Empower Children through Literacy and Education

In recent months we have visited the rural community of Río Blanco and it's one room elementary school where we brought boxes of  books for the children to read with us. After a time of free reading,volunteers read a story to the assembled group of youngsters aged 6 to 10 as they listened in rapt attention. One story was about dinosaurs, always a favorite subject for the children. When the story was completed the we did an art activity making dinosaurs from paper plates.

We also extended our outreach with this program "Cuentos en la Plaza" ( Stories in the Plaza) of bringing literature and activities to  local schools in Puerto Lopez and to an after school community project in the village of Puerto Rico.

We recieved assistance from volunteers Martina from the Netherlands, Pauline from France and Victoria from Germany. Celine and Lousia from Solidarite Sud in Quebec Canada were especially helpful in preparing and presenting programs.

Our teenager's club (Club de Jóvenes) participated in a presentation from the staff of Equilibrio Azul Foundation, Proyecto Tortugas. They learned about the threat to sea turtles from plastic pollution in our coastal areas, the life cycle and nesting habits of the turtles. The teenagers were trained in identification of nesting sites and they volunteered to spend several nights on a protected beach in the Machillia National Park observing and recording nesting activities of sea turtles.

Clara Luna  wishes to express our gratitude to the children of St. Jesaja Church in volunteer Victoria's Germany home town for their donations that made the first stage renovation of the reading corner possible. Special thanks to Solidarité Sud whose volunteer's donations and physical effort  created  and furnished a new classroom that will be enjoyed by the children for a long time to come.