Our International Program Director Ana is on the ground in Ahmedabad, India. Our LitWorld programs in India run in partnership with the Center for Development. CfD is an extraordinary organization that focuses on peace and reconciliation by bringing children and families of different religious communities together. Our LitClubs are the first time opportunity that children have to tell their stories and to share life experiences with friends of another religion. The children are leaders of peace through literacy in their community.
Ana visited our six LitClubs that run in partnership with CfD and wrote to us about the extraordinary literacy community that the children and their mentors have created: "In every group, children provide support systems for each other. Friends are there to support their fellow LitClub members, to read aloud to them, to encourage their drawings, and allow them to be confident at whatever reading and writing level they are."
eing together with our local partner and Bal Dosts (LitClub mentors) of CfD allowed us to run LitWorld trainings and refresher courses. The Bal Dosts loved the LitWorld core value of asking children open ended questions to facilitate story sharing. They said that in Indian society children are rarely asked for their opinions and questions have a right or a wrong answer. The Bal Dosts talked in great depth about the concept of open ended questions and dove into the LitClub question poem activity. We are honored to have such engaged, poetic leaders running our programs on the ground.
