===
[00:00:00] Welcome to Stories That Stick with me, Laura, as your resident storyteller. I'm here to show you how oral stories inspire and captivate minds young and old. Tune in each week to hear a compelling story and join in meaningful conversations. I'll be digging deep into the heart of storytelling, connection, and listening.
So whether you're a kid, teacher, caregiver, grandparent, or simply a lover of stories, This podcast is for you. Join me as you get lost in another world and discover how stories shape our lives. Here's to the next page in our story.
Welcome to today's episode of Stories That Stick. Today I have with me a seasoned storyteller that I've been following for a while. I have Miss Ashley with us, and she is the owner and creative director of Nguzo Babies. And I'm gonna have her introduce herself and tell us a little [00:01:00] bit about what she does.
What's brought her to the work that she's doing now, and then what you can expect in this episode is she and I are going to talk a bit about storytelling and how we can use it as a means for exposing children to ideas and concept of social studies and social justice just through the stories that we're telling with them.
So, Ashley, so nice to have you here.
Thank you for having me. I'm excited. So, A little bit about me. I'm Miss Ashley. Lots of people call me that. I call myself the early childhood enthusiast because I love everything early childhood. so I'm a constant studier of early childhood. As long as I've been doing it, there's still so many things to learn because children are people and we're always learning about ourselves and we're always learning about people.
So, it's really a human studies for me. This platform or this outlet that I've created within Nguzo Babies is really an extension of that because [00:02:00] as a child, I've always loved learning about people and learning about languages and learning about culture. And so that's kind of the embodiment of it.
So I've always loved puppets as well. Found a way to make the connection of exposing children to new cultures to new languages so that they can build connections with other people through puppetry. And these puppets are, there are seven puppets in our show, Nguzo Babies, and they are an extension of the principles of Kwanzaa.
and that's really the basis of the show or where it comes from, but it doesn't really center around. Kwanzaa the holiday. It's mostly the principles. So we're talking about things like unity. How can we do our best? How can we work together? How can we, build better neighborhoods, share our purpose?
Those are all the principles of Kwanzaa. So it's really kind of an exploration of how we can grow our communities and learn about ourselves and other people, through those principles and learning about each other.
Yeah, that's [00:03:00] beautiful. And I, had the pleasure of joining one of your virtual classes with my children, where we were able to be exposed to a little bit more about the Nguzo babies.
I'd love if you want, if people are unfamiliar with it, do you want to tell us a little bit about, what this looks like when you say the show, right? Like, how is it presented to children? I know you're sharing. them as characters and in multiple ways in person and on YouTube and in your instagram.
So you want to tell us some about, how they show up
So there's we have a lot of things online. We definitely do shows in per in person this summer. We're doing about two or three shows per week at different libraries as part of the summer reading program. So the way that I view it is we're trying to get to Children and families excited about literacy, learning language, all the L's.
And so we meet families where they are when it comes to community events. We meet families at libraries. We meet families and [00:04:00] friends at schools. We meet families and friends online. So we are Taking advantage of any outlet that we have. So we do have YouTube outlet. The YouTube outlet. We're on most social media platforms.
We do things in person. There's other ways to engage with us as well. So that's like directly how you can get introduced to us, but even the delivery of our content varies a little bit. So we've been kind of experimenting with that because we have. With some of our shorts videos, we focus on just language, mostly Swahili.
So we'll introduce new words to friends in little shorts, but we also have an aspect of it where the puppets are talking about different countries.. Another way is that it's more of an exploration of nursery rhymes. So I do nursery rhymes in English nursery rhymes in Swahili. I have one in Japanese but just really exploring lots of different ways.
So we kind of cover different age groups too with the work that we do. So there's a bunch of different things that you'll find [00:05:00] on our YouTube channel.
That's awesome. Now, the nursery rhymes that you do in Japanese and Swahili, do you do them in the Japanese and Swahili language or are they rhymes that come from there and you translate them?
You do? Yeah.
Gotcha. Yes, yes. Good question. so it really just depends, but the Japanese one, I don't think we did it in English, literally a short video where I say it in Japanese and then the words are translated because that's the other thing that was important to me. I understand, you know, there are lots of families in the U.
S. That will expose their Children to language, but I don't think it's enough people that do, in other cultures. Learning a second language is like, it's second nature, like, you know more than one language, and I think that's actually really important. for me, I really wanted to take on this idea of that language doesn't have to be scary.
