AFGHAN CHILDRENS SONGBOOK AND LITERACY INC
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Mission Statement
The mission statement is: • To preserve and return traditional Afghan children’s songs and folktales to children and their families both inside Afghanistan and those who have immigrated around the world. • To preserve and honor the rich musical and cultural heritage of Afghanistan • To use the songbooks and folktale books as an educational tool to enhance basic literacy skills for Afghan children and adults • To enhance basic literacy skills of Afghan women, many of whom have suffered from years of oppression, using the songbooks and folktale books and educational resources. • To shift perceptions of Afghanistan and Afghans outside Afghanistan, through presentations and other vehicles in order to honor culture and build mutual understanding and respect. Years of war and instability have threatened the survival of the rich cultural heritage that helps define Afghanistan and what it means to be Afghan. As one Afghan said in a BBC film regarding the censorship of music, ("Breaking the Silence”) “When they [the Taliban] took our music, they took our soul." The same is true for any cultural artifact, be it folklore, dance, music or art. It is imperative that these cultural treasures remain alive and vibrant throughout Afghanistan. Weaving them into the fiber of education is a wonderful place to start. So much of education in Afghanistan, over many, many decades, has been based in rote learning which is not only boring and uninteresting but rather ineffective. Having children read and learn stories that they are relevant to their lives makes learning interesting and fun and thus instills a pride and understanding of their culture. Relevant experience and background of primary contributors to the project Dr. Louise Pascale, Executive Director of the Afghan Children's Songbook & Literacy project oversees the organization. Louise's first experience working with Afghans was in 1966 when she spent 2 ½ years in the U.S. Peace Corps. In 2002 she created the Afghan Songbook project and in 2009 returned to Afghanistan to both evaluate the project and determine next steps. She has published several articles about the project, contributed to a chapter in Children of Afghanistan (2014) Eds. Ashraf Zahedi & Jennifer Heath, presented a TEDx talk – Returning Music to the Children of Afghanistan, and was awarded the Champion of Education Award by CW4WAfghan at their Annual meeting in Ottawa in 2016. The project has been recognized nationally and internationally and Louise has been interviewed by numerous international and national TV and radio stations. Louise's twenty- year experience in arts in education provides her with the background and expertise needed for this project. Since its inception in 2002, the Afghan Children’s Songbook Project has published and distributed over 50,000 copies of two songbooks and a book of traditional Afghan children’s folktales to schools, orphanages, libraries and family centers across Afghanistan. Each book also has an accompanying teacher’s guide with specific lessons that are designed to improve basic literacy skills through the use of the music and folktale books. Louise created the Afghan Songbook Project initially when she realized that Taliban, in the 1990’s, had forbidden all music. Not a sound was allowed. Mother’s were not allowed to hum to their children. Louise realized she had a copy of a songbook she had created in the Peace Corps and perhaps this was the only copy left in existence and moreover there was an entire generation of children who had not heard a note of music. She vowed to return the music to the Afghan children and then Afghan Songbook Project was born! Given the recent takeover once again of the Taliban in August, 2021, music is once again banned completely. And there are tens of thousands of Afghans displaced around the world. Most schools in Afghanistan are closed and no girls are allowed to attend school. Given this dire situation, the Afghan Songbook Project is now working to convert the two songbooks, the folktale book and the accompanying teacher’s guide all to a digital format. They will all have visuals, audio, and English translation. This format will allow easy access to Afghan living both inside and outside of Afghanistan. Afghans, more than ever, need connections to their community, their identity and the arts bring that to any culture. This project strives to provide Afghans anywhere in the world with a ‘connection to their soul.’
About This Cause
Relevant experience and background of primary contributors to the project Dr. Louise Pascale, Executive Director of the Afghan Children's Songbook & Literacy project oversees the organization. Louise's first experience working with Afghans was in 1966 when she spent 2 ½ years in the U.S. Peace Corps. In 2002 she created the Afghan Songbook project and in 2009 returned to Afghanistan to both evaluate the project and determine next steps. She has published several articles about the project, contributed to a chapter in Children of Afghanistan (2014) Eds. Ashraf Zahedi & Jennifer Heath, presented a TEDx talk – Returning Music to the Children of Afghanistan, and was awarded the Champion of Education Award by CW4WAfghan at their Annual meeting in Ottawa in 2016. The project has been recognized nationally and internationally and Louise has been interviewed by numerous international and national TV and radio stations. Louise's twenty- year experience in arts in education provides her with the background and expertise needed for this project. The major partner and contributor of the project is TriVision, an Afghan family-owned business located in Washington, DC and Kabul. TriVision has supported the Afghan Songbook Project since 2005 when the first songbook was designed and printed. They have since printed and helped distribute all the books in Afghanistan. Only recently did their Kabul office close due to the Taliban takeover. TriVision is an creative marketing, media and video production agency that works to serve a large clientele of Afghan musician, artists, educators, etc. They are playing a major role in converting all the books to a digital format. The Songbook Project has been supported in the past by the U.S. State Dept., Aga Khan Fdn., Bayat Fdn., Canadian Women for Afghan Women ( CW4WAfghan) as well as many smaller foundations.