all of us. We are responsible for each other, and we must RESPECT one another.

This essentially is the motivation behind my duty as the Country Coordinator for RESPECT Ghana, I see this role as an opportunity to also reach out and promote the goals of human rights and world peace. I am optimistic that with my team members and with your help and ideas we can raise awareness about refugee issues through our ever widening networks and affiliations. There is an urgent need to make the world a better place devoid of wars, disputes and terrorist attacks. Please do not hesitate but subscribe with us and let us push our vision forward with your wonderful ideas and solutions to make the world a better place for all.

• Democratic Republic of the Congo

Description:

• Primary School Ase’Eci has 6 classes, but only 3 are running due to the difficulties in the country.
• The school is situated near the Uvira-Fizi road in DRC. It is bordered by Lake Tanganyika in the East, by the mountains in the West, by the Kahama village in the North and by the Pemba mountain in the South.
• Lessons are given in Swahili and French.
• A penpal programme is vital for us.

Comments:

• 66 students are interested by RESPECT International programme and would like to find a penpal.
• Our school has numerous problems. We would like you to guide us, advise us and assist us, as you can, to try and answer the needs expressed by the children in their letters. We have no support to help them.

Help this schoo or other refugee schools like it from our website: http://www.respectrefugees.org/

He has shown tremendous enthusiasm in working with RESPECT International. He hopes that RESPECT will start receiving more letters for the students of his school.

RESPECT recently received a package containing letters from refugees students in Liberia. Once they are sorted, the letters will be sent to non-refugee students to be answered.

Sports can change lives – that is the main idea of Africa Change International (ACI), a Ghana-based non-governmental organization (NGO) working to improve the life of children through sports.

By offering children the opportunity to play sports, such as athletics, basketball, hockey and swimming, ACI’s aim is to keep children from dropping out of school.

Its training requires the children to attend school and teaches them about health. This not only raises the educational level but also gives children the opportunity to get scholarships for higher education and skills required to earn them a livelihood.

Peter Osei, Executive Director of ACI, talks about the many advantages of sports. Being an active participant develops children’s self-esteem and activates them, preventing them from roaming the streets.

“[Sports] will make them spend less time in sedentary pursuits such as violence, crime and other the social vices,” Mr. Osei says.

For the moment, 400 children aged 10 to11 are participating in the ACI programs. The children attend school in the morning, come to the ACI’s computer laboratory for the ICT Training and take their sports classes in the afternoon.

Sports have the ability to unite people, regardless of race, language and politics. They teach participants respect and teamwork. They are also one of the few arenas where everyone plays on equal terms. Where skills, not background, determine success.

In the future ACI hopes to build an extensive sports academy and recruit children who are underprivileged or living on the streets. ACI also wishes to expand beyond the borders of Ghana to other African countries.

ACI looks “to employ training skills in sports, computer literacy and education to espouse equity in social policies that address livelihood opportunities for socially excluded children and young people.

“We want to help them succeed in future even without the existence of ACI.”

Respect International

The following letter was submitted to RESPECT International from the principal of the Calvary Baptist Church School in Monrovia, Liberia, seeking help to rebuild its system.

To Whom It May Concern

The Calvary Baptist Church School System was established in 1964 by a group of Mid-Baptist Missionaries from the United States of America, who two years earlier established the Calvary Baptist Church.

The purpose of establishing the school was threefold:

1. To provide kids with a strong foundation in reading, writing, and speaking.
2. To impact sound Biblical training as a basis upon which spiritual and moral foundation of kids can be built.
3. To cater to the educational needs of the Children of church members.

Liberian School System

RESPECT International continues to dedicate all the resources possible to improve the education of refugee students.  In order to help more people there is a need for more resources.  To find out ways in which you can help please visit our website.  http://www.respectrefugees.org/

• Fr. Gale Secondary School (Itula) is a day mixed school. It is young and starting in 2002 with S1 and S2. Next year it will reach S3. The school comprises of both nationals and refugee students. The total number of students is 242.
• The subjects taught are Mathematics, English, Physical Chemistry, Biology, Agriculture, Accounting, Political Education, Geography, History, Christian Religion Education, office practice and commerce.

Comments:

This is a very good program, it at least rectifies our worst condition of learning; but the most important thing is to sponsor students and provide equipments.

RESPECT International is a refugee education soposorship program, helping to provide free education for refugees who have had their education disrupted by war and violence.  For further information on the great work RESPECT does please visit our website.