You're not going to be fluent right away, but we can make it fun and we can learn it together. So that was really the foundation of it, of taking a look at another country and then saying, Hey, how can we learn more about that? [00:06:00] the people. And I think learning their language is one of the first signs of respect that you can get to another culture.
So
I agree. And are you fluent in Swahili or did you start learning it in your adulthood?
I learned it in my adulthood. So prior to this, I had a preschool program. What we now call micro schools before Michael schools with the thing. And so we had a Swahili teacher that came in. I did not get to take the classes as much as I would have liked just because I was overseeing the school and doing the other things.
But it's always been something that I've wanted to do. So at this point I'm self learning or self taught, but I'm not fluent by any means. And I think that's one of the things that I always emphasize that It's okay if you don't have a personal tutor, that doesn't mean you, you don't learn a new language, you can still learn new languages with the resources that you have and you can be exposed to it.
If you want to become fluent, that's great. That's personally what I'm working towards. [00:07:00] But it's okay. It's also been helpful on my end to make these videos because my memory I wish I could say it was me getting older, but it's not, I've just never had a great memory when it comes to things. So me making these videos has really helped me and then it's also helped other people in that way.
So I'm working towards learning more, but it's just a little bit at a time. I'm enjoying the process and I think that's how language learning should be for, for, for families who aren't. You know, aren't familiar with learning a new language.
Yeah, I think that brings up a really good point, right?
Because as a caregiver or teacher or parent, you may feel I'm not fluent in another language, so I'm not qualified or I'm not going to teach, you know, children another language because I'm not fluent in it. Right. But you know, to be fluent in a language is like you said, I think in many other countries, it's, it's.
It is. It just is. They learn more than one language, and it's just not something that [00:08:00] happens here. And I learned Spanish and have enough of it, but often just get intimidated because I think with many languages, when I'm speaking with somebody that is fluent, they're speaking so much faster than I can keep up with.
And when I speak it, then I feel a little self conscious and I trip over words and things like that. So then, in the end, I end up not speaking it nearly at all, right? And so then I'm not practicing at all. But one way that I have always found, To bring language in with children feels that feels easier is either through song or even counting right though there's just some simple ways that we as adults can find there's so many resources out there right you can find like you said a nursery rhyme or a song or a poem, and you can learn how to count to 10 right and you can learn alongside the children, and then just start you know building up from there.
That's right. That's definitely how I
[00:09:00] attack tax is my, the wrong word but that's how I started with Swahili is just the basic. So things like seasons song, I, you know, I remember a lot of the nursery rhymes that the Swahili teacher would bring in, but I didn't know what she was saying. So even on that, and I had to research it.
And I, I'm finding that a lot of resources that are for other languages that are In particular with Swahili, but a lot of them, they're for adults or if they are for children, the exact translation isn't there so you have to piece it together, which can be tricky but that doesn't mean it has to be difficult, it's just, it might take a little bit more time. I know for me, even with my relationship with Spanish and I'm not fluent, but I can understand it when people are conversing. And I know I did work at a, um, an immersive language school and Spanish was one of the primary languages there, so I would hear the teachers talking and I could understand them.
But that started was honestly, like I've. Again, I've [00:10:00] always loved culture anyway, but my love for Selena is what started that from when I was like eight years old. So I would listen to her music and then translate that and then eventually it picked up. Of course I ended up taking classes in my grade school too, but like it was pretty much already there.
I also, you know, grew up in a city that had a lot of Puerto Ricans, so I would hear Spanish a lot too. So it was a collective of it, but even then I still say that. Most of my journey with Spanish was still self taught because I made the choice in terms of, okay, I want to listen to this music and understand what it means.
Let's start making the connections. Then I sought out people who could help me piece things together. So definitely with what you're saying about music can be the, the first area of recognition and, you know, music is such a reflection of culture anyway. So that alone, exposing children to new aspects of music from cultures.
That's a huge introduction, a language in the people itself.
Absolutely. Yeah, [00:11:00] I, that's just such a nice way to think about it. And so I'm curious. Now, what brought you to use Swahili and Kwanzaa with your Nguzo babies as a way to expose children if you could have picked, you know, really from, from anything when you were kind of bringing that vision that you must have had, there must have been something that sparked this idea.
