Macuelizo School Library

About a four hour drive from Managua is what it takes to get to Macuelizo. Macuelizo is a small town that was settled on the shores of the river by the same name. There are no restaurants, hotels, or banks. There is only one school, the local Municipality, and a couple of churches.

The inhabitants of Macuelizo are happy, talkative corn and bean producers. As you drive down their only paved road the people walking will wave with a big smile. No, they don’t get very many visitors. The drought that has hit this northern area of Nicaragua in the past year has dried up most of the wells. They have to get their water from four public faucets and carry bucket loads of water to their homes. Many will also bathe and wash their clothes in the river.

Danilo Lopez is a 19-year-old young man who has been faithfully visiting the library since the day it opened. According to him, having a library in the town is what motivated him to study for a career in agriculture. Through that window of opportunity that a library brings to a community, Danilo was able to decide that he could grow his knowledge and become a more successful farmer by going to college. He is now one of the forty people in Macuelizo who go to college.

The Macuelizo Municipal Library is a small building by the side of the only school in town. It began through the planning of the local Municipality with the support of the Children’s Commission of Nicaragua. At its beginning, the library used to be part of the public school. However, since the kids needed the library to be open in the afternoon they decided to separate it from the school and take up the entire building. Presently the Macuelizo Municipal Library has a collection of 763 books, and a recently received donation of 150 books from Books for Life. These are some donations that this library could really use:

Books

Furniture

Video equipment

Computers

A library in a humble community such as Maculizo is much more than one more building. It gives the kids new hopes for the future; it gives the teachers fresh resources. It opens up a world of information and possibilities that would’ve otherwise been hidden.