Ojibway Language Books for Children
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Roxanne
Martin
, ON
Yes
First Nations, Métis and Inuit people.
Cultural and language program.
Less than a year
Ojibwa Baby Books- Birth to Age 5- Basic Ojibwa Language shown in basic pictures of objects in Ojibwa Language.Book subjects include: numbers,colours,food,etc.
Start-Up (a project that is just getting started)
If this project starts production, it will create jobs for many anishinaabe people in nearby reservations. I want to open up my business somewhere close to my area and hire the majority of my staff as anishinaabe employees. I also need help with distributing my books all over Canada and would also love to have connections within Canada to keep it as Canadian as I possibly can. This project will not only benefit our people but also the missing link that was lost in our own history. It would be so beautiful to see my generation all talking in harmony with our own langauge. I know it can happen but with every little help I get, I further myself along in reaching my goals.
I hope to achieve mass production and every household that has a child owns my Ojibwa Books :)
I believe within five years, the anishinaabe culture will slowly be making a come back and producing locally owned goods and trading within Canada. I would really like to see my books available at libraries, local grocery stores, at your local pow wows, colleges, and universities, the possibilities are endless! I'm also hoping to create anishinaabe baby fashion as well as accessories and maybe one day it will lead me to produce children's television shows in English/ Ojibway.
The reason why I wanted to start creating Ojibwa Baby Books was because I wanted to teach my son Ojibwa words but could never find anything available for me to purchase that was local or convenient. It also frustrated me that every book thats available for children is either in English, French or Spanish. I'm also a student in the Fine Arts/Anishinaabemowin courses at my University and it finally clued in to me that why not make childrens books in Ojibwa, incorporate your artwork into the books and produce something that you love and will benefit everyone. All of my teachers seen my books that I put together and thought they were an amazing idea. There will always be children coming into this world everyday, and with these books, we can help them to know their own identity with language!
My Ojibwa teacher Howard Webkamigad sure is a major influence on my idea because without him, I would not know the language thats processed in my books.
Eddie Benton-Banaise Bawdwaywudin- he's my teacher in anishinaabe social movements but also a major role model in my eyes. He has also created several childrens books about the history of our culture and published the famous "mishomis book."
I would also like to acknowledge Dawnis Kennedy for believing in my dreams about my passion to better educate our anishinaabe youth. She's amazing support and will help me in any cultural research I need.
I need space roughly 20 feet by 20 feet just to have the available room to create and brainstorm. I need to produce atleast 10 good copy books before I go to any publishing agency, so I would need about 3 people to help me create these books completely. I would need materials like paper, fabrics, scissors, glues, stencils, etc to create the books for later publishing.
No (skip next two questions)