Yeah, I think so that's a little bit of a personal experience. I know one of the main things that brought Swahili together for me, personally. And I know a lot of people, they feel a way, you know, with genealogy tests or something, you know, people are on the fence about that for their own reasons.
But I took one and I like to think that, you know, the results were reliable, but I understand, you know, people, Some people might not feel that way. But for me I did mine and it was Nigerian and Kenyan for the most part. So even if, you know, regardless of how you feel [00:12:00] about it, I know what that felt like for me and feeling like there was a little bit.
There were some pieces put together as far as my background, and I think that's the case for a lot of black Americans in terms of what the history of their families is like, you know, there's a melting pot of diversity when it comes to black people. But a lot of times when we're talking about things like multiculturalism, it's not really, there might be like if there's an international day at school, you'll have all these countries and then maybe one that doesn't.
That has that, not that black people can't be everywhere, but that is Afro influenced at all. And I think that speaks to how we feel about black people and being this monolith and even growing up as a child in America, how we're, how our history is presented to us. If our family isn't from somewhere else.
If we're born here and if our family has been here a lot of us have a lot of questions and that's not just for the children, but especially for the adults. You can see people online arguing about it [00:13:00] now. Some people are feeling like the slave ships weren't there. Did they really exist? We have so many questions and I don't know all the answers, but I think it's that to me says that people are longing for more answers to their past.
And we may try and, You know, downplay it and say, you know, it's not that serious, but it is because it's something we're still grappling with as adults. And so, there's that aspect of it, and then for me I always reference the Addi doll that I had with American Girl. I, I love the American Girl doll series because again, that's, to me, that is history books.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, even though it's based off of fictional characters, it's, I just loved hearing the stories of that. And so for me, when I got my first Addie doll, that was like, she felt like me. Her hair wasn't exactly like mine. And her story to me, because I didn't have a story for myself. I felt like that was my story.
Which was about enslavement. [00:14:00] And I think that's the case for a lot of Black American children, where they're given a history, and if their families don't have those connections or they're, they're, you know, they are first generation, so they know where their families come from. There's that missing piece where we've just been handed a history and spoon fed it and then there's nothing more to it unless you start to explore.
So there's this whole revolution that I think that is, or renaissance that's happening with Black people. That's why we say representation matters because we felt like it's been a misinterpretation of our history or I don't even know if it's a misinterpretation. I think it's purposely been fed to us and we haven't really been given the tools to explore that.
And so for me, it was especially important, although Nguzo Babies is for everyone in in that we're all learning together. It's especially for black Children because these characters are all black and they have different backgrounds. So even exposing young black Children to what that could mean to have these [00:15:00] kids that have these different backgrounds and they're coming all together and they're still coming together in unity.
That's so important. Now that said, that's an extension of the concept of Kwanzaa. Mhm. Kwanzaa is a holiday that's a pan African holiday and saying that we're all united in that way, regardless of where we are. What is the, you know, we'll say African experience or the black experience, whatever you want to call it.
What is that globally? That's really a holiday that celebrates everyone regardless of whether you know exactly where your family's from or whether you you whether you don't. And so that's why I started with that. Kwanzaa is not a widely celebrated holiday as much as I would like for it to be. I'm hoping that I can change that because I think there's an opportunity there where we can celebrate the stories of families, the stories of you know, history altogether.
So that's really where it comes from. It's a summation of the things that I needed from when I was a kid. And then also some of the things that I know that the adults need for their [00:16:00] Children.
Yeah, I really appreciate that. And I think You know, reflecting on like the American girls, right? I think the American girl dolls.
I think something that was so powerful for us as children that played with them was they were given to us with a story, right? And so they had the You know, the books that went with it, and it gave us this character that was already developed, and then we could go with it as we felt, right? They had, you know, I had Molly, which was very different than my sister's Felicity, and the clothes that came with it, it was like we were playing camping, and we were doing school, and that was the things that we were doing versus what we maybe were playing when we had Felicity in these ways, and I think really the the cool thing about it was that it had these Stories already for them and it can be so easy to tell to pick up a
doll or pick up a doll and formulate a story, but it may not be as rich and as deep [00:17:00] and seated in other things and I think the power of your puppets, like even still when I pull out my basket of puppets, Ama's in there and my children will recall it and they'll be like, Oh, this is Ama, remember?
