San Francisco Libre

The San Francisco Libre Community Library started in 1989 with the help of the local municipality. It began with mostly textbooks and very few informational books and literature books.

San Francisco is located on the north shore of the Managua Lake, two hours away from the capital city, Managua. Recently, the Nicaraguan government built a port to create a shipping route between San Francisco Libre and Managua. However, the route wasn’t successful. The port, though in excellent conditions, remains unused except on local holidays when the route is used by tourists.

Because of the vast flats that surround San Francisco Libre, most of its inhabitants cut firewood and raise cattle for a living. Many also fish in the polluted Managua Lake. Only 30% of the people in San Francisco Libre have steady jobs. The most humble houses in the community are located extremely near the shoreline; which poses a major threat when the level of the lake rises as it did during Hurricane Mitch. As with most rural communities in Nicaragua, San Francisco Libre is also subject to frequent electricity cuts, many times lasting days. The shutdown of electricity also means no water supply for the entire community.

As the San Francisco Libre Community library grew, it became the home of a mobile library. The few books were shared among different schools and close communities. The library and the local school developed a program called Estudio por Encuentro meaning Studying by Encounter in which rural kids go to school once a week and receive a study guide and turn in assignments.

In 2000, the library finally moved to its current building, basically four walls and a straw roof. A German NGO, Nicaragua Verein Oldenburg, provided around 3000 new books for the library. They also have a permanent program in which three German volunteers live in the community for a year; they help run the library and teach art and music classes. The library has two computers, and only one works. There is no Internet.

You can provide the following for this library:

Books

Video Equipment

Internet

Computers

Jenny Filpe, a German volunteer talks excitedly of a four-year-old child named Yasser. He lives across from the library and visits almost every day. “He is very curious… he wants to know everything about everything, and he doesn’t even go to school yet!” According to Jenny, the new generation of kids in San Francisco Libre are interested in growing with reading, interested in learning.