Diaries from a Volunteer at La Puerta Abierta

By: Brittany

BPA visiting volunteer

My experience volunteering with librarians and the children at La Puerta Abierta was wonderful. I traveled to Santiago Atitlan to volunteer at the local hospital as a nurse with my newly earned RN. I luckily stumbled upon La Puerta Abierta one day as I was walking through Santiago exploring. The energy at the library was alive and vibrant, and I quickly set up a time to volunteer. I ended up volunteering about four days a week with the library, and found my niche to be in a local community in Panabaj where the library hosts an out-reach project.

The children in Panabaj were warm, energetic, and easy to get to know. I quickly found myself looking forward to our meetings and having difficulty saying goodbye after each session.
I remember my last day volunteering in Panabaj… After reading our book and completing our activity, we played a massive game of hide and seek throughout the community. Our game became more and more intense and we began sprawling further and further into the surrounding coffee trees. I have so many memories with the children, and ones more educational than this one, but their smiles, enthusiasm and sheer joy throughout our last game of hide and seek are still very clear in my mind.

Another special memory I have also took place in the Panabaj community. This is a memory of pride and success. This was a day that I presented an activity that I created using the children’s book, “La Casa Adormecida.” One of the follow up activities was to attempt to recall all the characters that were presented sequentially throughout the book. It was a large task, but I wanted to see if anyone was brave enough to stand in front of the class and go for it. There were about eight characters, a bed, a grandmother, a boy, a dog, a cat, etc. Basic words, but the challenge was in standing before all their peers and public speaking. I was not surprised that no one volunteered at first. However, I asked my special friend, Ruth, if she would do me a favor and give it a try. She very reluctantly walked towards the front. I said, “Ruth, look at your classmates, not at the ground!” And she bravely looked up, and slowly recited every single character in perfect order to her classmates. I was so thrilled, and so was she! Her smile and sense of achievement were so memorable. I will always remember Ruth and all of her impressive talents.