Ama Foundation and Global Family Village, a U.S. based charity that supports community based alternative care of children, have teamed up to help children affected by the recent earthquakes, bringing them a storybook called, “Gita and Shyam: The Day The Earth Shook.”
The storybook was written to help children deal with the aftermath of disasters. The book was first published in English in 2008 by the author, Chandra Ghosh, and funded by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network in the U.S. It has been readapted for other natural disasters and translated into Spanish, Japanese, and Hindi.
Dr. Kishor Shrestha, Board member of Global Family Village-Nepal led the adaptation and translation of the story to fit the Nepali context. The storybook was reviewed by experts at the Ministry of Education, and revised with the full collaboration of the author, Mrs. Ghosh, and the illustrator, Erich Ippen.
As part of our mission to help children traumatized and displaced by the earthquake, Ama Foundation joined with Global Family Village to fund the first printing of the book and distribute it to the most severely affected districts. The are 66 resettlement camps throughout earthquake affected areas, and the storybook will be given to children, teachers, counselors, and caregivers in each of these camps.
This young boy received the book through his school.
A schoolgirl with her copy of Gita and Shyam
A second edition is being planned for wider distribution in schools and children’s organizations, with the goal of placing the storybook into the hands of every child throughout Nepal.