This article is imported from our 2017 Stop Poverty Campaign web site.

As part of the 2017 Stop Poverty Campaign, ATD Ireland ran a storytelling project. The aim of the project was to complete a short collection of stories to be launched a few days after the International Day for Tolerance (16 November) and one day after the Universal Children’s Day (20 nov).

Tolerance is neither indulgence nor indifference. It is respect and appreciation of the rich variety of our diversity of forms of expression and ways of being human. Tolerance recognizes the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others. People are naturally diverse; only tolerance can ensure the survival of mixed communities made up of different people.

The stories collected during the 2017 Stop Poverty Campaign will be messages of hope and encouragement told by those who have experiences of hardship and difficulties. These stories will be real life accounts of positive moments in our lives. These stories have been written and collected with hope it will help us all to come together and prepare with our children a better future for people and the planet. We are happy that our launch takes place at the occasion the Universal Children’s Day!

Each month from March to August 2017, ATD held sessions where volunteers could share these stories and listen to the stories of others. These sessions were an opportunity to encourage each other to ‘build one’s stories’.

Stories of change from all over the world can be found at: https://storiesofchange.atd-fourthworld.org/