Children’s Library

Status: in the oven

Appallingly, 1 out of 5 adults in Ararca is illiterate.

Literacy is vital to any society and essential for an individual’s participation in their community. Yet, very few families in Ararca own books, and the vast majority of children do not have access to educational material outside of the classroom. This translates into poor reading habits and low levels of reading comprehension, a skill fundamental to personal development and life-long learning.

Arriba las Manos’ dream is to set up a library that’s available to children every single day. Ararca’s Children’s Library will be a safe space where children may comfortably have access to books and develop their knowledge and potential.

We want to play educational videos and host other cultural activities every afternoon of the week so that the library becomes a fun and happening place. Personnel from the local CBO (community-based organization) in Ararca would help to take care of the library and its young readers.

What’s hot? Activated Ministries in California has already donated a bunch of super high-quality children’s books for this initiative. So have people in Cartagena. Which means we’ve already got 8 boxes of books for the library. We’re also received contributions for bookshelves from private donations.

What do we need at this point? Basically, space. We’re going to have to invest to make a space that will take good care of the children’s imagination and curiosity. Care to make this investment with us? Let us know!