Early Childhood Literacy & Nutrition in Guatemala

The Community Library Ventanas Abiertas al Futuro are empowering women to have a better lives in the community. During the 2017 first quarterly, this library has trained to 15 women organized to develop a multiplier effect and transfer of knowledge in stimulation to reading; this helps the promotion of the program at community level. As a direct result, 41 women of Chiche promote breastfeeding as an important food in children aged 0 to 5 years old.

The library implements an early childhood development reading program with a nutritional approach that offers children a wide variety of experiences necessary to maximize their physical and psychological abilities. In addition an environment enriched with the necessary stimuli for its development and thus to avoid many of the problems of learning.

This Reading program is also aimed at stimulating a spirit of curiosity and observation of the child, to initiate it in the understanding and interpretation of the world that surrounds it.

The strategy is provided knowledge to parents through different techniques that encourage the stimulation of their own children, as well as learning the preparation of nutritious foods that contribute to the strengthening of children's learning.

The Riecken Foundation believes that reading to children from an early age (0-5 years), stimulates the mind, develops language, and builds a base to ensure the success of reading in the future. The parents are childrens’ first teachers; so they need to be provided with tools and activities they can do with their families to promote reading at an early age and develop a reading habit that will continue throughout life. But how libraries teach to parents?:

• Motivation to Books: parents learn about sparking the interest in children to enjoy books, with the purpose of promoting an approach to them.
• Becoming familiar with the writing: parents learn about how engage the children with reading, use exercises that show drawings, shapes, people, and animals, not only with figures but with written words.
• Knowledge of sounds: parents learn how they can help children to acquire the ability to hear and play with sounds.
• Narrative skills: parents can relate stories and tales to children and help develop the skills in reading readiness.

All Riecken Community Libraries offer early childhood development and nutrition programs, quality books and safe places to read and learn, support for skills taught by the schools, story circles and more, Riecken Community Libraries brings opportunity to underserved regions of Central America that need it most!