I really loved The Water Princess, Don't Spill the Milk, and One Plastic Bag, as they show both some great glimpses into the culture and broach issues (like the struggle for water or recycling) but in a kid-friendly manner. And we love Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah about Emmanuel in Ghana! Juanito gets a kick out of Kimmel's Anasi books and José really enjoyed the animals in Two Ways to Count to Ten. And we have fallen in love with the Anna Hibiscus series.
We spent some time watching videos about Compassion's work in Burkina Faso and Togo. And then we wrote letters to our Compassion friends!
Juanito's narration:
Penda's mommy was going to bring the milk to daddy in the grasslands. But Penda wanted to carry the milk to daddy. She want past the desert, and past the dancers, and into a stinky fishing boat. and then she carried it past the giraffes, and up a hill to papa. But then a mango fell and all the milk splashed everywhere and they ate the mango. And then she brought back a piece of the mango for mommy.
- Don't Spill the Milk
Rosie's narration:
Gei Gei looked at the stars, and she said she's a princess. She woke up and she got water. She wanted the water to come to her, it did not come to her. She kicked the dust and she was worried. She walked to the water far away. She walked with her mama. They walked a long time. And they walked a lot and they played with friends. And the mami said come, and they walked home. They ate, they drank and she runned to the papi. She drank water. And then she went to bed. And that's the end.
- The Water Princess
We made gumbo from Burkina Faso, and peanut stew and cookies from Nigeria thanks to my favorite cookbook, Extending the Table. We also had mangoes and pineapple!
For co-op activities, we mimicked traditional adinkra printing, as well as spending time watching some of the Deserts episode of Human Planet.
Next we are heading to Argentina!
Here are the previous countries in the series:
About Hannah Hinojosa...Hannah is a long time Compassion sponsor and writes about her sponsorship journey at Because of Shamim. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is a part-time math professor and loves to read.
