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February • 2022
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Beyond ABC’s: Giving Girls a Chance to Succeed Sarah confidently strode out of the classroom where she had just concluded writing her Liberia Primary School Certificate Exam. The sun was shining brightly, reflecting her buoyant spirits. “I know I passed!” she declared. Sarah did indeed begin the new academic year as a seventh grader—a tremendous achievement given that only 32 percent of girls in Liberia transition successfully to Junior High. Sarah is defying the odds with a little help from the Canadian charity CODE (formerly the Canadian Organization for Development through Education). When Sarah first joined CODE’s Girls’ Accelerated Learning Initiative (GALI) in 2017, she was a 10-year-old sitting in a Grade One classroom. Having already repeated Grade One twice before, Sarah was struggling to learn to read and to advance. With her parents not necessarily seeing the “return” on their decision to enroll Sarah in school, her days in the classroom were most likely numbered. Through GALI’s small-group
afterschool tutoring, Sarah’s learning accelerated and double promotions over a two-year period allowed her to catch up to a more age-appropriate grade. The program, established by CODE, an Ottawa-based international development organization, and implemented by its local partner, the WE-CARE Foundation in Monrovia, aims to give girls like Sarah an academic lifeline. Underlying Sarah’s success story was her mastery of foundational literacy skills, which opened the gateway to learning in all other subject areas. Sarah explains in her own words, “I was very excited [to join GALI] because I knew that it was going to benefit me in the future. Knowing how to read and write…can further my understanding of lessons.” Literacy is about mastering the basics—ABCs, letter sounds, decoding, and word recognition—but it goes well beyond that to include fluency, comprehension, and critical thinking. The teachers that CODE trains to facilitate GALI
focus on developing the entire spectrum of literacy skills, thereby helping girls to become problem solvers and eager learners. Given the many barriers that girls face in gaining an education, GALI extends beyond academic support to include lifeskills development. The girls open up during their life-skills lessons about difficult subjects like puberty and sexual health, and they turn to each other for moral support. It’s this camaraderie and the safe space that GALI creates that help the girls not only thrive in their studies but also gain a sense of empowerment and selfworth that helps them challenge norms and assert their rights. Over the past three years, with support from partners like Montreal-based 60 million girls Foundation, CODE has demonstrated that remedial lessons and life-skills development opportunities for vulnerable girls need not be difficult or expensive to make a positive impact. Opportunities are eagerly being sought to expand the program in Liberia and beyond.
© COURTESY OF CODE
For girls like Sarah, GALI has been a lifeline that has set them on a solid track toward primary school completion and transition into higher grades. But beyond the immediate benefits, we know that investments in girls’ education creates a virtuous circle over time because literate mothers are more than twice as likely to send
their children to school. But when asked what they dream and hope for their futures, “becoming mothers” is the furthest thing from their minds. These girls aspire to continue their studies, to be self-sufficient and to give back to their communities in many inspiring ways.
Introducing Mindfulness Through Gurk The Gut and Bianca The Brain: A Children’s Book Gurk and Bianca is a book I wish I’d had throughout my While completing my PhD in childhood—it would’ve taught Global Health at McMaster me the importance of mindfulness University, I discovered my passion and how everything in my orbit for child health and health research. is interconnected. Inspired by my During my research, I noticed a own health struggles throughout gap in the system for health-based my childhood and the support books for children and youth, and I received from my naturopath an idea clicked: I could utilize my mother, Sheriffa, and my research to share the importance physician sister, Anaar, the book of the brain and gut connection is unique in the way it explores through children’s books—and the the gut-brain connection and idea for Gurk and Bianca was born. mindfulness for children. SHANIA BHOPA
© COURTESY OF SHANIA BHOPA
The analogy of Gurk and Bianca began as two body buddies who talk to each other through the vagus nerve. Bianca the Brain shares her struggles and stressors with Gurk the Gut, and when she needs extra help, he lends a hand. In the story, Gurk and Bianca are on a mission to support the human figure out of his stomach pain. After quickly realizing the pain could be due to several reasons, the mother figure shares the benefits of mindfulness to support our physical health. Throughout the writing process, the book was reviewed by my mother and my sister, utilizing their expertise in the health sector to promote a holistic perspective on wellness and health for all readers. The “brain-gut axis” is based on a complex system. Our gut microbiome is sensitive to the foods we consume to fuel our bodies, and factors such as our environment, genetics, age, and lifestyle contribute to our overall gut health. We need to fuel our bodies with nutrients, positive
