Numbers are daunting and often the more numbers you throw at people, the more desensitizing it is to the audience. So we could throw numbers around about how many languages there are in the world, in Asia, and how few of those are represented in the education system. But what we want to see are people like Bonomali, who is from a Koda community.

Bonomali is a father of young children, who has been enthusiastic about helping to design the alphabet and work out spelling rules. He has also written many Koda rhymes for the preschool curriculum. Bonomali is enthusiastic because people used to ask him what kind of community Koda was. "They don't have a language. There are no books", they used to say. Bolomali is proud to have books in his own language now.

Bonomali and his children are one example of families among ethnolinguistic communities in Asia, whose language and culture are vulnerable to extinction. LEAD Asia's vision is that communities like Bonomali's with be able to achieve their education and development goals while celebrating their unique languages and cultures.

Can you imagine a world where more communities like Koda have opportunities for education and can pass on the value they gain to their children? The message they need to hear is "You can succeed while keeping your language and culture. You can even thrive."