By Thais Galano, Camila Amaral, Laura D. Mattar | Institutional Development Department
Vista Alegre Community, Roraima State – Building Engagement!
Dear Friend,
Vaga Lume's project was created 14 years ago in order to facilitate access to books and libraries to the Amazon people from rural areas. It’s important to mention that the methodology applied considers that reading should be part of a pleasant routine for children, teenagers and adults. Also, that Vaga Lume doesn’t build the structure of the library; they receive literature books, shelves and mats together with a great lot of experience gathered throughout the years on how to effectively run libraries in small isolated villages so kids can acquire the taste and enthusiasm for reading.
The library you’ll see now was first installed inside a school. It is located in a rural area called Vista Alegre, near Boa Vista city, within the State of Roraima. Until recently, children could only borrow books during the week, since the school was closed during weekend, preventing people’s access to the library.
Last December, a group of Vaga Lume’s educators - Celice, Marcia and Paulo- went to Vista Alegre for a monitoring and evaluation expedition. They had a meeting with all those interested in the library and they decided together that the best way to gain full access to such facility was to build an exclusive space for the library! The problem was that although they were willing to do it, they didn’t have the money for that. So, the educators shared their experiences and called everybody to act together in this challenging enterprise! Some of Vaga Lume’s volunteers and many children understood they needed to engage people from local businesses and their surroundings to get the library built. The educators came back to São Paulo leaving behind a movement that soon would bring the library into action. On March 27th, the new community library of Vista Alegre, outside of the school and with its own exclusive space, opened for the first time! Can you imagine their emotion? And ours?
Some children sent messages to Celice, one of the educators, after they finished painting the library saying,
“Hi Celice, I’m Ana Vitória, I helped a lot! Although I still don’t know how to read, I helped a lot!”
“Hi, my name is Celia, we moved the library out to Alberto Ribeiro’s house and today our team painted the walls!”
“Hi Celice, my name is Maria Luiza, and I painted the house. I‘m going to read to all children that want me to do so!”
If you want to see the building process and the community´s engagement, watch this video done by Vaga Lume’s volunteers to keep the memory of their successful enterprise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw-FnvuSvk8&feature=youtu.be
Needless to say that all these accomplishments are only possible because of you! Thank you very much for your support and attention to Vaga Lume! We are very motivated to support people in creating their own libraries and the donations we receive from you really make it happen!
In that sense, it is time to say, once more, thank you! By donating to Vaga Lume, YOU have made it possible. You are in this with us, so we should celebrate this together!
Other stories and news are available at www.vagalume.org.br/english.
If you have any doubts or comments, do drop us a line!
Best regards,
Thais, on behalf of the very proud Vaga Lume Staff
By Thais Galano, Marina Rodrigues, Laura D. Mattar | Institutional Development Department
By Debora Gambetta Paim | Institutional Development Intern
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