The Gift of Learning #GivingTuesday
Tax deductible
Give the Gift of Learning on #GivingTuesday
Help us complete our curriculum and spread learning and empowerment to hundreds of children in Cameroon!
Chasing Two Rabbits at Once is a mobile pre-primary school that enables Baka hunter-gatherer children to learn vital literacy skills, without having to give up their forest lifestyle. We use durable mp3 devices, powered entirely by hand crank, to deliver our specially developed pre-primary curriculum with lessons, games, and songs in the Baka language and style. When schooling is fun, fits their culture and nomadic lifestyle, and helps them to be proud of their identity, kids can become learners and leaders for life.
Who are these Rabbits, and why are we chasing them?
Our name comes from a Baka father, who summarized the challenge of trying to teach his daughter both traditional (forest-based) and modern (school-based) education: “you cannot chase two rabbits at once: if you try, you will lose them both.” Before Two Rabbits, spending time in school meant missed opportunities to learn essential forest survival skills, and vice versa. Kids would graduate from primary school illiterate (yes, schooling was that ineffective), and also without knowing how to hunt, fish, or gather. Our program enables Baka children to chase both “rabbits”: to strengthen their ancestral knowledge, while also learning to read, write, and speak French.
The Baka are hunter-gatherers whose forest home is the lifeblood of their culture – many Baka say that they and the forest are one and the same. But their home is quickly disappearing, due to logging, mining, and poaching. Without being able to read or speak French, the Baka have no way to defend their ancestral heritage or tell their story to the world. We are building in children the literacy, language, and cultural pride to defend their rights as a people.
Our Approach
Think of us like the Baka Sesame Street. Two Rabbits uses songs, games, dance, stories, and imagination, all incorporating the forest, to make learning a fun adventure for everyone. We know that, around the world, education is the key to fighting illiteracy and oppression. We build powerful and confident learners in a way that is exciting and joyful. We have four pillars to our approach:
1. Our curriculum: Our Baka content developers, voice actors, language specialists, and curriculum experts have so far developed two out of three trimesters of interactive lessons and games.
2. Our music: the renowned Baka musical group, Baka Gbine, has created 12 educational songs on literacy, life skills (such as health and hygiene), and Baka culture.
3. Our technology: Durable mp3 players, loaded up with these lessons and distributed to villages, literally putting learning in the community's hands.
4. Our teachers: Finally, we have two lesson facilitators in each village, who we have trained to guide children through the program as they move through the forest together.
The power of education for all
Education is the most powerful tool that we have to build healthier, empowered, and just communities around the world. Cameroon’s own Samuel Eto’o has called education our “most formidable weapon” to fight injustice in his country, in reference to reversing the terrorist group Boko Haram’s advances in the North. Together, we can bring learning to children who may otherwise never have the chance to read a single word, write their names, or tell the world their story with their own voice.
We have come so far – from an idea born in Baka parents and community leaders to a full-fledged program teaching more than 150 children this year. It is the support of our friends, family, and communities that have made this possible. We have just three more months of curriculum left to create in order to complete our program – we are so close to our goal, it is hard to believe. With a full year of curriculum done, we can spread learning wherever Baka children may be found just by distributing more mp3 players and training facilitators. We are only three months of lessons and $10,000 away from making our dream a reality.
Join our community
As we race towards the finish line, we want you to be there with us. Not just cheering on the sidelines, but running alongside us. Your support propels us to make quality, culturally adapted education a reality for hundreds of children, a vital counter-point to the mounting oppression and violence facing the world today. As you prepare for the holiday season and think of gifts for your loved ones, think of the gift of education: a fire that you can ignite in someone that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. As for our gift to you, when you choose from our menu of giving options, you will receive a special token of appreciation from our team and from our students.
But please, don’t just give! When you submit your donation, tell us what education means to you. Why have you chosen to invest in Baka children’s future today? Share your story with us, and share our story with you friends and family, to spread the power of learning as far as our voices can carry.
