Students can't wait! They start reading before the books hit the classrooms!

La Palma is a small village on the far west side of Maderas Volcano on the island of Ometepe, in Lake Nicaragua.  This is a very close community of about 1000 people who live on less than $3 US dollars per day.  People grow their own food as members of a cooperative farms as well as privately owned or rented land.  The staple foods and most often the only foods available are rice, beans, and plantains.  La Palma is by far the most isolated of all our partnered communities. 

The small school educates over 200 children ages 5 - 19. Unfortunately, the school only goes through 9th grade. There is not space to house the last two years of secondary school, nor are there teachers to do the work. In order for many students to complete all the secondary requirements, they must travel to Balgue. Despite the hardship, some do sacrifice time and funds to make the journey and study daily in another TALICA partnered school, The National Institute of Jaime Marza. This is no easy task. La Palma is located over an hour away by bus and two hours by bike or walking to Balgue.

To ensure sustainable use of materials and appropriate selections, TALICA helps facilitate book discussions; ultimately, all books lists are created and finalized by local teachers.

405 books to date! (View their new titles here!)