Empower Underprivileged Children Through Education

Friends,

On behalf of the Lilipad team and the communities we serve, we would like to thank you again for your generous contribution to our December 2020 fundraising campaign.

Despite the extended lockdowns in the countries in which we operate (Germany, Morocco and Uganda), we have already been able to put a significant part of your donations to use in the past 3 months. We’re proud to share this update with you today.

On February 8th, we opened our newest library in one of the biggest refugee accommodations in Berlin (GU Britz), home to 120 children. The library was supplied with 800+ books, mostly in German, and we are currently in the process of acquiring books in other languages such as Arabic, Farsi, English, etc. This will make it a truly multilingual space for the children to learn and have fun. Thanks to the support of our local partner, the library is currently open twice a week and the response from the children has been overwhelmingly positive! At this stage, Lilipad is even discussing the possibility of hiring dedicated staff for the library - ideally a youth from the community, possibly even from the accommodation itself. We believe that our role is to facilitate and create opportunities for individuals in our communities to become true change-makers, and doing so via our Lilipad librarians is an exciting initiative that we started in Uganda in 2020 and wish to reproduce today in Germany.

What have we got planned for the rest of the funds?

Thanks to the success of our latest project in Berlin, we are currently reviewing opportunities to open at least one more library - if not more! - in other refugee accommodations in Berlin. We are beyond thrilled to have formed strong bonds with our local partners (we call them ‘Local Champions’!) and thanks to their dedication and support, we are continuing to grow organically in areas where our service can have a lasting positive impact. Once the pandemic-related restrictions are lifted, we will also resume some of the activities at the heart of Lilipad’s identity, such as hosting educational events, workshops, and readings in our libraries. As mentioned earlier, we want to continue building on this model of community and youth participation by hiring more Lilipad librarians. While this would require the biggest fundraising effort we’ve ever had to go through, our experience with John, our first Lilipad librarian who was employed in Uganda in February 2020, has shown us that the presence of a young, dedicated person makes a huge difference in improving not only our service but also the overall learning opportunities for the children. John is much more than a traditional librarian; he organizes readings, helps primary school and high school children with their homework, teaches them how to type, and much more.

How can you support Lilipad’s community and its activities even further?

There are a few ways to do so:

• Reach out if you have any ideas or you would like to volunteer at Lilipad - currently, we are looking for a Partnerships Manager
• Share our project on your social media channels once again
• Single donation on Lilipad’s GlobalGiving Project page
• Set-up a monthly donation on Lilipad’s GlobalGiving page
• Let us know if the company you work for or know of any that are willing to make a corporate/gift donation

Thanks again for your support and stay tuned for the next update!

Yours,

The Lilipad Team

P.S. Please find attached pictures from our newest library in Berlin (GU Britz). Unfortunately, we could not share pictures of the kids having fun there since we need their parents' consent.