THE TRAVELING BOOK

Children’s book campaign highlights the inspiring first-person accounts of girls and boys fleeing the Venezuela regional crisis

By Education Cannot Wait

April 19^th, 2021

Spanish Portuguese

Education Cannot Wait, Plan International and global partners launch second edition of children’s book campaign. Read the new book and share your stories. Together, we can shed light on the real stories of refugee children and youth fleeing the largest humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere.

“It was a little difficult. I had to leave my family, my country, my work, my home. Finding our new homes here, we were received with much love, caring and humility.” - Refugee fleeing the Venezuelan regional crisis to Colombia as recounted in the new book.

Download the book and join the conversation at www.ellibroviajero.com

What would you ask a refugee child fleeing the Venezuela regional crisis? How have you grown, how have you suffered? What are your dreams? What is your happiest experience in the new country? How can education bring you hope and opportunity? How can we, as a global community, do better to treat refugees with the dignity, respect and basic human rights they deserve?

These are just some of the questions that migrants and refugees from the Venezuelan regional crisis were asked as part of a new children’s book campaign called El Libro Viajero (The Traveling Book).

The campaign and accompanying book, podcasts and story-telling challenge was launched with support from Education Cannot Wait, Plan International and other key partners, and delivered through El Derecho a No Obedecer and Corporación Otraparte, two Colombia-based organizations inspired by the teachings and legacy of philosopher Fernando González.

More than a book, El Libro Viajero is an awareness and grassroots initiative against xenophobia. A campaign for human rights and human dignity. A campaign to share the power of education in building a more peaceful, more prosperous world.

The campaign places Venezuelan migrants’ and refugees’ stories at the center of the narrative. It unveils real stories behind a crisis that has forced some 5.4 million refugees and migrants from their homes. This is the largest forced displacement in the history of South America – and the second globally, after the Syrian exodus.

The stories communicate the unparalleled courage, resilience and hope for a better future. They humanize the trials and travails of migrant and refugee children. In doing so, these stories provide a new way to open a global dialogue on the power of education in connecting our global humanity to respond to the needs of refugee children and youth.

Through powerful hand-written accounts and drawings, migrants and refugee children and their families share the first-person accounts, emotions and worldviews of their journeys to a new land.

The book also celebrates the gracious and empathetic people of Colombia who have warmly opened their arms to the newcomers, featuring letters from Colombians who generously express their enthusiasm for those who had no option but to relocate and adapt to a new land and a new culture.

This humanitarian stance has been embraced by the Government of Colombia, which recently announced a special programme to provide a temporary protection status for Venezuelans. This enables them to be included in Colombia’s national vaccination plan and for young Venezuelans to access rights, such as education, while their parents are potentially allowed to work.

"The migrant story is dreamed in the depths of individuality and manifests itself with all the strength of the collective." - El Libro Viajero

Letter exchange between Alexandra, a young refugee from Venezuela, and Isis, a girl from Colombia. Source: Souce: El Libro Viajero website

From family struggles to the confusions of having to adapt to a new cultural environment, the book is a collection of stories that do not always reach the mainstream media - forgotten stories of the uniquely human and uniquely inspiring lives of migrants who miss their homeland but are finding new hope in Colombia.

Filled with stories of pain, trauma, gratitude, love and happiness, the second edition also pays homage to the remarkable resilience of migrant and refugee children.

“Like migratory birds, many children begin their migration even when their wings have not developed.” - El Libro Viajero

Children are encouraged to submit new pictures and stories through the El Libro Viajero website. Through each scribble of a crayon and slash of a marker, a powerful and personal story unfolds that further humanizes an unthinkable ordeal. Moreover, through a new podcast, new testimonials are being shared every day.

Click here to download the Second Version of the El Libro Viajero.

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