I think I should get Blossom a frequent flyer account. All summer she's been in Bulgaria and Thailand, this month she heads to Russia, and surprise, surprise, she's also been in the Philippines.
Blossom is the main character in the Born2Fly anti-trafficking curriculum and wordless book. We've been testing the materials all over the world to teach kids about the lies traffickers tell and how to stand up to them.
Last spring an NGO in the Philippines emailed me to ask if they could be one of the test places.
Their local school district had already given them permission to teach anti-trafficking in the schools and they were about to write their own curriculum when they found out about ours.
Could they use it? Of course!
We had a few emails back and forth, and then I never heard from them. (This often happens with emails lost in cyberspace, as you know.)
So imagine my delight to receive an email from them this week that the tests have already begun!
Here's what the director wrote:
We have finished the first trial in the Philippines. [It was a small group setting] and allowed us a platform to trial it, along with getting familiar with the program and also train our staff.
Our next trial begins the last week of September and will be right here in our village with children who are 10-12 years of age. The following trial will be in November in a tribal village where the Datu or chief will be assisting us.
We have taken these trials very seriously and debriefed after every session. We want to give you a picture of how it will work in a variety of settings, with a variety of languages.
In addition to that I am almost finished the massive task of registering the program with the government department, which will certainly make the job easier for anyone else wanting to run the program in schools.
Really wonderful, isn't it? I'll let you know how it goes.
We're so grateful to all the people helping with these tests for the time and effort they're putting in to them. Their input will help thousands of others who use the materials after them--and countless children will never be trafficked as a result.
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