'It takes a village to raise a child' is an African expression that has been cited by many well-known and lesser known people. Hillary Clinton, for instance, referred to it with her book ‘It Takes A Village'. It points to the fact that we as a society are responsible for the education of our children.

Griots and the power of the story
In early African tradition, the griots were responsible for sharing the African history with the people and singing about the African heroes, always infusing their stories with humour. And although the griot serves the king, the king in turn cannot rule without the approval and wisdom of the griot. In many oral traditions, and certainly in Africa, the spoken word has tremendous power.

Inspiring children through storytelling
Inpired by the art of the griot, 'It takes a story to raise a child' is an educational program developed by Wijnand Stomp to stimulate storytelling and reading. Initially, Stomp plans to set up the programme in the Dutch Antilles, Aruba and Surinam through involving libraries, schools, teachers and day care centres. The goal is to familiarise teachers (in training), group workers and parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles with the basic principles of theatrical storytelling and to teach them how to best make use of the power of storytelling. Only if a story is told with passion, courage and dedication does it have true impact. Teachers are the present-day griots, they are the ones to tell the stories that will inspire our children. Who doesn't remember their brilliant teacher who captured the attention by telling a gripping story?

Old stories, new stories
In the programme, participants start with personal stories and old stories which they remember their grandparents telling. Through interviews Wijnand Stomp revitalises these stories and helps the participants use them to create new stories. These stories are then used in an intensive training for theatrical storytelling.  The new 'griots' then go forth to help children read and possibly transmit the 'storytelling virus'.

Theatrical storyteller
As Mister Anansi, Stomp has created and performed in many shows, always using his colourful heritage as a powerful source of inspiration. The Dutch Antilles, his father's country, as much as the Netherlands, his mother's country, are important roots. Stomp is a physical storyteller who, for the past twenty five years, has been able to captivate his audiences with his passionate and theatrical style of storytelling. His stories are compelling, mischievous and fun. They deal just as much with tricks and deceit as with vulnerability and identity and always make for moving performances spiked with a great sense of humour.

For 25 years, Stomp was the artistic force behind the Haarlem storytelling company Kalebas Produkties. In this setting, he used stories from around the world to create theatrical storytelling performances, working with Greek, Surinam, Antillean, Persian, Dutch, Hindu, Afghan and Indian storytellers.

International perfomer
Stomp has performed his theatrical stories in the USA, England, Germany, Dutch Antilles, Aruba, Surinam, Ghana and China. He was part of the British project ‘The Soul Of It' supporting victims of the tsunami and In 2007 Stomp visited China and performed Anansi stories in Shanghai for the Dutch expat community and the Shanghai American International School. In 2010 Stomp was the representative of the Netherlands during the Kids Euro Festival in the USA, at Washington DC. Where he performed at the Kennedy Center.

For more information, visit Wijnand Stomp's website at www.anansiworldwideweb.net which has options for storytellers to develop their own storyboard. All stories are available and downloadable through photo documentaries or courses/workshops and podcasts.