2.1 B: Letter to a stateless child Duration: 60+ minutes Instructions: Level of complexity: 2 1. As a group, read the “Letter to a Stateless Child” found on page 78-80 of the book or in Appendix VI. Knowledge/Subjects: Civics, Social Studies, Writing 2. After reading the letter together, you might want to have a brief discussion about it. Have participants discuss with their neighbour or in small groups. Examples of questions to discuss include: Skills: Critical thinking, Empathy, Persuasive Argumentation, Self-Awareness a. What are some messages that the authors of this letter have for stateless children? b. What emotions do the authors express? c. Were there any parts in the letter that you particularly liked? Why? 3. Have participants write their own letter to one of the three stateless children who Neha meets on her travels and are referred to above. Invite participants to explain who they are and that they are learning about statelessness and citizenship and express what they feel they’ve learned so far. Encourage them to be creative and to think both about what it is they want to say as well as how they want to say it. Send your letters to ISI at neha@institutesi.org. They might even be included on our website or shared with other people around the world who are learning about statelessness or working to address it. Further the Activity: It is important to bring attention to the issue of statelessness that so many people are facing. One way is by making sure that government officials know about it so that they take action. A great way is by letter/email. Even if you cannot vote yet, the elected officials are still supposed to look out for your interests if you live in an area that they are representing (e.g. members of the parliament, local authorities etc.). If enough people reach out and let a government official know that statelessness is an issue that they want to see addressed, then the chances of the issue being taken up increase greatly. Before you begin, it might be helpful to look at an example letter in Appendix VII. Values/Attitudes: Sense of identity Objectives: • For learners to reflect on the importance of citizenship and understand the situation stateless people find themselves in. Materials: Piece of paper and pen/pencil (if preferred type the letter on a computer) Connection to “The Girl Who Lost Her Country”: In the Dominican Republic, Neha met Rosa and her daughter Talia. Talia has not been provided with a birth certificate by the Dominican Republic due to her Haitian background. In the Dominican Republic children and grandchildren of Haitian immigrants who could not show certain documents cannot be Dominican citizens, even though according to Dominican nationality law a child acquires the Dominican nationality if he/she is born in the country. Talia handed Neha a beautiful drawing on pink paper portraying Talia’s emotions. “When I do not have a birth certificate and my sister or mother go to run errands to try to get papers and they do not appear, I feel sad. If I don’t have my birth certificate I will not be able to study.” (Neha’s Book p. 17-21) In Cote d’Ivoire, Neha met Grace, an orphan girl who doesn’t know her parents. Grace explained to her that in Cote d’Ivoire it is very hard to get nationality without your parents’ documents. “Ivorians must provide their birth certificate and the nationality certificate of a parent as proof of their own nationality. I don’t have any of those things, so I cannot prove that my parents were Ivorian. They call me a foundling and I have heard some grownups say that I am stateless. If, one day, I can no longer go to school, I would be very unhappy”, she says. “In Cote d’Ivoire stateless people cannot do many things, like working or opening a bank account, 34