Summer Mission 2009

Coming back and seeing all of our friends has been great. I arrived Friday evening to the streets full of people. Mother’s Day was last weekend and the whole village was in full celebration. Groups of people lined the streets in front of little stores and the church. Music pumped through the village for miles and miles. I have never seen Mother’s Day celebrated with so much gusto! I have spent Mother’s Day here in the past, but in the schools with folklore dancing and lunch with teachers, students and mothers. The street party was really quite a sight.

Irma and Martin, my home-stay family was not expecting me until Sunday, and they were happily surprised. I had a feeling that my message would be confused, being it traveled from the email and through several people before it arrived to its destination.

On to the projects

As we know in the US, educating the masses is not at all an easy task; everyone has his/her ideas on how it is to be done. It is a real sacrifice and responsibility for any democratic society to publicly education everyone. This, we must never forget and if we want a literate world free to make informative decisions, it is part of our responsibility to work together with our neighbors.

TALICA School Partnerships

La Palma
Yesterday I made my usual first-day rounds. I visited many friends, catching up on the latest gossip and finally found Darling Morena, a teacher from La Palma. We sat for a while chatting about the needs of the school in La Palma. This school is so isolated and in need of many things. She stressed over and over the need for book cases for the all the new books. In December we delivered their first shipment of books. They had little space and we quickly realized the need for more cases. When you look around this school, you see many needs. Qualified teachers arrived everyday from near and far to educate this small village using so little. They so desparately need our support.

As I type this, there are discussions among the educational community regarding curriculum changes. I have suggested to the La Palma teachers we hold off on purchasing more books, until we learn more from the director of schools and the Ministry of Education. We came to an agreement and both want to properly compliment the national standards and requirements with our book collections. We are working towards true viable and sustainable collections. When I first heard of these changes, I quickly visited the other schools where we had delivered books. They have assured me that the information taught is very much the same, the changes are coming in the order and grade of instruction. More to come on this...

I will be meeting with three other schools to discuss grants and growth ideas later this week.

2009 International Volunteers

On Friday, I will be picking up two volunteers from the United States and one from Canada. Our volunteers will be staying with local families and we will be volunteering in the new Community Center (aka Proyecto Mano Amigo) and in a couple of TALICA partnered schools in Balgue and La Palma. Our goal is to create international partnerships and friendships that will last for years to come. TALICA strives to start conversations that matter in the world of public education. By listening and learning from Nicaraguan educators and students, we become better prepared to help our new immigrant students in the U.S.

Much more to come with our first volunteer mission to Nicaragua...

Celebrating with many thanks!

I want to thank all you who supported TALICA´s winter and spring fundraising season. You have helped us make a difference with so many teachers and students. I also want to thank my board of directors for all the endless hours and work hard during the winter and spring season. You are wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

Empower Schools With Books

Our November/December mission was the perfect closing to 2008. Sitting in the T-Gates at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta I came to understand the importance of this particular trip. I witnessed our partner schools in Nicaragua open the school year, by delivering textbooks and reference materials to six schools. In June, I returned with more books and funds to build book cases. Now, I was returning yet again with more books to witness the last day of classes. After three trips this year and spending a total of 13 weeks with these learning communities, I now understand the power of follow through and how this one simple idea develops sustainable improvements.

During the year, I wondered and thought of how TALICA’s library programs were going to be collaborative and facilitate an abundance of local community involvement. What types of ideas could we bring that will empower the local educators and community members to take own the responsibility of maintaining a new collection of books? With each return trip, I saw local organic systems for maintaining the books evolve. Each facility took on a system that worked for them. Most use notebooks to record titles and names of borrowers, while another uses a card system. Our newest school has yet to finalize a system; therefore, students can stay after class if needed and use the books on campus. Time has been set aside for a teacher to stay to supervise. Are these systems like what we might see in our public or school libraries here in the first world? No, but they are extremely functional and more importantly owned and operated by local teachers. Which takes me back to my wondering of how to create programs that are sustainable and include the community at every level; we can give others the chance to be responsible, to own the success and challenges. All of this will naturally bring sustainable change. I feel confident knowing if something happened and TALICA went away, the books would still be in the schools, used, and cared for daily. The information that lies between those pages is priceless. The information that is now there waits for the next reader. This is what I have grown to know: the great equalizer in this world is access to current information. Our work is to bring it.

Returning to the U.S.

July 20, 2008
So much has happened on this trip. Each journey to the island I enter like a whirlwind. Picking up right where I left off. I immediately start walking, visiting each school, home, business I know. Checking in and up on life and how things are going. Letting people know what TALICA is up to this trip and how we are continuing our conversations from the last trip. This takes about three days. After that, the time takes on a life of its own. Have you ever noticed that when your work evolves organically, the value of the outcome is priceless? Accomplishments seem to just appear out of nowhere and that never ceases to surprise me.

