Support literacy and learning for 1,900 Maya youth

With a grin, Kendall proudly explained that he had learned the value of being polite and getting along well with his friends. As one of the Limitless Knowledge Community Library’s most frequent visitors, he has demonstrated his cooperative nature on many occasions. But this time, the lesson came from his star role as Max, the main character of Where the Wild Things Are.

As part of the library’s end-of-year celebration, the play was performed in front of library-users, parents, staff, and visitors. Kendall hadn’t ever acted on stage before, but couldn’t contain his excitement at having the lead role in the library’s theatrical production. Max, the naughty boy who is sent to bed without any dinner, watches his room hang with tree vines and fill with a tumbling ocean. He sails off through night and day to reach the land of wild things with terrible roars and terrible teeth.

With a loud voice and big gestures, Kendall inhabited Max’s personality as he shouted, “Be still!” and the monsters fell to the floor around him. Afterward, they all got up and danced around the stage, in their carefully rehearsed “wild rumpus” scene.

The group of library-users, who are all under ten-years-old, had auditioned to be part of the cast. Together, they read the library’s well-thumbed copy of Where the Wild Things Are and discussed how they would represent it on stage. Afterward, they talked about the significance of Max’s journey and return to his home in time for a hot dinner. They agreed that they must listen to their parents and have good manners. Instead of being King of the monsters, they said that Max should have shared nicely with his friends and not shouted at them.

Crowding together to share their thoughts, the cast was eager to talk about the excitement of learning through acting. For all of them, standing in front of a full hall of people with scary monster stances was no small feat. Also, remembering their lines in Spanish was a great achievement for children who speak Ixil at home and, through the library’s programs, have only just started to learn their second language.

The Limitless Knowledge Community Library opens up imaginations in Chajul. Here, young people can think of values and good behavior through reading stories and bringing them to life on stage. They can explore character development with arts and crafts and lots of laughter. Indeed, the cast of the play had made their monster costumes the week before in a flurry of activity at the library, involving paper cut-outs, coloring pens, and lots of scissors and glue.

The happy scene is part of the Library’s everyday vibrancy and color. Away from the public education system’s rote lessons and homes that most often have no books or electricity, children are able to dive into different worlds and learn diverse modes of storytelling. By supporting the Limitless Knowledge Community Library, you are helping us to ensure that we can engage more of Chajul’s youth through the creative power of the arts.

At the Limitless Horizons Ixil Saber Sin Límites (Limitless Knowledge) Community Library, the end of the school year was celebrated with a day out in the countryside. In Guatemala, the school year runs from January to October, and this year when classes finished, librarians David and Olga organized a field trip to a recreation park near Chajul. Olga explains that the trip is a way to recognize and reward the youth who have consistently participated in the library’s activities over the course of the school year. 

The main goal, Olga says, is that the library users have fun. She states, “the children tell us that at school, their teachers don’t teach them games. Students play by themselves, and the teachers monitor them. Meanwhile, at the library, we are always learning new games together. For the children, it’s their moment to feel whatever they feel and play with each other.”

Sixty library users celebrated together by playing soccer, splashing in the pool, and running between the swings, slides, and monkey bars. “The best thing was swimming and playing soccer altogether,” Maria, who is 9 years old and attends the library, says excitedly before running back to jump in the water.

“The field trip is a moment of harmony and coexistence for the children, who don’t go to the same school and don’t have other opportunities to play together,” David says. “At the library and during the day out, the children have the opportunity to play healthily and productively, and work together as a team.”

Library member Calamina explains that she attends morning classes, whereas Estefany attends in the afternoon. “I like coming to the library because we meet new people and everyone always wants to play together.” David reinforces the cooperative nature of the library when he describes how the children work together; “When they’re with us, they try to help each other. They all play well together even with the age differences between them.”

David and Olga work hard to maintain this harmony in the library and during field trips. Calamina loves that in the library, everyone gets along well together; “I go to the library every day. I prefer it there to my school classes and now that it’s school vacation, I can spend even more time in the library!”

The field trip marks the beginning of school vacation for Chajul’s youth. David and Olga have many activities planned for library users over the coming weeks, until the 2020 school year starts in January. There will still be weekly story hours, but the schedule will now also include new activities, like chess tournaments and drama games, in response to the requests from library users.

In a town where youth often have to work while on school vacation to help earn money to support their families, having a safe and welcoming space to learn, play, and engage in games with other children makes a huge difference to their quality of life. Your support of the Saber Sin Límites Community Library provides Chajul’s youth with a safe and enriching environment to spend their time when classes are not in session. Thank you from all of us at Limitless Horizons Ixil and our enthusiastic library users.