Bilingual books and Traumateddies for refugee children
For the Young at Heart:
We reach the unreached.
We go to the tricky places, to the people in informal settlements and the refugees beyond the reach of bigger organisations.
We put Arabic-English books explaining and unpuzzling war into refugee children's
hands ourselves.
We are fast. We deliver books hot off the press.
We have distributed 22,000 books to
refugee and vulnerable children in the last 18 months.
We distribute to formal and informal
schools, camp schools, and "schools" in informal settlements in the
countries neighbouring Syria where the majority of the Refugees find themselves living in limbo.
We created these books and traumateddies to help children face the realities they see every day, to help them understand their
nightmares, and to manage their fears.
We give children traumateddies and
woolly clothes- knitted by lovely ladies across the UK and Ireland.
We help with books that promote literacy, language,
trauma and play.
We give books to children who know
nothing but war, and living with the impact of war.
We do not discriminate. Every child
gets a book.
We make a difference.*
*We know this because the teachers
and students who volunteer to teach refugee children keep asking us to come back with more
books.
We are now asked to donate books to
children doubly displaced -that means they have had to move and seek refuge in a new place more than once - in Europe.
We don't want to let any of them
down.
We share our adventures and our book and trauamteddy distributions with pictures on www.twitter.com/brehonadvisory
We do this because every child needs
an opportunity to learn and to love to read.
You can help us.
You can knit traumateddies for us -
if you are time rich.
You can donate money to fund more
books - if you are time poor.
You can be our champion -
follow us on social media if you too are learning to read and deal with
nighmares and just like children's books.
You can help us print more books, and knit more teddies, and woolly jumpers (or sweaters, if you're American).
You can start to learn the ABCs of Arabic here with a child-friendly video of Arabic ABCs.
For the grown ups:
We at Brehon Advisory in partnership with Asala Publishers create, publish, distribute and educate with bilingual Arabic-English books that deal with the effects of trauma, dislocation and war for Syrian refugees and vulnerable host community children. 100% of donations received go to produce the books and traumateddies.
Here's what Education Journal Middle East says about us in their September 2015 issue: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?eid=41d0086d-925f-4a45-8468-932b9932d88b&pnum=38
The technical stuff: The books are created by a team of PhD and ABD people (that means we love books so much we lived in a library for at least a decade).
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The books are written in Arabic first by a professor of child psychology.
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The books are shaped by talented Arab illustrators.
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The book are edited by English language professors and academic translators.
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The books are the brain child of a rogue professor of government in collaboration with a leading children's book publisher.
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The books are distributed with an Arabic story teller wearing traditional dress.
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The traumateddies are knit by ladies across the UK and Ireland.
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The wool for the traumateddies is currently donated by an anonymous donor.
- The woolly clothes, jumpers and sweaters, are created and delivered with love to the children we encounter where we see the greatest need. (1,500 items to date).
What the teachers, schools and refugee volunteers tell us:
"We would be grateful for support with more books for teaching English to beginners and intermediate level." Irbid, Jordan (Headmistress)
“You delivered. The psychology students read the books to the children. It was very good. I am glad. Thank you.” Chatilla, Beirut Lebanon (Headmistress)
“We will put a copy of each book in the library so that all the students can read the stories at school as well as at home.”
Headmaster International College, (Bedawi)
“We think this project is a success. Thank you once again for including us in it. Please do let us know when this activity will be repeated in future as we would love to stay part of it .Please bear us in mind in future.” Relief & Reconciliation ( Bekaa).
“It was our pleasure to have you at our centers in Beirut and in Bekaa, we appreciate your great job ...God Bless your efforts.”
"Great. Thanks so much for your continued support."
(Beirut Bekaa) Jusoor
“There is a primary school in my hometown that would benefit from the books. Let's make it work” (UNICEF)
Here's how to knit your traumateddy
Trauma Teddy Knitting Pattern
Stuff:
Needle Size 10 3.25mm (or nearest)
Double Knitting Wool (Yarn)
-Ideally 4 colours (main colour for head and paws, trouser
colours, jumper colour and scarf colour if you want a cosy teddy).
Step-by-Step:
1. Cast
on 10 stitches in main colour. Knit 10 rows (paw).
2. Change
to the trouser colour and Knit 30 rows. Make a second trouser leg the same way.
3. Knit
across all 20 stitches and work 16 rows.
4. Change
to jumper colour and Knit 24 rows.
5. Change
to the main colour for the head. Stocking stitch for 5 1/2inches.
6. Change
to jumper colour and revert to garter stitch. Knit 24 rows.
7. Change
to trouser colour. Knit 16 rows.
8. Knit
10 stitches. – put remaining 10 stitches on a holder
9. Knit
30 rows.
10.
Change to colour for paw. Knit 10 rows. Cast off.
11. Pick
up 10 stitches from holder. Knit 30 Rows. Change to main Colour for paw. Knit
10 rows. Cast off.
12. To
make arms, using jumper colour. Pick up 8 stitches either side of right hand
side neck/head join 16 stitches. Knit 20 rows. Change to main colour, Knit 10
rows for paws. Repeat on Left side.
13. Sew
up teddy leaving a hole in the crotch.
PLEASE STUFF WITH EU APPROVED TOY STUFFING and stitch closed.
14. Sew
diagonal top corners of head for ears.
15. Embrodier
a happy teddy face.
16. For
the scarf, cast on 60 stitches. Knit 4 rows and cast off. Then tie the scarf
onto the teddy and sew securely to the back of the neck.
Helpful Links:
Garter stitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKRAJEj7lcI
Purl – stocking stitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1gWJGGZbO4