Behind the El Tigre school (where we also supported a library in 2021), are forested mountains. To get to the village of La Alegria, you have to follow a poorly maintained dirt road up these mountains in a mototaxi. Here, Profe Bessy teacher teaches grades 1-6 together in a single classroom, with 30 students in total. She is an incredibly inspiring educator, who travels up the mountain to La Alegria every day to reach her students.
“The parents in La Alegria are very excited about the library project,” said Walter, educate.‘s project coordinator, after the initial meetings with the local library committee. “They never imagined that they would have the opportunity to work on a project like this at their school.”
The creation of a library committee
Like all of educate.’s libraries, the community formed a local committee to lead the process of creating their library. This also included raising a portion of the funds. Speaking about this, one mother said: “It has united us! When Walter said we had to raise 1000 lempiras ($40) as a community contribution, we thought we would never make it. Walter told us other communities did things like making and selling tamales, and we tried it and in the end we made almost 2000 lempiras!” Inspired, the mothers decided to come up with other projects that they could fundraise for themselves.
The first community meeting at the school
Creating the library
Walter also supported the community in a collective mural painting process, where all the children as well as many parents came to participate. Forward-facing bookshelves were made by local carpenters, and books were installed prior to the community inauguration!
Now, generations that pass through the La Alegria primary school have access to a space dedicated to reading and learning, and where imaginations can soar.
educate. 