“Fairy Tales of the World”: our series of books is growing…

The third volume of our picture book series “Fairy Tales of the World” is now finished and ready to go! 

Following on from the story from China, we lingered a little longer in the Far East and travelled to Japan. 

The Land of the Rising Sun harbours a rich treasure trove of fairy tales that have been passed down orally from generation to generation over the centuries. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962), Japan’s first folklorist, collected and wrote down numerous fairy tales from across the country. Our fairy tale “The Sun Knows Everything”, published as an educational adaptation of the fairy tale for children, comes from his collection of Japanese folk tales.

The self-important moles are unhappy because the light from the sun dazzles them. They pretentiously start a war against the sun in order to stop it from shining and draw up a plan… One of them would have to shoot the sun!  But the moles forgot to take the frogs into account. These frogs recognise the great danger to themselves, their children and all life on earth. Will they manage to warn the sun in time?

Berlin-based illustrator Anne Hofmann has brought this delightful fairy tale to life for us with her radiant illustrations.

The fairy tale picture book can now be obtained free of charge from the SARIAS Foundation. If you are interested, just send a short email to info@sarias-stiftung.org and we will send you a copy by post. If you are interested in getting hold of several copies, for example for a school class, please contact us and we will be happy to arrange an appointment for you to collect them.

Children’s shoes for Şanlıurfa

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The population of Turkey as of 31 December 2019 is 83,154,997, of which children between the ages of 0 and 14 account for 24.29%, making them a large and important part of the Turkish population. They are the future. We all have a responsibility to uphold children’s rights, because every child has the same right to equal treatment, health, social participation, good opportunities in life and for development, and much more besides.

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The majority of children in Turkey live in rural areas and are therefore closer to nature. The children spend much of their free time there playing, running around and climbing outdoors with their friends and siblings. The SARIAS Foundation heard about a middle school in Şanlıurfa, in the south-east of Turkey, where the shoes of some pupils in the 5th to 8th grades had suffered from playing a lot of football, climbing and running around in the sometimes rough outdoor environments. They therefore lacked adequate and seasonally appropriate footwear for walking to school and attending lessons. To remedy this, in January 2021, the SARIAS Foundation asked teachers at Mehmet Akif Ersoy Secondary School to determine the children’s requirements and was subsequently able to send 45 pairs of children’s shoes to the school. 15 girls and 30 boys between the ages of 10 and 14 each received a new, warm pair of shoes. Every size between a 34 (UK size 2) and a 41 (UK size 8) was provided and the children were very happy to exchange their old shoes for new ones.

The SARIAS Foundation wishes you a happy valentines!

“Fairy Tales of the World”: The second volume is finished!

Shortly before Christmas, the time had finally come; we received the freshly printed picture books with the Chinese fairy tale “The Two Melons”.

The story tells of two women, one good and one bad, of course – as befits a fairy tale. The good woman devotedly cares for an injured bird despite her poverty, while the bad woman has a high opinion of herself and thinks only about how fast she can get rich. Both are rewarded for their behaviour with a “treasure” at the end of the story. It is hiding in a giant melon.

The story makes it clear to young and old alike in expressive pictures how compassion, a willingness to help and selfless devotion to other living beings can be transformed into good a thousand times over.
The fairy tale from China appears in our book for the first time in a German translation. It has been beautifully illustrated by the Istanbul artist Elif Yemenici.

Like our first picture book, you can also obtain this new work from us free of charge. If you are interested, please send a short email to info@sarias-stiftung.org and we will send you a copy by post. If you are interested in receiving several copies, for example for a school class, please contact us and we can arrange an appointment for you to collect them.

The Ethiopian fairy tale back in Ethiopia

What could be more natural than to introduce our beautiful picture book to children living in Ethiopia?
To achieve this, the SARIAS Foundation has organised and financed a book shipment to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. 100 of the storybooks were donated to the German Embassy School in Addis Ababa by airfreight.

There are 140 of these German schools abroad in more than 70 countries around the world. Only about every fourth pupil comes from a German family, e.g. if the parents are in the country in question for professional reasons. The others are local children or those from other countries of origin; all learning together with and from each other.

Of course, there have been and still are school closures for longer periods of time at the school in Addis Ababa because of the pandemic. So the primary school children were all the more pleased when they were allowed to return to school and found the new picture books waiting for them there. The books are distributed in the primary school classes, but will remain as stock in the school for future classes. This way many children can enjoy them for a long time to come!

We wish the children many happy hours enjoying the story and the illustrations.

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The 31st Berlin Fairytale Days

This year’s Berlin Fairytale Days took place from 5th to 22nd November 2020 under the motto of “Heaven and Earth – Fairy Tales and Stories from Above and Below”.

The uniting power of fairytales is vital in a culturally diverse society. They are an immeasurable treasure trove of experiences and life lessons. Each one contains values that all of humanity has in common, such as love, friendship, loyalty, courage and dedication.

The heroes of fairytales transcend boundaries and overcome obstacles between young and old, poor and rich, East and West and, as was the case this year, between Above and Below.

Due to the necessary measures that are currently in place, for the first time the festival took place online.

We should all stay within our own homes as much as possible. What could be more natural than settling down and immersing ourselves in the realm of adventure and other worlds?

Märchenland e.V. the organiser of the Fairytale Days, has put a great deal of effort into making sure we did not have to miss out on some wonderful fairytale time despite the pandemic. A lot of events can still be accessed in digital form by anyone at any time by visiting https://berliner-maerchentage.de.

For the second time, the SARIAS Foundation contributed to the success of the Berlin Fairytale Days with financial support and its very own event. Even though a great many things were different this year, we hope our viewers young and old still enjoyed these magical fairytales!