PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — It is with great pleasure, that I have participated in the children book week in Curacao, said Loekie Morales. I was invited to the ‘Siman Ban Lesa’ as the only children’s book author from Sint Maarten by the Biblioteka Nashonal Kòrsou (BNK). The “Siman di Ban Lesa” is a yearly event of their national READING program. It all happened during the week of 19 November to 23 November, where authors and artists visit primary schools to read, act and teach children the arts in a child friendly way.
Morales has visited 9 schools to tell stories and act together with the children her ‘Mina Marina’ story to keep our oceans, rivers, ponds and all waters in our environment clean. ‘I have enjoyed the story with approximately 500 students from, especially the target groups of age 7 to 13 years old, or Groups 4 – 5, 7 – 8.
The theme this year was ‘Friendship’ or AMISTAT, and with the characters Mina Marina (the exotic Caribbean mermaid), Bola (the green turtle) and Perucho (the Indian merman) it felt great to tackle the theme of Amistad on several levels.
The schools were well prepared when receiving my visit and the children were very enthusiastic and interested to participate actively in showing kindness, compassion, understanding and more on the theme of friendship.
All teachers showed that it is a great experience for the students to encounter LIVE the authors of the books they have been reading during the year. They are eager to experience the author and a life performance of her work.
The children book week was closed off with a book signing ceremony at Book store Boekhandel Mensing Caminada, where Loekie Morales was interviewed by VIGILANTE, which has broadcasted the interview on their TV and radio network.
‘I am thankful and consider it a privilege to over and over again, be one of the author-participants to promote reading in schools’, Loekie Morales, author of 9 children books with Caribbean based stories, said.
