Dear Friends,In response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting school closures, Studio KSL in eKitabu produced 38 video episodes of Digital Story Time (DST) which were aired in Kenya on KICD EDU Channel TV and eKitabu’s YouTube channel from April 2020. Our aim was to reach children who could not access regular lessons, including deaf and hard of hearing learners, and to support KICD’s efforts to make e-learning inclusive. The video episodes are fun and enjoyable for all children learning to read.Digital Story Time (DST) is a 25-30 minute video program that presents local storybooks in video form narrated by storytellers who are fluent in Kenyan Sign Language (KSL). Each episode has stories for early grade learners, 2-3 stories per episode depending on the length of individual stories. The format includes colorful stories with key vocabulary in Kenyan Sign Language as well as Kiswahili or English depending on the language of the original story. Each story includes. Following the story, we ask learners comprehension questions.Lastly, I would like to offer a tribute to our respected, loved, and irreplaceable colleague Dobbs Mkolwe, who passed away in March. Dobbs was an Architect at eKitabu. Dobbs played a key role in eKitabu’s major projects in EPUB development and creating accessible content, including tools and knowledge, to include all children in learning. Dobbs himself was an avid and creative learner. He came to eKitabu from our sister company, Digital Divide Data. We are grateful to DDD colleagues for sharing Dobbs with us—for Dobbs's kindness, his help, his original ideas, his mentorship of colleagues, and the time we spent together as a team. May the memories of his contributions be warmly celebrated by all for long, including his young daughter. Go well, Dobbs. We miss you.Warmest regards,WillRead the entire newsletter here