In 2007, La Puerta Abierta Library began as a small children's reading room which occupied a tiny space in the second floor of a local community project. As our programs began to expand, and our one room library grew crowded with children and parents, we quickly learned that we were going to need a larger space which would allow us to cultivate our programs.
Luckily in 2008, we received funding to transport our project to a local house which we rented and converted into a community learning center. We painted the walls with bright colors, filled our book shelves with games and toys, and opened our doors to a variety of new classes. With each passing month, new students would enroll in our reading clubs, our early stimulation classes, and our creativity programs.
At the end of last year, we recognized that our biggest problem once again was the size of our building due to the amount of children who were soliciting classes and home-work help. As far as problems go, I suppose having too many children interested in reading and learning is a good one to have!
Three months ago, we celebrated breaking ground of the future Puerta Abierta! We continue to "move right along" with the construction of our new learning center which will host two large rooms for reading, activities, and creative learning as well as an outdoor area for children to explore.
Like most things in Guatemala, construction is slow and unpredictable. With a little luck , we'll be inaugurating our new center in August, 2010.
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