Make A Step Book Smart Excellence Hub (Phase 1)
Donation protected
THE BOOK STEP !!!!
Greetings beautiful people,
For those who know us, you will know Make a Step is always brainstorming ways in which can continue to serve young people through the arts, education and sports.
What we have accomplished up to today is because of your inspiration, support and kindness towards our missions to serve our youth in the UK and abroad.
Ever since 2017 when we visited the Gambia for a collaboration with ECFL(Educating Children For Life) delivering creative workshops at Bakau Lower Basic School. There was a prolific sense of home and community. It was truly amazing and we shared our gifts, skills, stories, culture, food and gained deeper insight to our roots in Gambia and in the continent . Since then we have served through workshops, donations and by collaborating with humanitarian groups in the regions of Bakau, Willingara Village and Misranding.
Over the past 3 years our communities have been donating stationary, learning materials, clothes and books to mekahstep and now your support will enable us to create something that will serve with much longevity.
We are very Excited to share this with you!!
OUR WHY?
So here's the thing, ever since we have known ourselves we have been sharing our stories,our pain, our power,our history and events of significance to each other in one medium or another.
In west African culture particularly we learn that Storytelling has manifested in many ways and was used to serve many purposes. It was used to interpret the universe, resolve natural and physical phenomena, teach morals, maintain cultural values, pass on methods of survival, and to praise God.
Oral storytelling is and has been one of the most long lived traditions of African history, but now however with some liberty and advancement in technologies we are moving into a new era, where we are documenting and articulating experience, preserving the genealogies, culture, interest and heritage using different means. Whether that be oral, books, videos or via social media.
On our travels we found through our workshops a gap and room for development in the areas of reading, writing and literacy.There were times our young people lacked confidence when asked to read especially because our workshops are designed with emphasis on sharing and presenting ideas and experiences.
We then looked at the statistics although questionable which gave us some insight to the literacy rate on a bigger scale.
This is the literacy rate from (source : theodora.com in 2015.
Total population: 55.5%
male: 63.9%
female: 47.6%
It also showed Gambia’s youthful age structure – almost 60% of the population is under the age of 25
We Dont want too lose this!
So Mek Ah Step has been inspired to create a space where young people will have access to the books/ reading/ developing practical skills for learning and creating literature in the Gambia.
We aim to ship all the book donations we have received to date and pilot the programme with the aim of building our own learning Centre in the near future.
So we have been working closely with Bruce Grove Youth Space to bring you BOOK SMART EXCELLENCE which will be a community learning hub for young people in Gambia to access reading materials, develop practical skills for learning, enhance writing skills, learn language and share stories.
A LITTLE ABOUT US !
Youth Space is for young people in Haringey who are aged between 11 and 19 (up to 25 years old where there is a specific additional need or disability). Youth Space make use of a wide range of informal learning opportunities to enable young people to feel safe, to develop as individuals and to participate, and contribute, as valued members of our community.
As well as delivering key programmes and activities, we support external and partnership projects to promote the same values and skills for young people.
Make A Step CIC delivers creative arts and sports workshops locally and around the world.
Make A Step workshops are specifically tailored for each group and explore various forms of creativity, arts and sports activities.The workshops are aimed at 5 - 16 years old and aid to discover and optimise personal and social development.
WHAT WE NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN :
Stage 1 : This will be our pilot phase.
Cost : The raised funds will:
-Ship the donations of books
-Rent a shop space, where we set up space
-Build shelves and create safe space with -Tapestry and Space dividers
-Provide Computers and online facilities
-Culinary equipment
-Staff
-Travel expenses
-Training
-System Setup
Following the success of stage 1, we aim to build our own space, where we can offer more educational tools and skills to the wider community in The Gambia
The Book Smart Excellence hub will facilitate the following :
Tea room
Smoothies
Herbal teas
Fruit
Coffee
These will be sold from the hub, so we can sustain the project.
And offer these Services :
Book lending
Book clubs
Spelling Bees
Writing workshops
Language classes
Story telling
Poetry
Events
Homework support
Maths/ Literacy
Access to Computers/Tablet
Printer
Stories preserve culture and pass on cultural knowledge from one generation to another. In essence, stories keep cultures alive. Stories provide a timeless link to ancient traditions, legends, myths, and archetypes. But they also connect us to universal truths about ourselves and our world.
It is important for our future generations to keep the tradition of storytelling and begin to document and engage more with African Literature.
How you can support :
1.Donate unwanted books from any of these genres; Fiction, Science Fiction, History, Academic, African literature,Culture, Self Help, Information Text, autobiographies, Poetry, Language
Or Equipment: Computers, Tablets, Printers, Stationary, Culinary Equipment, Furniture
2. A Monetary Donation to assist us in covering the initial running costs.
3. Share this with friends and family that may be interested in BSE ;)
4. Attend our fundraising event :)
-Mek AhStep FITATHON :
Sunday 13th December 2020 ; Location : Zoom Time : 12:00 - 14: 00 (GMT)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mas-fitathon-tickets-130934736321
5. Follow us on our social media platforms @mekahstep
Greetings beautiful people,
For those who know us, you will know Make a Step is always brainstorming ways in which can continue to serve young people through the arts, education and sports.
