Thanks Roxana!
Written by: Matt
Roxana Guzman has been working with BiblioWorks for a year and a half. From the first moment she became part of our small team as a university intern, she showed a dedication and energy which is hard to find anywhere. There is not much more to say about Roxana except that she loves life and lives it through making people (espeically children) smile. She is a stage actress, a volunteer at an orphanage for girls, a very well prepared professional and an important part of the BiblioWorks team. For those of you who understand Spanish, she has written a beautiful piece which you can read below. It can’t really be translated into English, but expresses her love and commitment to our mission of spreading literacy and reading in Bolivia.
¡ATRÉVETE!
Una vez una niña conoció un mundo en el que sus sueños fácilmente se hacían realidad. Un día compartió un momento mágico con otros niños que con sus sonrisas y miradas sinceras de agradecimiento hacían que ese día sea tan especial, pues la felicidad se había concentrado en ese instante…descubrió que podía aventurarse en un lugar que antes no había visto ni había escuchado, pero ahora era tan real…
Compartían y aprendían a vivir un sin fin de acciones emocionantes adentradas a lugares y seres únicos…ellos ¡luchan! por lograr que este mundo mágico se expanda hacia más personas “usuarios”, hacia más lugares “Bibliotecas”… y así la niña fue compartiendo y viviendo un mundo mágico cada vez que abría y leía la historia de una niña que conoció un mundo en el que sus sueños se hacían realidad…
¡Atrévete a conocer tu mundo en el que tus sueños se hacen realidad!
Roxana reading with kids at the literacy fair last month
First ever literacy festival in Sucre Bolivia
Written by:Matt
The recent literacy festival (Saturday, April 14th) organized by BiblioWorks was a huge success for BiblioWorks and for the city of Sucre. We set out to organize the first festival of its kind, a day to celebrate culture and a day to celebrate literacy and reading. The feat of putting on such a festival tested our strength as a team. Everyone including our team of three paid staff, one Bolivian volunteer, two Bolivian university interns and nine foreign volunteers worked around the clock, including many weekend and extra hours, to get everything ready for the big day. It proved to us that we have the organizational strength to collaborate with government officials, be spotlighted on local television and radio stations, design and print a lot of publicity materials, work with the city superintendent of education to ensure the participation of 35 schools in her district, coordinate and meet with non-profit organizations to participate in the festival and much more hard work and dedication that made the day such a huge success.
Some of the highlights of the literacy festival were:
- The participation of over 700 elementary, middle and high school students. We got those kids loving to read!!
- Activities for adults which showed us that there is a large demand for literacy and reading improvement
- Expositions including games, information and other activities by 15 local non-profit organizations
- Coverage of the festival by all major television and radio stations and the city’s major newspaper
- Corporate sponsorship of the festival by 18 local businesses
- The participation of the Sucre Municipal marching band and traditional Bolivian dances
We leave you with some photos of the big day. We are extremely happy that this event was so welcomed by the city of Sucre and was a huge success for BiblioWorks. Thanks to all of your help and support, we will continue to support literacy projects in Bolivia and continue to grow as an organization.
The calm before the storm, early morning, April 14th
Painting a mural about why literacy and reading are important
The winning organization's exposition
The marching band gets things going for the festival
Playing a reading game!
The cultural director of the city of Sucre kicks off the festival with some words of encouragement
This is what the festival was all about!
BiblioWorks supports local school
Written by:Matt
This year has continued well for BiblioWorks with progress being made on a new project in Pampa Aceituno. This is a small, Quechua community in the municipality of Sucre, a few kilometres outside the city, and BiblioWorks is working there with the Bolivian state-owned petrol company YPFB.
At the moment, the structure of the school in Pampa Aceituno is in poor condition and it has no electricity or running water. Although the school teaches pupils from the age of six to 14 years old, it is very basic with few resources and, until BiblioWorks started working there, no books at all. BiblioWorks is helping to improve literacy and promote reading at the school by donating books and organizing trainings with the teachers, something that is clearly going down well there – when we visited Pampa Aceituno recently, children performed songs and poems in Quechua as a thank you for BiblioWorks’ support.
It is always a pleasure to see communities embracing the principle on which BiblioWorks is built and recognising the importance of literacy and education. We are excited about the possibilities for development in Pampa Aceituno and look forward to working further with the community there.
Girls after dancing a traditional Bolivian dance
School children and teachers gathered in the rain
Girls singing a song in Quechua for the BiblioWorks staff
