Local Scholarship Students Lend a Hand at La Puerta Abierta

With only two weeks to go until we open the doors of the new Puerta Abierta, we have been busy packing up our old center and preparing to make our big move. Now that we have a permanent home for La Puerta Abierta, the teachers and I want our new building to be perfect in every way...kid friendly, good natural lighting, fun paint colors, etc.

We are very grateful for the recent support that we have received from two local scholarship groups, The International Humanitarian Foundation and Starfish One by One. Both organizations provide academic and mentoring scholarships for rural Mayan teenagers. In addition to obtaining academic aid, scholars are also encouraged to participate in community service work.

La Puerta Abierta sends out a huge MUCHAS GRACIAS to the combined 18 teens from both groups who helped us paint our new building over the weekend. We hope that they will feel at home in our new center in the coming months, knowing that they played a role in preparing it for their community.

Pilgrimage to Tzanchaj

As the Guatemalan school year draws to an end, Candelaria, Wendy, Chonita and I are currently making our annual pilgrimage to the rural communities of Santiago where we collaborate with six different schools who participate in our traveling library program.

Today we visited the rural school of Tzanchaj #2 where we work with 3 elementary school grades. We had the opportunity to interview 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Magdalena who shared, "Throughout the school year, I have witnessed my students grow in excitement about reading as a result of the traveling library program."

Continues Magdalena, "When my students see Miss Wendy coming into our class-room, they shout, "Horray, here comes the story teacher!"

In addition, her students have developed creative thinking skills. After listening to Miss Wendy's stories, they like to create their own imaginative tales.

When we asked Magdelana what recommendations she had for the library program in 2011, she simply stated "the only thing that I would change about the traveling library program is to receive more class-room visits, as my children LOVE story hour."

We're in agreement with Magdelena...hopefully we'll be able to visit her class every week instead of twice a month next year.