On December 11th, 2005, Silvia Eguino, representative of the Department of Cultural Affairs for the US Embassy in La Paz, donated some 300 books to the Morado K’asa community library.
Every year, local non-government organization CESATCH conducts their annual fair in Morado K’asa, bringing together community members from the 5 surrounding communities in which they work. This year there was a variety of food sold by local women, arts and crafts displayed by the youth, contests to see which woman could braid her hair the fastest, and other surprises. It is always a great opportunity to bring people together.
This year, Megan Sherar, Project Coordinator for the BiblioWorks Foundation, invited Silvia Eguino to participate in the fair. The US Embassy has recently started a Book Program designed to bring American authors and culture to Bolivia by translating American favorites such as Where the Wild Things Grow to spanish in the States and having them sent to Bolivia. They have stocked libraries in the departments of La Paz and Cochabamba, and our library in Morado K’asa was the first to participate in their program in the department of Chuquisaca.
The Morado K’asa library received a variety of books including picture encyclopedias, atlases, books on astronomy, sports books, childrens’ books, and American literature such as Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Kerouac, and Pope. A table adorned with an American flag was set up during the fair to display the books, attended by Peace Corps volunteer, Julia Ortiz. Also present were Silvia Eguino of the US Embassy-Bolivia, Steven Banig (Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator), Megan Sherar (BiblioWorks), and Javier Garza (Peace Corps Director of Bolivia).
After a short speech by Javier, all the kids of Morado K’asa were invited to the library for story-telling. Javier and Julia read to the older kids in the library, while Steven and Megan read stories to the smaller children on the basketball court. The kids enjoyed the stories and even more so as they also received balloons, yogurt, and chocolates!
BiblioWorks will continue to be working with the US Embassy-Bolivia, collaborating efforts to provide quality literature and educational materials to more BiblioWorks-financed libraries in the future.