The Story Tree Literacy Project Seeks Publishers and Librarians to Help Children Become Polyglots

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Rezul -- The Story Tree Literacy Project has launched a pilot initiative among the Gabra of northern Kenya, and is inviting publishers and librarians to help solve a problem global literacy programs routinely miss: children in the world's most isolated communities often need books in two or three languages at once, and routinely have access to none.

The project grew out of reciprocity, not charity. It began when Dr. Constance Scharff and The Human Resilience Project (THRP) were welcomed into the Gabra community for a study of resilience among camel-herding families whose way of life is collapsing under a changing climate. The Gabra gave THRP their stories, their time, and their trust. Story Tree exists to give something back, starting with books.

The language problem looks different in every community Story Tree has visited, which is why a single-language solution fails. The Gabra have remained isolated enough to keep their mother tongue intact, but few books exist among the Gabra, and the Chalbi Desert region has no libraries at all. Without any books, in any language, Gabra children struggle to gain the English and Swahili literacy that schooling and employment require, and are pushed out of economic opportunity as a result. Elsewhere, in communities like the Māori of Aotearoa/New Zealand, generations were historically prohibited from speaking their own language, breaking the chain of transmission. The Māori might have the best example of libraries that have books both in te reo Māori and English, and have Kura Kaupapa Māori (Māori-medium schools). Much can be learned from their example of revitalizing the use of language and broadening the scope of opportunities for children to learn both mother-tongue and lingua franca.

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Story Tree's goal is to help children become polyglots by filling whichever gap a community actually has, providing books in all necessary languages for the community. That means sourcing mother-tongue literature where it exists and lingua franca literature where it is needed, treating both as necessary for children to have the greatest opportunities for higher education and future careers. A child fluent only in a home language with no path to English, Swahili, Spanish, French, etc., is cut off from higher education and jobs. A child literate only in a lingua franca with no access to their mother tongue loses deep connections to culture, place, and worldview that are vital for mental health and wellbeing. Story Tree is built to close both gaps at once, deliberately, using physical books.

That commitment runs directly into the logistics of remoteness, and the Kenya pilot exists to surface and address the issue of language literacy globally. How do books reach a desert region with no reliable transport? How are they stored and protected in climates that damage paper? Who sustains a reading culture in places with no prior library infrastructure to build on? Story Tree does not yet have full answers, and is seeking partners with the logistics and library expertise to help find them.

"In every remote community the children ask for books. Every single one," said Dr. Scharff. "We know what they need: books both in their own language and the languages that open economic doors. What we need are people who know how to get books to places no supply chain was built for, and librarians willing to help us build something worth sustaining."

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The project's ultimate goal is to be able to provide a roadmap and resources for every community that has a need, to modify and fit to their specific community and circumstances. In addition to supporting language development, the project collaborates with community partners on their community development needs.

Story Tree is seeking a small number of volunteer librarians to advise on the project, and is inviting publishers to partner on mother-tongue and lingua franca titles and, especially, on the logistics of distribution and storage in regions with minimal infrastructure. This is a search for partners with the ideas and expertise to solve a problem THRP has encountered firsthand in Kenya, Ecuador, and the other remote communities where its field research takes place.

Publishers, librarians, and logistics partners interested in the Kenya pilot, or in future sites, are invited to contact The Human Resilience Project at www.THRProject.com.

About The Story Tree Literacy Project

The Story Tree Literacy Project is a community-directed initiative that puts both mother-tongue and lingua franca books directly into the hands of children in remote and underserved communities, beginning with a pilot among the Gabra of northern Kenya. It is a project of The Human Resilience Project.