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Rayanna's Hope for Africa launches children's book

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A local charity benefitting grandmothers in Africa will now have a wider audience thanks to a children’s book written about the organization’s inspiration, Rayanna Hope Trotter.

Rayanna’s Hope for Africa is a tri-region based charitable organization that supports grandmothers in Africa who are caring for children whose parents have died as a result of HIV/AIDS. Rayanna’s Hope for Africa was started in memory of Rayanna Hope Trotter who was adopted from Malawi, Africa by the Trotter/Lemmer family of Stony Plain. Hope Trotter, tragically, died at the age of five due to illness and the subsequent book is told from her perspective from heaven.

Aptly titled Rayanna’s Hope, the book was written by MaryBelle Thompson, a family friend of the Trotter family and a member of the charitable organization.

“It’s a short, little book that was initially meant as a children’s book,” said Thompson. “It’s (Rayanna’s) story and told through her voice as though she’s talking from heaven.”

Published through the Edmonton-based publishing house PageMaster Publication Services, Thompson spent roughly two years working on the project alongside three illustrators who contributed sketches as well as digital renditions of Rayanna’s friends and family. Thompson said writing the book was a way to create a legacy for Rayanna and continue to raise money for the foundation.

“This book was published because we’ve had so many people ask about Rayanna and so we thought we’d use that as a way to honour her and her legacy and also as a fundraiser for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign,” Thompson said. “When a child dies, the big fear of the parent is that they will be forgotten … this is my way of creating a legacy for Rayanna. It was a very special and unique story and I felt that it needed to be told.”

Having already sold 100 copies of the book, an official launch will be held on Nov. 4 at the Stony Plain Pioneer Museum. At $20 per copy, the proceeds of the book launch and sales will go towards the organization’s charitable efforts.

“The Stephen Louis Foundation receives the proceeds and the group, Rayanna’s Hope for Africa, is under the umbrella of the foundation. (The proceeds) go to the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign,” said Thompson.

The book launch will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Pioneer Museum on Saturday, Nov. 4.

 

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