Project Report
| Feb 25, 2013
More Rotarians Coming to Visit Project
By Joan Fuetsch | Member, Board of Directors
![Alba & new supplies purchased with your donations]()
Alba & new supplies purchased with your donations
In early March a team of Rotarians from California will be visiting the pilot early childhood development project. The hope is to develop a large Rotary grant which will provide training for librarians in 64 Riecken Community Libraries in both Guatemala and Honduras. This is very exciting as it could provide real change in Central America by providing early literacy stimulation and nutritional information to, perhaps, thousands of toddlers giving them a much better chance to succeed as students.
A donor has provided the 2013 salary for the project director, Alba Estrada, but there are ongoing expenses to purchase new and replacement materials. In addition, the project provides healthy snacks (along with the nutritional information) four times a week. A recent presentation on the health benefits of vegetables was accompanied by a cucumber and tomato snack.
The hoped for Rotary grant will provide early childhood development training throughout the network of libraries. We continue to need your support to purchase the necessary educational materials. We thank you for your support thus far and hope that you will continue to follow our progress with the littlest and often neediest kids in rural Central America.
Saludos,
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Nov 13, 2012
Experts Agree on Early Learning
By Joan Fuetsch | Project Leader
![Story hour for the little ones]()
Story hour for the little ones
We are making a year-end push for this project to be able to expand it in 2013. It is a very successful pilot project that we hope, very soon, will get picked up by institutional donors so that we might offer it to many more Central American families. If you have any doubts about the importance of early childhood stimulation I hope that you will take the time to watch this TED talk video on YouTube. http://youtu.be/ozNo1tSARh8. At this writing Alba is conducting two completely full sessions each week. Due to the small size of her library she has to lock the doors to other would be library users for the duration of the early childhood sessions. People in Alba's community write and tell us that she is the "soul" of their little library and that the library is the soul of the community, that it is giving a community that suffered mightily during the 36-year civil war some hope for the future. Children are the future and the hope of this and every other community. We are very grateful for your donations to date and are very hopeful as 2012 comes to a close that you might give just a little bit more to ensure that this program continues and expands too. Muchas gracias.
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Aug 27, 2012
Meet the Project Director, Alba Estrada
By Joan Fuetsch | Joan Fuetsch
![Alba Estrada (L) with Rotarians from Reno NV]()
Alba Estrada (L) with Rotarians from Reno NV
Alba Estrada is the director of the program which takes place in the village library. Alba was born and raised in the indigenous community of Quiche which is not far from the famed Chichicastenango market for those of you who have been to Guatemala. Alba's family is not indigenous and she reports that she was only accepted by the indigenous population when she started working in the Riecken library. Quiche is an area where there was a lot of violence during Guatemala's 36-year civil war and the wounds are healing very slowly. If you haven't seen Alba talk about the early childhood program I would encourage you to click on the link below to watch our video. The mothers in the community were initially reluctant to participate in the early childhood program most likely because most of them are illiterate and lacking in self-esteem. Now the program is so over subscribed (and by demand including a lot of information on nutrition) that Alba is searching for funding for a second floor for her library. Currently, when the early childhood program is in session the little library has to be closed and all the furniture moved around. We also invite you to click on the interview link and listen to a 2007 interview with the founder of the Riecken network, Allen Andersson. Please help us to report to Alba that we have full funding for her project. Muchas gracias.
![In front of Alba's little library]()
In front of Alba's little library
![Alba reading to all her children.]()
Alba reading to all her children.
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