Oh, where's the Nguzo babies? Like, can we find? And then they start to remember, like, she belongs to something else. Right? What does she belong to? Remind me of it. And each of your characters has a story. They have, you know, you, we know, as the audience, a little bit about their family, their siblings, their likes, their dislikes.
And I think that's one of the really important things. key pieces of when we're able to use characters that we revisit in stories over and over, even if we don't have a puppet or a doll that goes with it. But when we are as storytellers with the children in our lives, able to tell them stories of, of other characters, rather than animals.
And start to weave this story [00:18:00] and that can be a way for me that I try to be very intentional in exposing them to a variety of things, whether it be different types of family makeups or, you know, children that may not fit into the stereotypical gender norms that they're used to, or children that have speak another language or come from a different country.
And that's where I think the power can lie in our stories, but we have to do that. That legwork first as the adults to really develop that character in our minds so that when we're retelling this when we're telling the stories and we're revisiting the stories with the children and telling about so and so that they can start to, you know, imagine them in their minds.
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
And, and so it was, I'm just curious, like, from, how, how, I assume it was fun, but like, how fun was that for you coming up with these, you know, [00:19:00] seven characters and their lives and their stories and how they, you know, cross paths, whether they were neighbors or, you know, siblings or, you know, Things like that.
So the concept changed a lot and there's still a lot of the backstory that I haven't revealed as much because I'm noticing, you know, like I said, we have different kinds of Videos that we upload some are for the older crowd and then some are for the younger one. So we're still kind of experimenting with that But I will say like the foundation of it again was based off the principle So that made it a little bit easier to tie it in as far as what we could talk about But I will say that for me growing up.
I watched a lot of the puzzle place and I think that that was a huge I had the kiki doll. But again, it's one of those things where you get to know these characters. For those that don't know what the puzzle place was, that was a children's show and it actually was it came out of the LA riots because they wanted to expose more children to cultures [00:20:00] in, in a way that we can get along.
And each of the characters, they came from drastically different backgrounds. So one was Jewish, one was black, one was Native American. So there was a, there was a wide range of backgrounds that the characters had, and they were all in the same classroom. So, That concept felt very familiar to me. I think it's where I had learned a lot of respect for other cultures amongst other things.
I was just always the kid that just wanted to learn more about the world. So this really isn't anything different for me, but I think that show really pieced it all together in how, oh, we can do this in such a way that's easier for children to understand. So even as a teacher myself, it was never hard for me to explore other cultures.
with students. And I think that's something that a lot of teachers would say, Oh, what? We need more resources. How do I do this? How do I handle this? And for me, it was always easy because I saw it done for myself as a child through the puzzle place, through Sesame Street, through [00:21:00] American Girl Doll. I'm like, we had so many options.
At least I did. I felt like I had so much access to this idea that you didn't have to have those people necessarily in your neighborhood go to the library and read a book about it and then bring it to life with a puppet, that kind of thing. So that didn't, wasn't that hard. I think in developing the, the, the depth of each family for each character was a little bit trickier for me.
Our Kwanzaa episode that really brought it all together as far as like, What the storyline is and how they know each other and how they all really got together to become Nguzo babies. I don't even remember what happened. It just plopped in my ear. I remember writing it and being like, I have an idea.
And then it just flowed out. So it wasn't anything that like took a long time. I'm writing it maybe, but it wasn't because the idea I didn't have, it just kind of flowed out of me. So I think some things was like a long time coming. So I'm a bit, it just. It just came down because it was time but [00:22:00] really the, the unfolding of it has always been natural to me.
I think there's still so many directions that we can take with it. But I think that's also a reflection of the fact that this is something that I'm supposed to be doing. And it's been super easy for me to come up with things for it. Yeah, it came from a different, a few different places. And for that, I'm like, I'm happy that I get to do this because I've always loved doing this.
I love being on the child's end of it. And now that I get to do puppetry arts and really talk about culture and language and learning in the way that I've always loved it as a kid, I think it's, it's been really easy for me.
That's so awesome. As As soon as you said puzzle place, I was like, Oh my goodness, that is what it reminds me of.
Like, it was almost as if there was that, like, something in my brain was like, this feels familiar, but I don't know what it is. And as soon as you said that, I pictured those characters. I pictured the, you know, the puzzle, the, the intro or whatever. And that's so awesome. And I would love to actually revisit that with my own children, because it [00:23:00] really was such a great show.
