Emily Sandall Foundation

Emily Sandall Memorial Grant Awards – Spring 2009

[July, 2009] On behalf of the International Initiative to End Child Labor’s (IIECL) Board of Directors and Staff and the Emily Sandall Foundation, it is with great pleasure that we announce the spring 2009 recipients for the Emily Sandall Memorial Grant Awards. A total of six awards are being presented at this time. The selection was a difficult one among all of the worthy applicants. See announcement below for fall 2009 grant applications.

The following provides an overview of the organizations and individuals receiving awards at this time and a reflection on how Emily might have viewed these activities to address the needs of children, support their education, and eliminate exploitive child labor:

North America

United States

1. Aryn Calhoun – “Music video to build upon previous child labor theme-grant funded song entitled, ‘Childhood Left Behind’ ”. Intermixing child labor photos from around the world and Aryn singing, Aryn will professional produce a video of her song ‘Childhood Left Behind.’ The song has moving and powerful lyrics that describe the impact that child labor has on the lives of children in different types of labor woven within a haunting melody.

Emily impressions: Emily would love this idea and had certainly experienced the power of combining music and photos in her own work. It would be a wonderful project to promote more understanding about child labor.
South and Latin America

Paraguay

2. Dequeni Foundation-art supplies for an art project with 62 disadvantaged children, helping them to understand child labor and the value that an education can have on their future..

Emily impressions: Emily would love this project as it offers a creative and educational outlet for the children. It is just the kind of project that she would have organized herself.
El Salvador

3. Co-Partners of Campesinas – “Leadership training for adult and youth and to fund a special school supply/support scholarship. This support will further help El Salvadoran youth and adults by providing seed funds for scholarships that support needed school supplies.

Emily impressions: Emily would really like this project. She had worked hard to empower disadvantaged youth to become leaders and was always interested in ways to improve their education.

Guatemala

4. Co-Partners of Campesinas – The grant will help to cost support an English language vocational skills training workshop in tourism for girls. The workshop will be for two weeks and will include a field trip to a nearby tourism area.

Emily impressions: Emily would love this project. She worked hard and was passionate about improving education for disadvantaged youth to help improve their futures and success. She felt the first step was always education and building of self-confidence.

Middle East

Yemen

5. CHF International – Yemen: “Awareness through Art” is being supported as part of the ACCESS project and will support art projects at summer festivals being held throughout Yemen to provide awareness about the hazards of child labor and the importance of education to parents, children and the community.

Emily impressions: Emily would be really excited about this activity-especially working with the children at outdoor festivals and in a creative activity.

Jordan

6. CHF International – Jordan “Workshop for Media Professionals on World Day Against Child Labor” is being supported as part of the Combating Exploitive Child Labor Through Education (CECLE) project. The grant will help to cost support the conduct of a two-day training workshop for journalists to improve their understanding of child labor issues and build their capacity to report on these and related topics. The planned activities will include interviews with working children, their parents and employers, resulting in immediate stories in the newspapers, on television and radio programs. A training booklet will include three sections covering: information and definitions related to child labor, Jordanian laws related to child labor, CD with child labor pictures, and a fact sheet about the CECLE Program.

Emily impressions: Emily would be really interested in this project. She was constantly trying to educate people about the hazards of child labor through presentations, photos, clubs and her writings. She had interviewed child laborers in Mexico and then translated their stories for a project.