Teachers use Literature to Engage Children in Creative Play at La Puerta Abierta

At La Puerta Abierta we strive not only to share a positive reading experience with the youth of Santiago Atitlan, but also to provide students with an opportunity to explore their own creativity.

Every Saturday morning we host an Art and Creativity Workshop for a group of local children and last week, La Puerta Abierta was transformed into a comedor, or small restaurant created by the children.

After reading "El Restaurante," with Chonita, students divided into small groups to design a menu, choose a restaurant name, and prepare a tasty snack to be served by child-sized waiters.

In these photos, Maria and Martita proudly display the menu at the library transformed comedor, "El Gran Sol," and Chonita, Candelaria and helpers make tostadas.

Meet Karen, BPA Co-Founder

Karen is a retired schoolteacher from San Diego California. In 2005 she visited Santiago Atitlan as a volunteer in the local schools and discovered that there were very few educational resources for the children and families of this community and outlying villages. This was a need she felt she could fill with her background in teaching and contacts with bilingual libraries in Southern California.

At the same time, Karen met Amanda who was working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Santiago. They discovered they shared the same dream of providing a source of books and materials that could be used with local schools and of opening their own, free library someday. This was the beginning of La Puerta Abierta. After many trips bringing donated children's books to Guatemala and sharing these books in temporary locations, La Puerta Abierta officially opened its doors in January, 2007.

Karen remains an active volunteer at La Puerta Abierta and visits two or three times a year. She also continues to provide substantial funding for the center and supports scholarship students with the help of friends she has brought into the program.

“I am proud of La Puerta Abierta and the commitment Amanda and I have made to create a dynamic, vital, learning center for the children and families of Santiago, Atitlan. Reading and singing with the children remain my favorite activities and I always count the days until my next visit.”

Friday Business

As I was sitting in La Puerta Abierta last Friday watching groups of children flow in and out of our center, I remembered a conversation that I had three years ago with Mingo, a farmer, a father of ten, a respected member of the rural community of Tzanchaj and most importantly, a friend who wasn't afraid to tell me what he really thought of my projects.

I had dreamt of opening a library in Santiago for many years, recognizing that books were scarce, children had few opportunities to connect with literature, and safe spaces for children and teens were difficult to come by in town. Still, I wondered how the community would respond to a library which was more alternative than the municipal library where children went to find fast facts...the locations of countries, the definitions of words, the names of past presidents.

I envisioned so much more for La Puerta Abierta...a place where children could find a comfortable corner for exploring a good book , a center for a variety of creative activities, a base to bring reading and non-formal learning out into the rural communities.

In all fairness, Mingo liked my idea, but he asked with doubt, "Will the children come?"

"Children are busy. They work the fields, make tortillas, go to school, clean the house, buy in the market. They don't have time to read books," he shared with honesty.

After living in Santiago for three years and working in schools, I understood many of the hardships that Mayan children face. At a very young age, children often find themselves facing "adult" responsibilities such as caring for younger siblings, contributing to the family income, and participating in house-hold chores.

This said, I had also witnessed another part of life in rural Guatemala where days move on a slower clock, where children sit idly on street curbs simply to watch people pass by, where rainy afternoons are spent in-doors sharing stories with family members, where people often wait for ______________(fill in the blank with just about anything).

Surely children had the occasional free afternoon to stop by La Puerta Abierta.

On a weekly basis, La Puerta Abierta works with over 500 students. We have over 200 children who stop in for reading and home-work help, 40 students enrolled in our Early Stimulation Classes, 10 in our Preschool, 15 in our Friday Art Club, 15 in our Reading Club, 20 in our Saturday Morning Creativity Classes, not to mention the 200 children who receive story hour every week in our out-reach program, La Biblioteca Movil.

Now, I can confidently answer Mingo's question with a giant smile of satisfaction, "Yes, the children are coming!"

The Power of Children

By: Rachel Sloane

When you travel, you leave home with specific intentions… to understand a culture, to fill a void, to find an adventure. And sometimes, you won’t discover your purpose of travel until you are well immersed within the journey.

Doing outreach work with Wendy and Candelaria has brought purpose to my experience abroad. I alternate between accompanying Wendy to schools in the urban center of Santiago and working with Candelaria in the rural schools.

It isn’t the lesson plans or my fulfillment of doing a good deed that makes me leave with a smile; it is the children. It is witnessing their desire to learn, watching their participation, appreciating their wealth of intelligence and creativity and most of all, feeling welcomed.

While the villages I visit with Candelaria are poor, I’ve been touched by what the communities have come together to offer for their children. In the small village of Panabaj, everyone knows each other. There is a community approach to caring for children and while working there, I have been able to contribute to the love and support that most adults provid for the community children.

The children now know me by name, they greet me when I enter the schoolroom, and they gaze at Candelaria and me with wide eyes as we share stories with them. We all try our best despite the poor conditions to encourage the children to grow and learn. Chickens parade through the room as we work on projects, and rain dribbles through the roof as Candelaria reads. Children slosh through the rain and mud to participate in story hour. Nobody complains because a great story in a leaky room is much better than no story at all!

My experiences working with rural youth in Santiago have showed me how resilient the youngest people can be and how incredible the power of community togetherness is. I’ve never worked with children before. These small revelations have showed me that working with kids really is good for my soul.

Diaries from a Volunteer

By: Rachel Sloane


I had been struggling with the language barrier working at La Puerta Abierta in my first few weeks. It had been hard for me to loose my talent of communicating well with others. My language barrier was starting to feel like a burden. I knew it wasn’t a huge issue, because we were always able to complete the tasks at hand, but for me, I felt like I was wasting a lot of the librarians' time having to repeat directions over and over.

So, you can imagine I would walk in with a little anxiety...but one student helped change that all.

Cary is an enthusiastic, blonde haired cutie who never walks into class with out saying ¨Buenos Dias.¨ He was pleasantly reading out loud to himself as I swept the classroom floor. His adorable interest in books about trucks somehow caught my attention. It was the first chance I had to hang out one on one with one of the students. I squatted down and pretended to follow along as he read about fire trucks, garbage trucks and dump trucks. Eventually he stopped and started asking me questions ¨Como se lama?¨ was his first inquiry, and questions about my family and my friends soon followed. The greatest part about this conversation was that I could follow along! Finally I was able to respond in a conversational manner and I discovered that I actually understood what somebody wanted to say to me!

This child had no idea what he did for me that day. He took a stress of my shoulders, he gave me a boost of confidence and me made me smile. But then again, I am quickly learning kids do a lot of wonderful things for us ¨grownups” with out realizing it.

Meet Rachel, our Newest Volunteer at La Puerta Abierta

Rachel was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is currently studying Interpersonal Communication at North Carolina State University. She plans on heading to Portland, Organ after graduation to pursue her Masters in Social Work.

Rachel loves working for her college radio station, listening to music, riding on trains, and reading good books.

She decided to visit Guatemala for a much needed adventure. She has enjoyed the people she has met in Santiago and feels that they have already taught her to view the world differently.

La Puerta Abierta welcomes Rachel to their team. Stay tuned...Rachel will be sharing her experiences as a volunteer on our blog.

Celebrating our Teachers!

Today is Dia de los Maestros (Day of the Teachers) in Guatemala. We are so grateful for our wonderful staff of three teachers at La Puerta Abierta. Today we celebrate and honor Wendy, Candelaria and Chonita!