Inside Hana’s Suitcase – One Year Later

On October 4 2010, Today’s Family was proud to partner with a number of local community organizations and businesses to bring Inside Hana’s Suitcase to the Hamilton and Halton communities.With many partners in the City of Hamilton and with the Brady Family themselves, we had the honour of sharing Hana Brady’s story. We called it the Hana’s Suitcase Project and it reached thousands of children and adults in Hamilton and Halton and promoted learning and sharing around issues of inclusion, discrimination and community. We are very proud of the success of the project.Though the Hana’s Suitcase Project was not direct child care service, it is in alignment with Today’s Family’s core values. One of our guiding principles is caring. Caring is the essence of who we are. We care for the children who take part in our programs, for their families, for our staff, for our community and for our environment. This is reflected in all that we do at Today’s Family and Hana’s Suitcase, with its messages of non-discrimination, equality and human dignity powerfully reflected our core beliefs.  

The project has sparked an important conversation about values and about how we want to live with each other in a caring and supportive community. In a way, they ask simple questions:

What’s in your suitcase?

What are your core values?                                

What do you deem precious in your life?

In your community?

In your world?

One year later, the project still resonates in our community. Many people have shared the impact of the Inside Hana’s Suitcase Project with Today’s Family:

Classroom Values: The Impact of Inside Hana’s Suitcase – LINC program is a video created by the students at Mohawk College in the Language Instruction for Newcomers sharing the impact of the project from a newcomer perspective.

One of the letters from a LINC student shared with Today’s Family following the Hana’s Suitcase Project:

In my suitcase

There are many fears and anxieties in my suitcase. When I was in Jordan, before I came to Canada, I was worried about what would people say when they see me in hijab? How will they treat me? There were many questions I thought about. I thought all kinds of things would change about me, because I was moving from a Muslim society to Christian society, and I would work, speak and mix with different people. All of that was very difficult for me. When I was a child, I heard my parents talk about French people and how they hate Muslim people, especially the people who wear a hijab. They don’t like those people and treat them in a bad way. Even now, I remember my parents talking. But now when I came to Canada, I changed my point of view about those people. When I hear someone talking about this subject, I don’t hear them, because now I am living with them, dealing with them. They treat me as they do other people. They don’t have discrimination between the people. All people are same, regardless of their race, religion, or color. Really, I feel comfortable now between them and l love them a lot.

Countless facebook messages and letters were also shared with the Brady family by the children who came to the October 4 screening. One of the many letters shared:

Dear George,

 

What was it like in Auschwitz camp?  Was it Sad?  Angry?  Scary?

You are a great hero for her.  I went to go see the documentary of Hana’s Suitcase at the Hamilton theatre, on Tuesday Oct 5th 2010.

The movie made me feel emotional and angry.  What was childhood like with Hana and the family?  Was it Fun?  Loving?  Boring?  When you and Hana used to fight, who would win?  Would Hana win most of the time, or would you?  Or did both of you just equally win?  If there was one thing you had to say to Hana, what would it be?  It must’ve been so hard losing a sister like Hana, and all you’ve been through until she was killed.  If there was memories you would never forget in your life with Hana, what would they be?  George, thanks for reading my letter to you, and I hope that you live the rest of your life with love and peace and joy, and I will stand up for what is right and always make a difference!

 

From,

Jake

More letters and details about the impact of the project can be found in our Annual Report

We hope that this project will be part of a larger, community-wide conversation that will lead to real action to help to make a stronger, more cohesive community and to contribute to the quest to make Hamilton the best place to raise a child.

 

Number of Hana’s suitcase educational toolkits donated to the Hamilton and Halton boards of education (with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and many other generous donors): 364 

Number of Hana’s Suitcase books distributed: 3640

Number of audio books to support English learners hear Hana’s story: 370

Number of children who attended the screening of Inside Hana’s Suitcase with George Brady, Fumiko Ishioka and Lara Brady on October 4 and 5, 2010: 4100

Number of community members that attended the evening screening of Inside Hana’s Suitcase with George Brady, Fumiko Ishioka and Lara Brady: 2000

Number of businesses, and community organizations coming together to support the Hana’s Suitcase Project: 36

Number of individuals from the community contributing to the project: 126