Have you ever heard the saying “you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy”? Similarly, the Portuguese may have left Goa centuries ago but when it comes to other aspects, they are still here. Think art, music, culture, and even architecture and you still see the Portuguese influence in everything. Children in Goa also still learn Portuguese as a third language. It’s led to an amazing collaboration between a Goan school and a Portuguese one. The Communicare Trust unveiled the book just ahead of World Water Day, which was yesterday.
The Communicare Trust
Located in Dona Paula, the Communicare Trust is an NGO that aims at teaching interested individuals a variety of European languages like Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and others. They also teach a variety of Indian languages, Konkani being among these. Nalini Elvino de Sousa heads the centre. They also do volunteer work, the most popular of which is the Food Bank Initiative usually at Christmas time. Visit them on their official page, Facebook or LinkedIn to find out more.
The book titled ‘Histórias Daqui e Dali’
The Communicare Trust unveiled this book just ahead of World Water Day celebrations as the theme was related to water pollution. The title translates into ‘Stories from Here and Beyond’. This unique collaborative project involved 400 (200 from each) school students from India and Portugal.
The students are from Auxilium High School, Caranzalem, Goa and Alberta Menéres School located in Sintra, Portugal. ‘Histórias Daqui e Dali’ focuses on the crisis of water pollution. Readers get to learn the thoughts and views of children in the age group of 10-12 years on this issue.
It is filled with stories and illustrations that center around this theme. Readers go on a voyage across different water bodies in an attempt to inspire new ways to combat this crisis. The book is written in 4 languages; English, Portuguese, Hindi, and Konkani.
‘Histórias Daqui e Dali’ was launched in Goa by Inês Figueira, Delegate, Fundação Oriente, Sister Celine Pinto, Principal of Auxilium School, Rui Andrade and Raquel Salgueiro from Portugal and Nalini Elvino de Sousa, Manager of Communicare Trust.
An absolute inspiration
‘Histórias Daqui e Dali’ is an amazing book that has been authored by 400 (200 at each school) students in total. The students are from Auxilium High School, Caranzalem, Goa and Alberta Menéres School located in Sintra, Portugal. The book focuses on the crisis of water pollution and offers readers a peek into thoughts and aspirations of children between ages 10 to 12 years and their views on this issue.
The Communicare Trust came up with the idea for the book and then initiated the collaboration between the schools and countries. With water pollution as the theme, students were asked to write two stories on the same. These were then exchanged and illustrations were created for them based on what was written. In addition, the students also made two animated short films based on the stories.
A few words…
The first story titled ‘Amália and the Shell beach’ is written by the students from Alberta Menéres School from Portugal and is illustrated by the students of Auxilium High School, Caranzalem. The second story titled, ‘Uma Aventura Subaquática” which means ‘The Underwater Adventure’ is about the Mandovi River and the solution to the litter dumped into the waters. This story is penned by the students of Auxilium High School, Caranzalem, Goa and illustrated by the students from Alberta Menéres School, Sintra, Portugal.
Says Nalini Elvino de Sousa who manages the Communicare Trust, “This is just the beginning, we plan to take this project to more countries. We know that students learn a lot more about different cultures and traditions through the exchange of idea sharing based on simple themes which are a global issue such as water pollution.”
Said Sister Celine Pinto, Principal, Auxilium School, “The collaboration between the two schools from two different countries to produce this book was something we have never done before. We thank Communicare Trust for taking up the initiative.”
Added Danica Da Silva Pereira, Illustrator who contributed to the book said, “I feel like I came into this project by chance, as an illustrator I did not get the opportunity to work with children and illustrate a book written by children. I am thankful to Nalini and Communicare Trust for giving me this opportunity, I have gained a lot of experience working with the students, I am grateful.”
The book will be launched in Portugal on the 14th of May in the presence of Ambassador of India in Portugal- K Nandini Singla and UNESCO. The book has been supported by Dempo Group of Industries, the Ministry of Culture in Portugal, Portuguese based companies Águas de Portugal and Resiquimica. It carries the seal of UNESCO.
Information credit – The Communicare Trust
ItsGoa/MAR/KDGP