self-talk, hydration, and care. While the research on the gut-brain connection is up-andcoming, I believe that to improve health, we must improve health literacy, and it starts with our children. When my nephew was born, I realized there were very few children’s health books on the market. After learning the importance of health literacy and grounding my life purpose in supporting youth in my community, I knew I had to do something. After a year of working on this project with A. A. Smith Publishing house, I’m proud to support children around the world to learn about the key principles of the human body. Within the book, there are detailed learning pages for the parents sharing information about the gut-brain connection and mindfulness. At the end of the book, parents can work with their children to complete the mindfulness journal prompts. Growing up, I felt there was a lack of representation of South
Asian character names. In this book, I wanted to implement the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Gurk was the perfect name to describe the bold and intuitive gut. Through my work as co-founder of The Canadian Courage Project, a non-profit organization focusing on supporting youth facing homelessness, I have discovered a passion for health research and supporting youth in need. To further this mission, I brought my two passions together to offer the Buy One, Give One program. The program allows community members to purchase a copy of Gurk and Bianca for their loved ones and donate one to be included in a wellness departure kit offered to youth shelters and transition homes by The Canadian Courage Project team. Going forward, I hope to continue my journey as an author publishing a series of health-based children’s books. Improving health starts with health literacy, and it begins with our children. ADVERTORIAL
The Child Freedom Project: Collaborative Aid In Canadian Classrooms INNOCENT’S STORY When I was eleven, I came to live on the street because life was hard at home when my mother died. I saw no reason to stay home when my father could not send me to school or look after my brothers and sisters. Now I work in the garbage dump to look for plastic bottles and scrap metal to sell. In the afternoon, after work, I love to come to AMKA Arts, where I can learn musical instruments, play games, learn the computer, make songs with other children, then record and make videos. We can wash our bodies and clothes here. At night, we eat dinner together: rice, beans, and vegetables. We share stories and ideas about how to live good lives. Long before the pandemic created a slew of new challenges in international aid, Elephant Thoughts (ET), a Canadian registered charity focused on creating and providing exceptional educational opportunities to children and youth facing barriers, had been reassessing its approach to international aid. ET took a
step back from some of its international work to develop an alternative solution not only to increase global impact but develop a community of globally conscious youth at home. After listening to their friends on the ground, from the far reaches of Central American cities to the Nepalese mountains to rural Africa, ET developed a new program that would answer their international mandate: The Child Freedom Project (CFP). CFP is ET’s answer many traditional challenges associated with aid. It is an educational fundraising platform that hinges on meaningful international connections to inspire transformative change. It is designed for Canadian teachers interested in fostering young global citizens. It eliminates much of the waste associated with traditional aid (100 percent of funds raised go directly to the need). Across the country, educators would bravely lead their students through tough social topics, inciting interest in global issues and equal opportunity for all youth—educators like Katie
Cain, a high school teacher at Eastview Secondary School in Barrie, Ontario. In the winter of 2021, she was teaching a leadership class when she introduced CFP and the Amka Arts Project to her students. The mask-muzzled students, who had spent a good portion of their year learning from the confines of their homes, were eager to connect with kids in Iringa, Tanzania. The kids on either end of the digital portal were instantly connected in more ways than one. They found common interests in music, dance, videography, food, pop culture, and more. A classroom of teenagers from Barrie, Ontario, a small, snow-covered city in middle Canada, and a group of young street kids in palm-dotted Iringa, Tanzania were connecting, bonding, and solving problems together. It is the zero-waste and youthto-youth connectivity that sets CFP apart from other programs. “The Child Freedom Project taught students that to create change and find solutions to global issues, we need to work together,” says Katie Cain.
“I was astonished by the resiliency of both the leadership students and the kids in Iringa to overcome so many obstacles, from language barriers to connectivity issues, COVID, and an 8-hour time difference. The students were so passionate and immersed in the project that they were finding solutions to the problems independent of me.”
A groundbreaking tool for Canadian educators,
Elephant Thoughts continues to foster meaningful connections like the one made between Eastview and Amka. The program is ready for teachers to sign up and start informing small but mighty and meaningful changes in their classrooms and across the globe. Register at Elephantthoughts.com today.
The Child Freedom Project Facilitates and inspires global citizens and youth leadership through learning, action, and connectivity.
Register at Elephantthoughts.com today.
© AMKA ARTS / ELEPHANT THOUGHTS.
