RAINBOW VILLAGE: A PROGRAM THAT WORKS

At Rainbow Village, children learned the meaning of the words Respect, Attitude, Individuals and their differences, Nurture, Belonging, Order and Work ethics.

Rainbow is an acronym for qualities that will help them not only survive but thrive.

The children's primary mission during the summer-long program was to brush up on the math, reading and writing they learned during the past school year. This they did with the help of volunteer teaching aides who supervised them Monday through Thursday mornings.

The idea is to reinforce the skills the students already have acquired so they don't backslide over the summer. The 60 or so children ranged from kindergarteners through sixth-graders, and were recruited from Cape Girardeau's school system..

"I went to the schools and asked for a list of kids they thought would benefit," said Sheldon Tyler, who created and directs the program at the Cape Civic Center.

Tyler is the program's only certified teacher.

The concept of Rainbow Village is based on the African proverb "It takes a village to raise a child."

Fifteen teen-agers and nine adult aides volunteered time to supervise and teach the children over the summer. Transportation was provided by local black churches.

Besides book work, the children who attended Rainbow Village over the summer also learned self-defense techniques from a kung fu expert, magic from a magician, and about politics from state Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau.

They also learned to count in Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Swahili.

Rainbow Village is one of the programs YELL newspapers help fund. The $1,500 donated by Yell last year paid for 120 multicultural books, books that among other things taught the children to count in multiple languages.

Rainbow Village is a program that works, Tyler says, and YELL's donation is vital "because of the importance of literacy."

"Their interest and skills have increased exponentially," he says of the children. "They're wanting to read now."