Improving children's lives through education

Dear Lilipad friends & supporters, 

It has been an exicting three months at Lilipad and we are excited to tell you about the key initiatives we took part in: 

• Diverse storytelling workshops in Berlin: This summer, we were able to organise more workshops than ever in our Berlin libraries. We particularly focused on our libraries that are located in refugee accommodations, given most are in remote areas of the city where the cultural offerings are less accessible.
  
  Thanks to our two trained workshop facilitators and a group of dedicated volunteers (German and Arabic speakers), we were able to run storytelling workshops that incorporated various engaging art forms such as theatre, sketching and creative writing. Children were invited not only to participate but to actively become the authors of their own stories.

• Art exhibition: Last July, Lilipad was invited to take part in an art exhibition dedicated to celebrating the Middle Eastern diaspora and artists from the region in Berlin. We showcased drawings made by children who visited our libraries and all were very excited to find out that their cute pieces were going to be exhibited!

• New library in Morocco: We finalised a partnership with the large NGO SOS Villages d'Enfants Maroc aimed at opening a library in the village of Ait Ourir, an orphenage that hosts 176 children and opens its doors to another 312 from the area. Lilipad took care of financing the initial set of furniture (bookshelves, tables and chairs) and 500+ story books in Arabic and French. The library preparation was is its final stages when the disastrous earthquake hits the region on September 8th, causing significant human casualties and damage to the region.
  
  Luckily the children and adults in the Ait Ourir village are all safe, however the library opening is delayed since SOS Villages' team are all mobilised to provide emergency relief to the communities that need it the most. We expect the library to be open before the end of the year. 

Alongside the initiatives above, we maintained our core activities and dedicated efforts to finding new partnerships to start in the coming months. Your support is instrumental for a grassroots organisation like ours and we could not thank you enough for your trust. 

Best, 

Your Lilipad Team