Other side

Trail along the north shore

San Pedro on the far shore

On Thursday I met Julio, a teacher at the Spanish school who is also the husband of Vila, my teacher from last year. He invited me over to their house so after class the next day, I went there with him and he and Vila described the work they're doing to help the kids in the community. She stopped teaching at the Spanish school and is now running a free preschool in their very small house.

In addition to working with a local NGO to help kids do their homework (which apparently many local parents don't help with), he has started building a library in his house to lend books to kids and encourage them to read. According to him the kids don't have another place to borrow books since the public library doesn't lend books but only allows them to be used for 2 hours at a time in the library. He also meets regularly with the kids to discuss the books they're reading.

I was really inspired by this couple who has so little and spends their time and the very little money they have to help the local kids. They also have a child of their own - a boy about 3 or 4 years old. Julio is trying to build his library and keep multiple copies of some books so the kids can read and discuss them together. He has worked out an arrangement with a local owner of a tourist restaurant and internet cafe that sells and exchanges books in English. For 2 used books in English the owner purchases one book in Spanish and donates this to Julio's library.

If anyone is interested in contributing used books to this project - in Spanish or in English - let me know and I'll send the address to mail them to.

written by  cjones on August 2, 2008 from San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala
from the travel blog: so-journ
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