Letter to Chapel Hill News & Observer

My name is Michael Myers, and I am the emcee in the band Addictive Nature. From 9-5, however, I work for the International Development Division of the Education Development Center in Washington D.C.

Here at EDC we make learning more accessible, relevant, and exciting. Our International Development Division collaborates with local partners in more than 35 countries across five continents. We work at the preschool, primary, and secondary levels, and with youth, adults, and out-of-school learners. Whether helping youth build job skills in Haiti, teaching HIV/AIDS orphans in Zambia, or helping Yemeni teachers use technology to improve their skills, EDC is committed to building human capacity and ensuring our partners can sustain their own programs.

I work primarily with the Somalia project. One of the most effective and creative methods we use here at EDC, and what we are considered pioneers of, is Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) Programing. We generate radio programs which include skits, lessons, and songs to promote reading, math, and life skills. We then distribute radios across the country to different schools and communities, and broadcast our programs. This allows us to reach children who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to go to school, and helps train teachers to become more engaging and creative with their lesson plans. I run the studio in Georgetown where some of these radio programs are created. I also edit the Somali children’s books, which help children learn english by including both somali and english text in the stories. We accept donations in the form of $125 (which allows an entire school to access our IRI programs) and $12.50 (which sends two of our books to a school in Somalia). These books are supported by K’naan, who has a link to our donation site on his main webpage. You can donate here: http://idd.edc.org/causes/you-can-help-somali-children-learn

My career is education; my passion is music. I have been blessed enough to get the opportunity to combine the two, and do it on a scale that reaches the entire world. I look forward to performing with Sean Kingston on Aprill 11th and further supporting education in Africa.