Famous for its breath-taking lookout over Laguna de Apoyo, sits Catarina. This town is always busy with tourists from all over the world. It’s people are warm and welcoming, specially during their end of the year celebration when a large parade runs through its narrow street. The people’s joy reflects in the thousands of sparks that fly from the fireworks display at the festivity. A great majority of Catarina’s inhabitants make a living by selling a wide range of garden plants. Along the roads of the small town, you can see all the plants and flowers they have on display. They also create wonderful swings made out of bamboo.
Karla Romero, the librarian, points out, “we are trying to reinforce elementary education by giving the kids the habit of reading.” As in most libraries in Nicaragua, the most widely used books are school textbooks. Most kids grow up thinking of libraries as only places to complete given assignments. The Mario Gaitan Public Library is trying to change that concept in the new generation of kids. The largest section of the library, for the moment, is the children’s section. Here the kids enjoy storytelling, drawing, and many educational games. This way, kids like Julio Acevedo, grow with a desire to read books not only because they need to for school. Julio, even though he is only 9, will come to the library every day to read his favorite books. If there are other kids, he will just as happily read to them as well!
The library only has a collection of 383 books for the 60 kids or more who come in every day. Even though the local municipality is remodeling the new library building, their budget is very limited. You can have an impact on this community by providing for some of these needs:
Books
Art Materials
Educational Games
Video Equipment
Computers
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