And like you said, there are so many things that have been there that have kind of started to lay the foundation. And what I'm curious about when you, you know, what, I don't know, maybe advice would you give or suggestions you have for those people that are maybe listening and saying, you know, okay, I want to expose them in, through stories or through characters or through experience in some way.
But right like I think that there is like you said some people continue to put the but and I know for myself I can just say. I you know, use the Antibias Education book that , Louisa Dermot Sparks wrote. And the thing that always really resonated with me that, that directed how I approached exposing children to, you know, social studies for, for, you know, Developmentally appropriate ages was I didn't want it to be a I [00:24:00] can't remember the language that she uses, but it very superficial, right?
I didn't want it to be superficial and presenting things in one way. And that's what always. I, where I always felt tripped up, like, Ooh, it feels hard to not go superficial. How do I make sure that I'm not, you know, representing one culture or one experience as the experience or as a monolith while still, you know, honoring things?
Do you have like, you know, some suggestions or like how to push through that?
Yeah, I think for me, the biggest thing is trying to take yourself out as the authority. With what I do, I'll make two points with this. One of the things that I was very fearful of is taking with taking on a project like this is, and I, and I've said this, I don't like, for the most part, when people who are not I'll say in particular black, I don't like when people who are not black, right.
Stories with black characters. Because I think that lasts authenticity and they're like, [00:25:00] several areas of nuance that you kind of miss when you do that. And also it just takes away from opportunities for black people that are that are great authors and have great stories to tell. Just give it to them.
That's the biggest reason I will say that. And so I always tried to be mindful of that. So even though I am black, obviously I'm talking about the black experience everywhere. So I'm sharing different cultures everywhere. And I'm saying that these characters are coming From these backgrounds that I did not grow up with.
So I'm always conscious of that. But with that said, there's a level of honesty that I've always had in that my goal is just to expose the Children. And so I know that I'm not going to know everything. So as much as I'm able to, I'm going to ask for help. And I understand that I'm a student in this as well.
And we're learning together. That's always been how I framed it, even with the videos that I post of different languages. I usually say in the captions on most of the videos particularly like on like the TT social media. [00:26:00] I'll say I learned these new words, join me, that sort of thing. Just so that I'm creating that, like, we're doing this together.
And I think that's the beauty of it again, is that my goal is not to say that this is the experience of this group. I'm saying that this is one child that comes from this background and this is kind of how it's influenced. And also the fact that I'm understanding that these characters. They grew up in Littletown, which I say is part of the US.
So obviously it's going to be a mix of different experiences. But ultimately, I think what you have to do is just kind of Take away this idea that you have to come as a teacher that knows everything about it. You're still learning So in the way that you're complex and that you're learning about yourself still The way that your children are complex and you're learning about your children every day The way that the people around you you're still learning about you're not going to be able to learn about a whole culture and then be able to regurgitate that information.
It's gonna come from a constant study. So that, with that said, that's part of [00:27:00] the magic of it all. That learning never stops because there's always new information to learn. There's always new people to meet. There's always aspects of culture and language and music and things that there's there. So for me, that is exciting because it's like we're never gonna get it done.
And once you release that feeling of like you have to wrap it all up in one day or one month or whatever, you know, celebration we decide to have, once you take that off the table I think it makes it easier. Another example I would say is, for me is Black History Month. So often. We have teachers that just put a whole bunch of inventors in, like, squeeze it all in where they're doing these worksheets on it.
And I'm like, that's a purpose. Why not study a time period for whichever aspect of blackness that you want to choose, and then just pull from it and then let it be organic. Like, it doesn't have to be this thing where it's like, let's memorize all the facts of every black inventor in the United States since [00:28:00] 1963.
Like, that's not. That's not authentic at all. That's not sharing the stories of it. Even for me, pick one leader. If you want to do it that way, what was his childhood? Like study that, what was, what was he afraid of? Or she afraid of those things are the things that humanized it and then adds a little bit more texture.
And then the children are more likely to remember it. It's not about, and that's the problem. So even with what you said about earlier, With the puppets is with Alma, for instance, and you're saying, Oh, she has the background. She's just not part of these puppet. This, this. basket of puppets that I have, she has something that she's connected to.
I feel like that's often how a lot of us do. Whatever, I use black history as an example, but any of these mainstream, you know, months that we have that we're just supposed to fit celebrations in it's like, No, you can't get it all done in that one month or that one day. So let's take a piece of it and then [00:29:00] expose children to it and just do it on a consistent basis.
