In Slovakia, people still have prejudices and unjustified fears that prevent the acceptance and integration of nationals of third countries and their full integration into society. Focusing on children is highly effective not only from the point of view of the future. In addition, by influencing the children, we indirectly have a positive effect on the adult part of the family as well. That is why the Intenda Foundation came up with the Multicultural Fairy Tales project, which will support multicultural dialogue in Slovakia. The project is supported by the state budget and the EU Fund for the integration of nationals of third countries of the program Solidarity in the management of migration flows. The foundation implements it from March 2013 to December 2013. Not only will an interesting book of fairy tales collected from foreigners living in Slovakia be created, but we will implement joint readings of migrants with children in elementary schools throughout Slovakia. The project also includes an art competition for children and a discussion meeting on the topic of integration of migrant children in Slovakia.
Currently, we have collected 15 traditional folk tales from migrants living in Slovakia. As Silvia Mabena, an editor who collects multicultural fairy tales all over Slovakia, said, collecting fairy tales was not an easy task at all. Many migrants only remembered fairy tales that were different variants of the well-known "Cinderellas" and the like, which did not fulfill the purpose that multicultural fairy tales are supposed to fulfill - the presentation of original traditional folk tales of individual countries. Sometimes it happened that one fairy tale (with the same plot and point) was told independently by two migrants from different countries, then the editor had to search for the origin of the fairy tale.
In three months, it was possible to collect a set number of original folk tales and legends. These are tales from the following countries: Brazil, India, China, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Vietnam, Central African Republic, Tajikistan, Russia, Kenya, Afghanistan, Colombia, Serbia, Nigeria.
Currently, the book is being prepared for processing - addition of suitable illustrations, which can also be used as aids for joint readings, linguistic, grammatical and stylistic editing of texts, graphic processing of the book and printing. We assume a print run of 1,000 copies of the book.
So far, no such activities have been developed in Slovakia in the field of supporting the integration of foreigners and supporting multicultural dialogue, which would be specifically aimed at children and which would appeal to the mass of children's readers-viewers. It is interesting if we consider that the impact on children and youth is generally considered to be the most effective way of influencing the formation of society, as this way sustainable development is ensured. In the case of the Multicultural Fairy Tales project, this will have a significant impact on the formation of children's opinions and attitudes in relation to tolerance towards other cultures, ethnicities, races and religions.
At the same time, thanks to the project, migrants living in Slovakia will get an interesting and unique opportunity to present their traditional cultural values, since fairy tales not only mostly contain moral messages, but are also a more widespread expression of folk literature, in every single country. Therefore, the project can be considered unique and pioneering.
Author: Jana Kozmonová, project manager After its completion, the publication will be freely available for download in electronic form also in Prohuman magazine.