“There is a deficiency, a poverty of books in our country,” says Magdaly Perez, Trinidad’s head Kindergarten teacher.
Unlike many rural areas, Trinidad has a public Kindergarten where children in pre-school age come every day during the mornings to learn. It’s a small one-story building covered in brightly painted murals, a yellow wall surrounding it and a small, grassy outdoor play area. Since last year, there are some new additions to the walls: handmade posters about dengue fever prevention, made by the teachers after one of their students, a five-year-old girl, passed away from the sickness during the 2019 outbreak.
Just over 100 children that come here every day, and though resources are limited, there is a warm and friendly atmosphere.
The town of Trinidad is one where we have been working for many years now. By working intensively with this community and continuing to build upon the connections we have fostered here, we can take a holistic view towards problems and work with the community on multiple interlinking projects: our scholarship programme is based here, and we also started a library at one of the primary schools in 2018.
The classroom library at the Trinidad Kindergarten has been up and running for a year and a half now. We went back to talk to the head teacher Magdaly Perez and her students about what impact this project had created for them. The answer? A lot! Check out this video where Madgaly and her students talk about and show how these books are being used to facilitate student learning.
educate. 