And really that's the time for celebration of it. So there's a lot of different ways that you can take it. But again, I think it comes down to knowing that you're not going to get everything done and not making yourself the authoritative figure in it. That's for sure. And Kind of seeing yourself as a student.
So then seeking out other people who have more information of on it I think technology is really great for that because there's so many people online Like that's really what's helped me Learn more about and then figure out a way to make it, you know easier for children to understand I'm, really good at translating that I can go study something and then say how does this need to be translated to children?
That that's my gift so I think there's more than enough resources for us. There's libraries, there's people in your neighborhood, there's things on TV, there are things on social media that you can pull from and kind of piece together and learn more about it. So you have to be willing to learn first and understand that you're learning all the time.
[00:30:00] And once you treat it as we are learning together, child, Then you're not feeling overwhelmed about it because it's like, I don't know, but let's learn more about it. Let's listen a little bit more. That's the other gifts that I'll say that I have to I do talk a lot. However, in a sense when it comes to people, I'm super personable.
And I think it's because people know that I listen a lot. People are always willing to tell me things. But I've always just loved listening to people. And so once you build that skill and it's a genuine skill of wanting to know more about someone, Then that translates well, too. So be good listener.
Absolutely. Yeah, you've made so many very important points and that what really, you know, resonated with me is that like, in so many other aspects, we as educators and I know myself, I own up to that. I'm not the expert, right? I mean, my children, because I'm homeschooling right now will ask me things.
All the time, and I have no clue, right? And I have no [00:31:00] problem saying, Hmm, that's a really good question. I have no idea. Like, how can we learn more about that? And I think adopting that same mentality and saying, Hey, I know that there are other people or other places or other things that exist in this world that I don't know that much about.
Like, let's learn more about X together and then finding those entry points of where it's, you know, something that aligns with what the children's interests are and learning alongside them, I think is a really great way to think about it and removing ourselves, like you said, as that I must, you know, I must have the information and then give it to you.
Instead, like let's collaboratively learn this information. Yeah. And then also being very where you can be the authoritarian and be the adult in the situation is being sure that the resources that you're using or the things that you are finding are coming from those that have lived that experience.
I [00:32:00] wholeheartedly believe in that. That's so important for me to be sure that the stories that we're reading and listening to about, you know, people of the global majority are coming from people of the global majority and not being told by somebody else. And that's, that's a question that, you know, I've learned from other anti racist educators to always kind of make sure that I'm asking, like, who's telling the story?
Who's missing from the story? And you know, who's, whose side of the story are we hearing and how can we hear these other sides? So I think that that's a really valuable way to think about it. And the, the, I, it came to me while you were talking was what I always kind of thought of that I wanted to avoid was what was called kind of this idea of like a tourist curriculum, which I think is right, which is what you're saying, right?
These months come up like right now it's, it's June and it's pride, right? And so, yes, I think it's a great time to highlight what pride is and what pride means and listen to those voices a little extra [00:33:00] and celebrate them. And that doesn't mean we're only doing it in June. It doesn't mean we're just like doing this little round, you know, for the month of June, having these conversations, and then putting the books away, putting the conversations away, and never touching on it again until next June.
And I think that's just like you said, right? Go deep with one thing, with one story, with one person, with one culture, with one language, and have some conversations, learn from other people, and use that to really dig deep so that it isn't superficial, so that it is authentic learning for the children, and like you said, so that's what's going to resonate with them, because They'll start asking questions and want to know more, and that's when you can then run with it.
And you don't have to be the holder of all knowledge. You don't have to be the one that brings it to them because they're going to bring you their questions. And that's going to shape what you then start exposing them to or learning about or thinking about, right?
And that teaches [00:34:00] them how to, if they have someone that they see as a leader in their teacher saying, I don't know, let's go find out more as they get older, they're going to be things that they don't know about, and they're not going to feel like they have to come up with some answer for it.
They'll seek information from other people, too. So I think that in turn teaches them how to learn about other people instead of just drawing conclusions based on the info. Just the information that they know, even if they don't think it's reliable. But yeah, that's all. God.
Right. Yeah. Teaching them to be, yeah you know, learners, right?
Yeah. How to take a question or wondering or something that they don't know or even things that they think they know and think a little bit deeper or find other, other sources of information or other people to share their stories with them. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. Oh, it's so it's been so nice chatting with you about all this.