We have accomplished quite a bit. This particular mission has been very different. We are entering a new phase of the program in our first school, The Secondary School Jaime Marza in Balgue. Since our first book buying trip in May 2007, their collection has really come together. The phrase that I have always said, “Poca a poca” "Little by little" is coming to light. I wasn’t really sure how I could pull it off either. Building a lending book collection for a high school was very daunting to me, and well, the teachers from this particular school didn’t have much faith in their dreams coming true of having books in their mist. Wow, their collection is lovely and the changes in the school are visible: more reading, better teaching, organized system to maintain materials and plans to keep it going. http://www.talica.org/Marza.html

The other schools we adopted in January 2008 entered the phase of upgrading the infrastructure within the schools. How could I bring more books without proper book cases and storage? I had thought this might occur as I found more isolated communities and schools, but I didn’t know it would be as grave as this. Two of our newest partners had no book cases, not one! Security was scarce, roofs open to the sky. With books coming, changes started happening. With motivated families, the roof of one school was repaired and hope arose. So, this trip was dedicated to meeting local carpenters and opening accounts with the local hardware store. Ordering wood, glue, varnish, nails, and finding transport to the villages was never on my radar! This learning curve I’ve been on, well I will say has not been all that pleasant, but in hindsight, it has been extremely valuable. I now have the network for this part of the work. The whole community is coming to know us not only as “the library lady” but as an organization that will be here for a while and is on the move to follow through. Our ability and willingness to come back to the same villages time and time again reinforce a network that will only make the work easier and more efficient in the future. The success of TALICA is dependent on our network of people here. Organizations can’t survive without one.

The last days are always the hardest. I am trying to get all the last minutes good-byes in and all the loose ends tired so that we can neatly untie them upon my return. I giggle with the idea that I will see my family in a couple of days, and I cry to think I will be leaving the Nicaraguan families I have come to know and love. I worry about the state of things upon my return. We talk a lot about sustainability and how to keep going in times of challenges. We talk a lot about staying patient and focused and in time all our work will be easily seen. This is no easy task for people who live day by day, it is hard to trust what is not visible, and it is hard to convince families to trust that it WILL happen. The relationship is everything!

Welcome to TALICA

If you are new to TALICA, here is a little history.

I am thrilled to share our successes, challenges, and thoughts about establishing libraries in public schools in Central America. What started out as an idea to bring books to children and expand access to information in the most isolated parts Central America has evolved into several different projects with all different types of educational needs. I have come to realize that libraries and book collections are very intimate places. Our book collections reflect what we desire to read, what we need to read, and what we have to read to learn. During my discovery journey of 2006, I found two places to help establish libraries. The first one was with my Guatemalan colleague Maria Arzu in the small community of Chixolis, near Guatemala City and Antigua. The second community that opened its arms to me was on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua. Both places have graciously accepted our book gifts, however, over the past two years I have spent more time in these classrooms and communities. I discovered that what we first brought was loved but I don’t think it really reflected what was being taught in the classrooms or what was interesting to readers. The more time I spend in both places the more I learn from teachers, parents and students what types of books to bring. Now I help them create book “wish lists” that will compliment interests and curriculum and we buy 90% of books in our host country. We all win in this situation and the books are used daily with no waste. So TALICA has started and we want to touch as many places as possible to help get and keep the world reading.

Come see what we've been doing last month…

Our newest project is with collaboration with U.S. NGO Project Bona Fide for a new community center which will house a nutritional program for moms and children and a TALICA library. This library will be the “base” for information for Balgue, Ometepe, Nicaragua as well as many surrounding villages reaching over 1000 children and parents.

We believe in supporting communities from every angle. When we need work done, we are able to provide jobs and opportunity to local talent and keep funds in the hands of local businesses. Local carpenters and metal workers have been commissioned by TALICA to build book cases and security windows.

More exciting news...we are getting ready for a shipment of over 1700 donated books from a public library in Alicante, Spain. Lots to be done in the center to prepare! We sincerely thank the many people from our partners with Project Bona Fide and local volunteers. When we all chip in and work hard great things will happen that can make everyone’s world a little better.

Check it out: http://www.talica.org/communitycenterbalgue.html

With one child at a time, one book at a time, we can change the world.

Let’s keep the conversation that matters going.

Welcome to the TALICA Blog

I will be using this blog to keep you all informed on my work and travels during my current trip to Nicaragua. I will be on the Island of Ometepe, Nicaragua from June 22 - July 21, 2008. I'll be posting pictures and updates on TALICA's work with the Book Mobile, Cafe Infantil, and the local school partnerships.