Betty, Ophelia,
Comfort these three women join the ranks of many who have something to teach us
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| Street girls waiting to fill their bowls with items to sell |
Theirs are just a
few of the many stories you will read about, see captured in photos and learn
about the realities of living, working and sleeping on the streets in the
capital city of Ghana in the heart of West Africa. What drives children to the
streets, what do they eat where do they sleep and how do they get off the
streets? All of those questions will be answered in the book “Stories From The
Streets…and Beyond.” An intimate look at the street children in Accra.
This kickstarter
will produce, publish and distribute the stories of Betty, Ophelia and Comfort
and so many more storytellers as we give voice and lift up their stories of
success. Follow Betty’s journey that started when her teacher impregnated her
at 16, her family shunned her after the baby was born and she was forced to
seek work on the streets of Ghana. Hers is a story of hard work and impacting
interventions by social workers from Street Girls Aid which supported and
assisted her in her struggles to build a new life for herself and her daughter.
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| The railways of Accra, Ghana |
These women’s
stories need to be shared globally, theirs are stories of hope and inspiration
and in
times of the global community seeking methods of eradicating poverty, of
searching solutions for homelessness – who better to learn from than those who
were there and triumphed over the immense challenges they faced. This
kickstarter will produce, publish and distribute these stories and others in a
collection of works called Stories from the streets and beyond
To get these stories
to publication means you joining this kickstarter. The timeline is crazy
urgent, but doable with the support and participation of everyone joining in.
The book launch is already scheduled for June 30th of this year in
Ghana.
The book launch
coincides with Street Girls Aid Ghana’s grand finale of their 20th
anniversary legacy celebrations and will in turn, kickstart their next 20 years
of serving street children…impacting generations. Learn about what that means
in this book. The former street children, (the storytellers) and their families
have been invited to attend the book launch and we can’t disappoint.
To get the books
published and delivered to Ghana by June 30th, the book need to get
to publication by June 1st – still doable, and will require your
participation. This kickstarter is going to make that happen!
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| Learn about the symbols chosen for the Street Girls Aid 20th Anniversary Legacy Fabric in the book and on the Stories From The Streets Kickstarter page |
A team of people
have been collecting the success stories from the storytellers for over a year
and they have been gathered, all that is left to be done is to produce the
pages, design the layout, edit, write connecting articles as well as some new
content and compile the photos, stories, essays and add the list of the
community who join in on this kickstarter.
The budget has been
set at $8,350 and that will cover the costs described for the production,
publication and distribution of books at the book launch on June 30th.
After the book has been launched, the book will be available on Amazon and sent
to those of you who have selected the book as one of your many fun rewards for
joining us in this effort. Any money raised over the budget that amount will
purchase more books to be distributed during the anniversary celebration event.
I’ve cleared my
calendar until this gets done, it is doable, but it is going to take all of you
participating. Check out Stories from the streets and beyond kickstarter page
for more information
about how you can make a difference and help lift these
stories.
Maya Angelou said that there is no greater agony than a story inside
you that goes untold. These brave and courageous women, former street children
have told their story, now it is up to you and me to share those stories
globally. We can do it, but the time is now and it is urgent. This kickstarter
is less than 3 weeks long, because we need to get into production immediately,
so we’re not fooling around – we need to do this.