What we have accomplished up to today is because of your inspiration, support and kindness towards our missions to serve our youth in the UK and abroad.
Ever since 2017 when we visited the Gambia for a collaboration with ECFL(Educating Children For Life) delivering creative workshops at Bakau Lower Basic School. There was a prolific sense of home and community. It was truly amazing and we shared our gifts, skills, stories, culture, food and gained deeper insight to our roots in Gambia and in the continent . Since then we have served through workshops, donations and by collaborating with humanitarian groups in the regions of Bakau, Willingara Village and Misranding.
Over the past 3 years our communities have been donating stationary, learning materials, clothes and books to mekahstep and now your support will enable us to create something that will serve with much longevity.
We are very Excited to share this with you!!
OUR WHY?
So here's the thing, ever since we have known ourselves we have been sharing our stories,our pain, our power,our history and events of significance to each other in one medium or another.
In west African culture particularly we learn that Storytelling has manifested in many ways and was used to serve many purposes. It was used to interpret the universe, resolve natural and physical phenomena, teach morals, maintain cultural values, pass on methods of survival, and to praise God.
Oral storytelling is and has been one of the most long lived traditions of African history, but now however with some liberty and advancement in technologies we are moving into a new era, where we are documenting and articulating experience, preserving the genealogies, culture, interest and heritage using different means. Whether that be oral, books, videos or via social media.
On our travels we found through our workshops a gap and room for development in the areas of reading, writing and literacy.There were times our young people lacked confidence when asked to read especially because our workshops are designed with emphasis on sharing and presenting ideas and experiences.
We then looked at the statistics although questionable which gave us some insight to the literacy rate on a bigger scale.
This is the literacy rate from (source : theodora.com in 2015.
Total population: 55.5%
male: 63.9%
female: 47.6%
It also showed Gambia’s youthful age structure – almost 60% of the population is under the age of 25
We Dont want too lose this!
So Mek Ah Step has been inspired to create a space where young people will have access to the books/ reading/ developing practical skills for learning and creating literature in the Gambia.
We aim to ship all the book donations we have received to date and pilot the programme with the aim of building our own learning Centre in the near future.
So we have been working closely with Bruce Grove Youth Space to bring you BOOK SMART EXCELLENCE which will be a community learning hub for young people in Gambia to access reading materials, develop practical skills for learning, enhance writing skills, learn language and share stories.
A LITTLE ABOUT US !
Youth Space is for young people in Haringey who are aged between 11 and 19 (up to 25 years old where there is a specific additional need or disability). Youth Space make use of a wide range of informal learning opportunities to enable young people to feel safe, to develop as individuals and to participate, and contribute, as valued members of our community.
As well as delivering key programmes and activities, we support external and partnership projects to promote the same values and skills for young people.
Make A Step CIC delivers creative arts and sports workshops locally and around the world.
Make A Step workshops are specifically tailored for each group and explore various forms of creativity, arts and sports activities.The workshops are aimed at 5 - 16 years old and aid to discover and optimise personal and social development.
WHAT WE NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN :
Stage 1 : This will be our pilot phase.
Cost : The raised funds will:
-Ship the donations of books
-Rent a shop space, where we set up space
-Build shelves and create safe space with -Tapestry and Space dividers
-Provide Computers and online facilities
-Culinary equipment
-Staff
-Travel expenses
-Training
-System Setup
Following the success of stage 1, we aim to build our own space, where we can offer more educational tools and skills to the wider community in The Gambia
The Book Smart Excellence hub will facilitate the following :
Tea room
Smoothies
Herbal teas
Fruit
Coffee
These will be sold from the hub, so we can sustain the project.
And offer these Services :
Book lending
Book clubs
Spelling Bees
Writing workshops
Language classes
Story telling
Poetry
Events
Homework support
Maths/ Literacy
Access to Computers/Tablet
Printer
Stories preserve culture and pass on cultural knowledge from one generation to another. In essence, stories keep cultures alive. Stories provide a timeless link to ancient traditions, legends, myths, and archetypes. But they also connect us to universal truths about ourselves and our world.
It is important for our future generations to keep the tradition of storytelling and begin to document and engage more with African Literature.
How you can support :
1.Donate unwanted books from any of these genres; Fiction, Science Fiction, History, Academic, African literature,Culture, Self Help, Information Text, autobiographies, Poetry, Language
Or Equipment: Computers, Tablets, Printers, Stationary, Culinary Equipment, Furniture
2. A Monetary Donation to assist us in covering the initial running costs.
3. Share this with friends and family that may be interested in BSE ;)
4. Attend our fundraising event :)
-Mek AhStep FITATHON :
Sunday 13th December 2020 ; Location : Zoom Time : 12:00 - 14: 00 (GMT)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mas-fitathon-tickets-130934736321
5. Follow us on our social media platforms @mekahstep
Organiser
Haylee Venus
Organiser
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