librariesfortheworld

Return to Uganda

Our volunteers returned to build on the work started in Uganda in 2022 – adding more books to the collection and conducting library programs for students in Abwanget Village. It was a joy to reconnect with familiar faces and experience the peace of the beautiful countryside. Volunteers read picture books, sang songs, and guided students in extension activities based on the books we had read. Our group also trained staff on the importance of reading to young children, and older students participated in reading activities over the weekend, while they were out of school.

Students helped us process some of the books that we had taken with us. Most of the books that we added to the collection had already been processed by volunteers in the U.S. and shipped before we arrived. Thanks to generous donors, we were able to purchase a new desktop computer for the library! The computer will be used to not only provide internet access but to teach villagers and students how to use a computer. While there, we also visited with several of the primary school students whose education we sponsor.

Volunteers ended the trip to Uganda by going on safari at Murchison Falls National Park, in the northwest part of the country. Our organization plans on visiting Abwanget Village every couple of years, to follow up on training and to deliver library programs to children.

librariesfortheworld

Follow up work in San Antonio Aguascalientes

Our volunteers opened this library in 2022. We were back in San Antonio Aguascalientes with our partner Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans to add more books to the collection and to conduct library programs for the students. Volunteers read picture books and guided the students through activities connected to the stories they had read. Older students learned how to make origami cranes after learning about Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. Younger students painted with watercolors after reading This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen. And middle grade students created earthquake-proof structures with connecting straws after reading Mi Ciudad Sings by Cynthia Harmony.

Students COULDN’T WAIT to get their hands on the new books! They especially love the Dog Man books by Dav Pilkey. The librarian Jessica has created a fun environment around reading and learning, and the students obviously love books. One of the older students took home a copy of the Sadako book after the origami activity and read it in one night!