Rancho Grande Municipal Library

Six hours from Managua, of which only two hours are on a paved road, lies Rancho Grande. This is a community where most inhabitants have no running water or no water supply at all. They are mostly farmers harvesting beans and corn. The people of Rancho Grande are timid and mostly keep to themselves. The occasional visitors they get are so rare that when they see a stranger they tend to stare. Rancho Grande is currently under the harsh treatment of a national drought.

Walking into the library one of the first needs you might see (or not see) is the poor lighting conditions. Even during the day, the few small windows don’t let enough light into the room. The 703 books on the shelves are worn with age a use. Last year alone, the library was visited by 4,274 people, mainly 7^th grade students. The most widely used books are school textbooks since most of the students can’t afford their own. The Rancho Grande Municipal Library was started in 2003 in a government driven effort to enhance education in the north of the country. These are the needs that your effort can meet:

Books

Video Equipment

Lighting

Educational Games

A middle-aged man, who appears to be in desperate need for new glasses and holds a notebook as far away from his eyes as his arms let him is the librarian. His name is Francisco Larios, an extremely organized man who believes that “progress in education creates positive consequences. In a very eloquent way he states, “I could say anything and give you lists of needs, but the truth is visible. It’s not hard to see the many needs that these children have.”