“Hola” from BiblioWorks´ newest volunteer! My name is John I´ve been with BiblioWorks for two weeks. I have been traveling through South America and am so happy to have found BiblioWorks. Bolivia is an incredible place to take a little break from the constant bus rides and tourist crowds; and the leisurely pace of Sucre is right up my alley.READ MORE
Hello! We went out to Pampa Aceituno today to finish the last of the painting. It was so fun! Our newest volunteer, John from the United States, came with us and helped SO much. He is 6’7” and made sure all of the high corners in the library were painted perfectly. Maritza, Matt and Liz finished the murals while I painted chalkboard paint on the old chalkboard. (Thanks to Philly and Sharon for donating the paint!) The library looks great, and is already being enjoyed by all of the students back from vacation.READ MORE
Women in Bolivia are amazing. They are so strong and so smart. I am baffled at the way they can spin yarn around and sew something perfect at any given moment. They have Mary Poppins-sized secret pockets from which they often pull out beautiful creations they are working on. Despite obvious dexterous and artistic advantages, they are still always willing to try something new, silly as it may be.READ MORE
Hello!
Today is a great day. We just welcomed our newest volunteer to the mix, Anthony, from Belgium. He has been in Sucre for mere hours, but is already excited to get started. He will be with Biblioworks for two months (yahoo!) and will mainly be working in Biblioteca 14 enero in Presto. The kids there have been asking to play chess, and Anthony is ready for the challenge. He will also be working on starting a “competitive book club”, challenging different ages of students to compete in the amount of books they can read! We are very excited.READ MORE
Today we piled into a taxi, and though two hours late, we did it. We painted Pampa Aceituno! For those of you who don’t know, Pampa Aceituno is our newest, 9th library, and we are giving it deserved love. Our morning started off painfully slow, realizing, “We don’t have the paint!” and, “We don’t know where the taxi driver is!” but they both arrived and the piling began.READ MORE
Prep day. Liz, Karen & Erin on our way up to the school. Sometimes we walk, sometimes we hitch a ride on a work truck!
Hola! Karen here – I just wanted to update everyone on all the work that is being done at the Pampa Aceituno school library. This is BW latest library (opened in April 2012) and the one where I will initially be the librarian until the end of October. Hopefully, at that that time, I will be able to pass the job on to one of the teachers. The kids are currently on winter break so we all decided it would be a great idea to surprise them with a freshly painted library! It was a lot of work but we had tons of fun – thanks to the incredible BWs staff (Matt, Maritza, and Liz) and to the amazing cadre of volunteers who helped (Erin, Frances, Carl, and Beth)!READ MORE
Our stand in Tarabuco
So, the last couple of weeks have been pretty slow in the library in Tarabuco, in terms of library users, but we´ve had a “Feria de Lectura” and an attempt at taking an inventory of all the books (we got through about an eighth) to keep us busy!
So on Sunday (1st) I got up at five to meet at the Tarabuco bus stop at seven, as we had an event to run in Tarabuco that morning. The “Feria de Lectura” was originally planned as a multiple-stand event, with the three schools in Tarabuco coming along, which would´ve allowed us to promote the library to hundreds of kids. What we actually got was a stand at the annual gastronomy/textile/agricultural fair. This led to a few challenges: inadequate space to properly set out the activities; lack of children present (most of them were helping their parents to sell stuff); and a general feeling that we were out of place, being probably the only stand not selling things.READ MORE
As is so often the way in Boliva, my plans were scarpered by a feriado (public holiday). I would not be going out to Morado K’asa to deliver the second clase de ingles after all. Instead, making the most of my unexpectedly lengthened weekend, I made the trip out to Uyuni for the tour of the salt lakes.
Returning at 4am on the Sunday morning, I only had a few hours in Sucre before turning around and leaving again. At 10:30am the same day, I took the micro to Morado K’asa for the annual football tournament that takes place there, organized by JUSIBA, the youth group who initially requested a library in the village. BiblioWorks had agreed to donate some prizes, so I was going out there to deliver them, and had rescheduled the English class for the Monday.
Here I am with students at Pampa Aceituno
Hello! I’m Emma and I am currently a senior at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, USA. I have spent the last two months working for BiblioWorks. My job has been twofold: I’ve been grant writing and working in BiblioWorks’ newest library, Pampa Aceituno. Pampa Aceituno is a small school, set high in the hills about 25 minutes outside of Sucre. Sadly I left BiblioWorks, Pampa Aceituno, and Sucre yesterday, so my blog posts will be published from afar but nevertheless– this is what I accomplished in beautiful Bolivia.READ MORE
To start off with an introduction, my name is Carl Hickson, and I will be volunteering with BiblioWorks for six weeks, splitting my time between the office and the libraries. I am from the UK, and am just entering into my third year at the University of St Andrews, studying International Relations.READ MORE
