During my last visit to the community of Concepción I encountered a small boy walking toward me. It did my heart good to see a book in his hand. The fact that he was carrying it in a plastic bag told me that he wanted to take good care of this precious item. He had…
I never expected that we’d see it this soon, just two and a half years after beginning in Concepcion, but there it was right in front of me — the birth of a new generation of leaders in this community. Sunday, after Daniel and I had wrapped up the training session with our fifteen teen reading promoters, Marcela (one of the teens) told…
I remember vividly just two years ago our first meeting ever with the first teen reading promoters in Concepcion. Julio Cesar’s beet-red face belied his embarrassment at having to crow like a rooster whenever it came up in a story being read aloud. It was so challenging for him I wondered to myself if he’d ever be capable of reading a story in…
Fifteen eager youth in the community of Concpeción and nine in Pujujil gathered to kick off the year. They were presented with their book bags, lit candles representing the light of literacy, made a commitment to transform the lives of children in their communities and then carried that commitment out into the world.
Rosmery is one of our teen reading promoters who receives funding for school in return for her literacy work with children in her community. She is eighteen but just started high school this year because she had to drop out for a while to help her family. Her father has only a first grade education…
On my final day in Concepcion, Daniel Guzman (our In-Country Director) and I held a workshop for our teen reading promoters. I hadn’t worked with them as a group since February and it was so gratifying to see them speaking up more, acting as a group rather than six individuals, expressing their appreciation for the program AND making…
I visited Puertas Abiertas (Open Doors) today, a small children’s library in Santiago Atitlan that Reading Village has supported with donations of books. Puertas Abiertas is a project of Starfish One by One, they have several projects around Lake Atitlan that promote the growth and development of children. I am excited about the conversation we…
I had so much fun yesterday watching our teen reading promoters in action! They read stories, led the children at the daycare centers in song and dance and did arts and crafts. I am very proud of their progress. They are no longer nervous in front of the groups of kids which allows them greater…