

New Library in Leymebamba

Building the first district library -
While basic literacy is fairly high in the area, children learned to read from school workbooks. There was no culture of reading actual books, because there were no books to read!
We were approached by Padre Diego, the priest of the local church who suggested we help build a library in the center of town that would be open to everyone in the region.
In a team effort with local leaders, Padre Diego, the University of Seville in Spain and Hatun Runa, the library was built -- with two large reading rooms, an educational computer lab, and a small museum with the history of the town. The library is staffed by local teacher and volunteers from the community.
Meghan, a wonderful student volunteer from Dartmouth College, spent three months in Leymebamba to ensure the successful launch of the library. The Pied Piper of Books, she introduced teachers and children to reading aloud, reading groups, respect and care of the books, reading and language games, family story hours and much more.
The library continues to grow. Every year we bring more books and children line up at the door every afternoon after school.
You can donate specifically to the library project:


Meghan (front and center) with school kids and another volunteer
in the new Leymebamba library.