A Pandemic Pivot

While “pandemic” may be the obvious choice for 2020’s “Word of the Year,” another great option would be “pivot.” So many people have had to pivot in so many ways.

One of the ways in which WE have pivoted this past year has been with our Begin With Books project in Mali. The original award terms were to create four hundred books in two local languages, and additionally adapt twenty of the books into Malian sign language. Because of COVID, we received an award modification to create fifteen additional COVID or health-related books, with a faster turnaround—books that would help with the positive spread of accurate health information in language communities that might not otherwise have that available.

We started by creating or translating five books into French and then translated them into two local languages, Soninke and Sénoufo / mamara. These picture books are designed for younger readers and are not necessarily geared toward an educational setting. With them, we aim to  teach children in these language communities about COVID and other illnesses and the role even children can play in fighting disease. These books are accessible to the visually impaired, with audio recorded for the entire book—including picture descriptions.

Three of the books were adapted from the Bloom library. One is the community responsibility oriented “Sniffles,” which tells the story of a little girl with sniffles who, instead of taking a break to rest and get better, plays soccer with her friends. Because of this, the little girl’s teammates all get sick and she ultimately has less time on the soccer field. Another book is “Preventing Illness,” which is a straightforward illustrated book describing best practices for preventing illness. The third book, “Hello, My Name is Coronavirus,” features Coronavirus itself as the main character, providing useful information in a fun, unique way.

The final two books are actually from a story written by Hazel Large, our project manager in Mali. She adapted her story “Aminata and the Red Spiky Ball” for two different reading levels—with a simpler version geared toward younger children. This story is intended to resonate with children in these Malian language communities, introducing COVID in a way they can understand. They tell of a little girl named Aminata, who likes to listen in on grownup conversations and overhears talk of a red, spiky ball that makes people very sick. She takes this literally, and begins searching for the ball until her grandmother corrects the misunderstanding and explains the virus to her.

We love this story and love that it was created with the local cultures specifically in mind. We love it so much, in fact, that we’ve translated it into English and created a multi-voice audio version of the book. We’ve posted it as a video so you can see for yourself the great work our collaborators have been doing, as they’ve pivoted to meet the challenges of this past year.