The health of our oceans and the well-being of coastal communities are under significant threat due to pollution, particularly from ocean plastics, and a lack of awareness and literacy about the ocean, especially in underserved communities.

Our project proposes the development of a traveling storybook and dynamic learning toolkit that combines multilingual education, emotional development, and ocean literacy through art, storytelling, and cross-cultural collaboration. The storybook that will be developed by our illustrator and storyteller Valentina Russo is built around the story of Busu (Kiss in Swahili), a little girl who collects pieces of plastic from the sea and uses them to stuff ocean dolls, symbolically offering her broken heart to the ocean, which receives it with love. The first draft of the book will be taken to the communities of Sinai and Tanzania, where children will co-create and shape the narrative (July 2025). Through creative activities and with the help of learning materials, including puppets and dolls created by the women of Sinai and from a local vocational school for students with disabilities in Tanzania, the communities, coordinated by scientists (Dana Ahmed, Margherita Poto, Carolina Sarti, Claudia D'Andrea, and Rada Pandeva) and pedagogists in emotional literacy as well as accessibility experts, will lead the initial plotline. As the storybook travels, children around the world will be invited to finish it by completing activities in the book through drawings or reflections. The book will remain open-ended to allow the voices of children everywhere to be represented while encouraging them to reflect on their emotions and love for the planet. The team will collaborate with academic institutions (UiT The Arctic University of Norway), as well as with local communities (Nyerere Kindergarten in Songea and Habiba Community in Sinai)