Leyla is the inspiration behind OHBD. Since she was three and discovered that some kids don’t get the chance to go to school or to learn read, she has been involved in changing that reality. In her words, “That’s not fair and we need to fix it.” When she was seven, she started writing her …
In 2018, I had the chance to speak at a number of diverse events. These included the Society of Women Engineers Annual Conference in Minneapolis; Thompson Reuters Conference in Seattle; the Women in Tech Regatta in Amsterdam; the Women in Clean Tech and Sustainability Talks in Sunnyvale; and to MBA students at NYU’s Stern School …
Developing stories in people’s native language is of paramount importance, as people learn to read best in their mother tongue. Our students and teachers at Seeds of Africa were thrilled when they received the Ready, Set, Go! books. This enthusiasm stemmed from finally having cultural stories they can connect and relate to written in Amharic …
💐Hi IG family✋🏽This week’s big-up goes to Ellenore Angelidis, Founder & Board President of Open Hearts Big Dreams (OHBD), a nonprofit organization. Under the direction of Ellenore and her board of advisers, OHBD focuses on #Literacy, #Art and #Education in #Ethiopia. she has an amazing entrepreneurial spirit as well…enjoy her insight below: 🔻 1. Describe …
Imagine not being able to read this article or anything written into words for that matter. People often forget children’s literacy is one of the key issues still problematic in Ethiopia but also the rest of the world. That’s where the Open Hearts Big Dreams Fund comes in. Through their mission of inspiring and enabling …
This month’s blog is a guest post by D Yael Bernhard and reprinted from her site with permission. Meet Yaya! This energetic young fellow is the main character in my forthcoming picture book, Yaya, Come Here!, to be published by Open Hearts Big Dreams, a wonderful literacy program that is bringing books to over 40 million …
Making Sense of Senseless Loss and Unfair Disparities Opa and grand-daughter enjoying a great book. Generations connecting through the wonder of literacy. I have not written for a bit because there has just been too much going on. As I previously shared, my dad died unexpectedly after a fall and surgery in November. Then my …
When I helped start Ethiopia Reads in the 1990s, there was little support for childhood literacy in Ethiopia. Even though the government had lofty goals for getting more children into school (and was generally meeting those goals), many schools had under-trained teachers and no books. Ethiopia Reads focused on shipping English-language books and planting libraries …
