Writermorphosis visits Kids in Haiti

This Thanksgiving 2012 Writermorphosis went to Haiti to visit kids in and near the city of Cap Hatian, and to learn about their access to kid friendly books.


Here is a video of our trip, the kids, and what we discovered!

The video seems blurry on some computers so if you can't see it well, skip to the last minute of it for the fun videos of the kids we visited at a local orphanage near Cap Hatian.

Visiting the kids in the low income neighborhoods on the hill above Cap Hatian.

Visiting the kids who live down by the river where trash makes the water unsafe to drink.

Visiting the 21 kids at an Orphanage near Cap Haitian

We found that most books in Haiti are textbooks and below is the only fun kids' book we found on our entire trip. It's a coloring book that lists "Animals not found in Haiti."  It's printed in French, not Haitian Kreyol.

As in Haiti, many other impoverished countries also have hardly any children's books and very few public libraries.

This holiday season as you're considering gifts for friends, family, and especially fellow authors and rbook lovers, we hope you'll consider a gift to an organization that helps kids in "3rd world" countries get access to kids' books!

One of the largest such organizations, and one that Writermorphosis sponsors every Christmas to send books to kids who don't have access to them, is "Room to Read."   We don't advertise products for purchase here on Writermorphosis.  But we do encourage authors and Illustrators to share books with kids who need them in any way possible.  So today we're celebrating "Room to Read!"

Here's a link we hope you'll check out. It's a great video page showing how "Room to Read" is supporting and training local authors and illustrators in low-resource countries around the world, and printing and distributing children's books in new languages for global cultures who don't have access to kids' books.  It's really inspiring.  Check out the link on the webpage that says: "LOCAL LANGUAGE PUBLISHING: DRAWING ON SUCCESS TO AUTHOR CHANGE."

If that video for some reason won't play, definitely check out this great video about a 15 year old author from Nepal and how her book, published by Room to Read changed the lives of her whole family:

Please join us in considering "Room to Read" this holiday season to perhaps buy a gift, in honor of a friend, that will change the lives of hundreds of kids.

Next week we'll show you a group of children in Haiti who just might be future children's book Illustrators in the making!  Then it's back to author interviews!

Happy December!  Please share a book with a kid today.