Serving in Guatemala: Help Us Create a New Library in Parramos!

Serving in Guatemala

In February 2008, we moved to Guatemala, Central America, to live out our dream to help the poor communities living in this developing country. It is difficult to leave our family and friends but we know that this will be a decision that we will not regret.

Almost 60% of all Guatemalans, or 6.4 million people, live in poverty making less than $2US per day. Approximately 16% of this number are in extreme poverty living on less than $1US per day. Furthermore, more than 50% of the children are malnourished and have no hope for a better future. Reasons for the continuous poverty in Guatemala include illiteracy, lack of access to health care and low levels of education. The Arms of Jesus Children's Mission (AOJ), a private non-profit organization, has responded to this need by creating a school with specialized educational programs, meeting the daily nutritional requirements of the children, and offering social support to families. We feel very fortunate to be working with an organization that is dedicated to meeting the basic needs of the poor communities in Guatemala. For more information on AOJ, you can visit their website through the hot link on the bottom right.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Help Us Create a New Library in Parramos!

Our first major project here is creating a new library in Parramos, which is a small city where the illiteracy rate is high and the economic conditions are poor. The purpose of the library is to provide a comfortable, multi-purpose environment where students in the AOJ School and the general public can have free access to reading material. The intent is to promote and encourage the habit of reading in the local community, which is necessary for further educational development. The ultimate objective of the library is to benefit and develop the whole community of Parramos and not just the students of the AOJ School.

The AOJ School has been operating since 2001, when it started with 35 children in grades one to three. In 2007, the school grew to 450 students in grades one to six. There is currently an inadequate supply of reading material to encourage reading amongst the students given the exponential growth. There are approximately 200 books currently servicing 450 students at the AOJ School and the majority of these books are in English as they are usually donated by teams and churches that visit the school and see the need. The picture above shows the current state of the library. As you can see, we are in desperate need of more books and some furniture to have a comfortable environment for the children!

In a country where the literacy rate is only 69%, there is an essential need to obtain Spanish language books so that students are encouraged to read at an early age and to instill the habit of self-development. We have just completed the construction of a room that can accommodate at least 3000 books, including space for learning centres to facilitate specialized activities and computers for internet research. If the library grows as planned, it will become the only such facility in the entire region servicing 1500 students in the public school system in addition to the students attending the AOJ School.

We are calling this project 'Leer Para Crecer' (Read to Grow) and have determined that we need to raise $10,000 US to start. If you want to receive more information about this project, including specific reading material required, please contact Steve Tharakan at tharakan.steve@gmail.com. Please note that all financial contributions are eligible for income tax receipts. With your help, we can make a difference by giving the simple gift of reading to a community that is starving for this opportunity!