Biblioteca a Tuto

Hi, my name is Kira Jacobs, and I started the project Biblioteca a Tuto in 2019 with a clear goal in mind: to promote reading.

BACKGROUND:

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark” —Victor Hugo. Reading has always been one of the most important things in my life, it has opened doors for me, broadened my mind, and brought me much joy. Through reading I have not only learned countless treasures of knowledge, but I have also discovered new passions and woken-up new hopes and dreams. Even discovered a purpose. It has been, and I am sure that it will forever remain, the greatest gift I have received.

From a young age, my mother was a stickler for teaching me to read. She would stay up every night, sitting beside my bed, reading stories to us. From that moment on, reading has been a great habit, passion, my way to broaden my mind, and it has brought me curiosity and the ability to learn whatever sparks my interest.

How did it all begin? I started my project, Biblioteca a Tuto, in 2019 when I was 13 years old. I was going on a school Service-Learning visit to a school in a small town, Lagunas Cuaches, near Quetzaltenango. Our mission was to come up with activities to share with the students there and it was at that moment I realized that I wanted to leave something behind that would have a “real impact” and make a difference. This small rural school had over 300 students. Often, they faced attrition since many families leave the country in hopes of going to the U.S. but also because many families prioritize work in the field over education for their children. This dire reality isn’t true only for this town, it happens all around our country.

WHAT IS THE MOTIVATION?

The disturbing truth of the public education system in Guatemala is not one to be proud of. “The country faces major challenges in many facets of education quality. To begin with we cannot ignore the basic statistic that our country is 40% indigenous and 23 different languages are spoken. The educational system faces this additional challenge. Only approximately 40% of sixth graders reached performance standards in reading. Most Guatemalan youth do not reach high school, and 41% of teenagers nationwide are out of school” (Fajikus, 2022). So, not only is education severely sub-par, but at the core of that very issue lies the reality that illiteracy is a major obstacle for future productivity and opportunity for growth.

The ability to read is the most important fundamental skill every human should have. It opens doors and welcomes knowledge. However, Guatemala's literacy rate for 2018 was 80.81%, a 0.48% decline from 2014. This means that two out of ten people in the country don’t know how to read. And illiteracy is concentrated in the rural areas in Guatemala, where the percentage of people who can’t read is higher. Rural areas in Guatemala are mainly populated by mayan indigenous communities, and 33% of indigenous adults cannot read or write… provoking ignorance and an inability to self-teach. In addition, culturally there is no priority placed on education as children are often their parents’ helpers in the field.

Growing up in Guatemala I have seen the situation in which many people find themselves and have especially seen the dire situation in which public schools are. Dirt floors, few teachers, not enough class material, barely any desks, broken windows, etc. I have also come to realize that what I grew up knowing as a “school library” was nowhere to be found in any of these schools… They barely even have enough textbooks for a single class.

This is what lit the fire in me. I decided that I wanted to do something to help, even if it wasn’t much. I wanted to give less fortunate children the greatest gift I ever received, the skill and love of reading.

This is how the project, Biblioteca a Tuto, came to life. I went to this school in Lagunas Cuaches in 2019 ready for action. The weeks before I had done many things to set up: I had conducted a school-wide Book Drive and received over 500 books in donations in a short amount of time. I had also devised a system that permitted the students to borrow books and take them home to read with their families, in hopes of promoting a family culture around reading; and finally, I had spoken to the principal of the school to get her blessing to put this project into action. Everything worked out wonderfully, and as I arrived at the small school in the outskirts of Quetzaltenango, I installed my very first Biblioteca a Tuto library. This is where it all began.

A few months after that, COVID and the quarantine hit, and everything was shut down. At that moment I wasn’t thinking about growing my project more. However, I made an effort to stay in communication with the principal of the initial school to see how and “if” the library and borrowing-system was working. I was pleased to hear that even though school shut down and kids weren’t allowed to attend classes any longer, the teachers had kept up the habit of sending books from the library home to their students. The principal told me that because of this, they were able to avoid the tragic loss of reading ability that had occurred in other schools. This made me realize that the project was actually helping, and it was something positive not only for the school, but for the students, their families, and the community.

This inspired the expansion of the project, which first led to install a few more libraries. I also realized that many schools didn’t have the facilities or resources to have the furniture suitable for keeping the books in good shape, which is why I designed a bookcase large enough to hold enough books for one full library similar in size to the first one. I then analyzed how much it would cost to have them made, and also found local craftsmen in the area where I was installing the libraries to build them; as I wanted the money to go to the community and, therefore, involve the communities themselves in the success of my project. However, this meant that I started to require people to donate money, not just books, which started to become slightly more complicated.

Ultimately, I decided that I would focus my project in a group of communities near Senahu, Alta Verapaz. I signed a contract with a foundation, Fundacion Trece Aguas, which helps 23 communities in the Alta Verapaz region near Senahu. This commitment was to install 18 libraries in the next 3 years in those communities. This meant that I had a new vision, a new goal, and a new motivation. I had to find a way to continue to grow the project in order to truly deliver the promises I made.

At this moment I am faced with a problem. It has become very difficult to obtain donations of both funds and books (suitable and in good condition) to maintain, continue, and grow the project (I have already installed 10 libraries 8 of which are within the contracted area). This is an obstacle to achieving the proposed goals of the project. Therefore, the new focus is to manage a continuous and sustainable flow of funds to supply and equip new libraries in the rural communities of the country, with the general objective of growing the project and promoting reading in students from the communities of Alta Verapaz.

Biblioteca a Tuto is a project that deserves to grow to reach and benefit more people with the gift of reading.