Help us complete our curriculum and spread learning and empowerment to hundreds of children in Cameroon!
Chasing Two Rabbits at Once is a mobile pre-primary school that enables Baka hunter-gatherer children to learn vital literacy skills, without having to give up their forest lifestyle. We use durable mp3 devices, powered entirely by hand crank, to deliver our specially developed pre-primary curriculum with lessons, games, and songs in the Baka language and style. When schooling is fun, fits their culture and nomadic lifestyle, and helps them to be proud of their identity, kids can become learners and leaders for life.
Who are these Rabbits, and why are we chasing them?
Our name comes from a Baka father, who summarized the challenge of trying to teach his daughter both traditional (forest-based) and modern (school-based) education: “you cannot chase two rabbits at once: if you try, you will lose them both.” Before Two Rabbits, spending time in school meant missed opportunities to learn essential forest survival skills, and vice versa. Kids would graduate from primary school illiterate (yes, schooling was that ineffective), and also without knowing how to hunt, fish, or gather. Our program enables Baka children to chase both “rabbits”: to strengthen their ancestral knowledge, while also learning to read, write, and speak French.
The Baka are hunter-gatherers whose forest home is the lifeblood of their culture – many Baka say that they and the forest are one and the same. But their home is quickly disappearing, due to logging, mining, and poaching. Without being able to read or speak French, the Baka have no way to defend their ancestral heritage or tell their story to the world. We are building in children the literacy, language, and cultural pride to defend their rights as a people.
Our Approach
Think of us like the Baka Sesame Street. Two Rabbits uses songs, games, dance, stories, and imagination, all incorporating the forest, to make learning a fun adventure for everyone. We know that, around the world, education is the key to fighting illiteracy and oppression. We build powerful and confident learners in a way that is exciting and joyful. We have four pillars to our approach:
1. Our curriculum: Our Baka content developers, voice actors, language specialists, and curriculum experts have so far developed two out of three trimesters of interactive lessons and games.
2. Our music: the renowned Baka musical group, Baka Gbine, has created 12 educational songs on literacy, life skills (such as health and hygiene), and Baka culture.
3. Our technology: Durable mp3 players, loaded up with these lessons and distributed to villages, literally putting learning in the community's hands.
4. Our teachers: Finally, we have two lesson facilitators in each village, who we have trained to guide children through the program as they move through the forest together.
The power of education for all
Education is the most powerful tool that we have to build healthier, empowered, and just communities around the world. Cameroon’s own Samuel Eto’o has called education our “most formidable weapon” to fight injustice in his country, in reference to reversing the terrorist group Boko Haram’s advances in the North. Together, we can bring learning to children who may otherwise never have the chance to read a single word, write their names, or tell the world their story with their own voice.
We have come so far – from an idea born in Baka parents and community leaders to a full-fledged program teaching more than 150 children this year. It is the support of our friends, family, and communities that have made this possible. We have just three more months of curriculum left to create in order to complete our program – we are so close to our goal, it is hard to believe. With a full year of curriculum done, we can spread learning wherever Baka children may be found just by distributing more mp3 players and training facilitators. We are only three months of lessons and $10,000 away from making our dream a reality.
Join our community
As we race towards the finish line, we want you to be there with us. Not just cheering on the sidelines, but running alongside us. Your support propels us to make quality, culturally adapted education a reality for hundreds of children, a vital counter-point to the mounting oppression and violence facing the world today. As you prepare for the holiday season and think of gifts for your loved ones, think of the gift of education: a fire that you can ignite in someone that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. As for our gift to you, when you choose from our menu of giving options, you will receive a special token of appreciation from our team and from our students.
But please, don’t just give! When you submit your donation, tell us what education means to you. Why have you chosen to invest in Baka children’s future today? Share your story with us, and share our story with you friends and family, to spread the power of learning as far as our voices can carry.
Organizer
Sarah Tucker
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC
Chasing Two Rabbits At Once
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