I [00:35:00] really appreciate it. Are there any kind of last things around this that you think would be helpful for people to hear or that you're thinking about?
You know, I think that, you know, there is obviously there's always been a lot going on in the world. And there's A lot happening now. I think the thing that is really important to remember that behind everything that's in motion.
There are people and these people come from childhoods. These people grew up in different circumstances. So I think it's, I don't want to oversimplify the world's problems, but I really do believe a lot of it comes down to creating more of an understanding and extending more compassion with other people.
And when we do that, yeah. With people of all cultures and leaning into this idea of this person isn't that different from me, their experiences are, but ultimately they have music, they have language, they have food, it's different, but people are [00:36:00] really just trying to grow up in safe ways. So just being mindful of that, with how we talk to each other, how we learn about each other, the conclusions that we draw about other people bringing it back to the humanitarian side of it.
I think we throw that word around a lot in terms of humanity, humanity and it's important, but
People are, people are trying to live and coming with a sense of kindness to people because that's what we're all trying to do is really important. I think that's the bottom line. I try not to get too political with my, with things that I say or post for a number of different reasons, but I think ultimately I feel like I'm doing the work that needs to be done.
It's going to look different for everybody. But my goal is to help. and, and adults. To [00:37:00] remember that there are ways that we can connect and be kind to each other. And if we keep that as the, at the forefront of everything that we do, then it can solve a lot of problems. So find your way of navigating through that, but just remember that everybody's trying to.
Absolutely. That said so well, and I agree wholeheartedly that you are. You are making a difference and you are doing the thing that you do well that is play for you that comes easy for you and feels good to speak up for others to, you know, it's. I can see your, you know, where you are in your social justice journey, and the way that you are bringing attention to the things that are important for children and for families and for adults, and I appreciate it so much.
And same to you, same to you. Yeah, I think stories is a huge part of the evolution of humans of everything, really. So I think leaning into that is really important because that [00:38:00] is history and that's how we learn and grow. So
kudos to you. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. So I'll put it all in the show notes, but make sure you tell people where they can find you and, and Nguzo babies.
So you can visit our website at nguzobabies. com. That's N G U Z O B A B I E S dot com. Most social media platforms you can find us at nguzobabies. So N G U Z O B A B I E S . We're on most social media platforms. we do have an Ama book. We have our Ama puppet for sale. We have an Ama book that's coming up called Ama Says Sannu.
So we are learning a little bit of Hausa, and we'll be expanding with the other puppet characters. And then, there's sort of. Stories as well. So we're definitely on the similar track of following the footsteps of American girl and creating more stories where children can learn more. So that's what you can find us on.
What we've got coming up next. If you're in the Atlanta area, we definitely have a ton of shows. So you can find us just go on the website. [00:39:00] Yeah.
Awesome. I know I just saw that the other day that you have a book for Ama and I got so excited. I was like, oh, I can't wait to get this and pair this with the puppet.
And I think it is such a nice, it's just such a nice way to bring these stories to life, to bring characters to life with stories and puppets and dolls and books. And it's so beautiful. So, I really appreciate that, and I'll put that all there in the show notes, and I will also make note, I meant to ask you earlier where you are, because I'd like to think my traveling days are coming again, soon.
I know,
I've been thinking, that's been a priority for, My son and I, because I'm like, I talk all this stuff about culture and obviously I expose him. Let me go to restaurants with different foods and listen to different music. But I'm like, I think now he's old enough to where we can start to travel more and make it one of those experiences where he's learning about other people.
So that's definitely on the list. I don't know where we'll go first, but definitely traveling, in the United States and internationally [00:40:00] too. But that's. That's that's I want to bring that home to him because I hope too. yeah, there's
right. So we have a little bit more flexibility with that, right?
I know.
Yeah, for sure.
Awesome. Awesome. Well, thanks. It was so nice chatting with course. Thank you.
The end. But really, that's it for today's episode of Stories That Stick. Inspiring and captivating minds, young and old. Remember, stories have the incredible ability to spark conversations, ignite imagination, and create lasting connections. If you loved what you heard, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a five star review.
It really does make a difference. And, if you have a story to share or a topic you want me to explore, reach out to me on Instagram at LittleStoriesThatStick. Until next time, keep working that storytelling muscle and tell stories every day.
