On Thursday our family had the privilege of volunteering with the Biblioteca Movil (The book mobile) which takes books to all the schools around San Juan del Sur who live too far away from town to come to the library regularly. This is an awesome service that gets books in the hands of kids who would otherwise not be able to read for pleasure. My friend Jane (the library's founder) asked me one time, "How many people are in your immediate family?" I answered "five". Then she asked me "How many books do you own?" and I couldn't even count. She said in Nicaragua it is the opposite. Kids here have more immediate family (hopefully not as many as I do books) than they do books while we have more books than family. Jane started the first lending library in Nicaragua in San Juan del Sur almost a decade ago. Read the full story here. The library fills a very important need in San Juan del Sur and I cannot praise the work that is being done there enough. If you are looking for a way to make a finacial contribution and want to know that your money goes directly to getting books into the hands of kids this is a great way to do it!
OK, stepping off my soapbox (for now). On Thursday we arrived at the library at 8:00 to load the books into the "book mobile" (a truck) along with a table and chairs to serve as the "check out desk". Joe and I got to do all the checking out of books to the kids at both schools since there were lots of kids and writing down Spanish titles isn't something the kids are practiced at. It was fun watching the kids carefully select the books they would have for the next month and how kids are the same. There was always one kid trying to check out a book that was well below his level and fortunately the library staff called him on it! Nicaraguan kids are just as attracted to the Captain Underpants books as American kids are! And Farley Farts (Los Pedos de Farley) got just as many giggles from our 3 kids (and Joe) as it did from the Nicaraguan kids. (see photo of Joey reading Farley Farts)
We spent about an hour at the first school then packed everything up and headed to another school. When we arrived at the second school they were having recess and lunch. What a completely different concept in Nicaragua than in the US. The "playground" is really just the dirt outside of the classrooms. There are no teaching supervising the kids. There was a preschool class who stayed right outside of the door of the classroom with a teacher. The playground "toys" consisted of a jumprope and a plastic beach ball which the boys used to play a rousing game of "Nica futbol" which is basically just like soccer without the rules or goals. Gus saw a group of boys and a ball and decided to jump right in. Here is a peek at the action.
None of the girls played with the ball. They started by watching the boys play sitting on the step of the school. Then they started playing their own game of climbing down to the ground and pulling each other back up on the step. It was a very simple game but it seemed to keep them entertained for a good chunk of time. Joe told Bridget to go over there and raise her hands and see if they would pull her up. Sure enough! It was hilarious to watch! Check it out.
We spent more time interacting with the kids at the second school since it was during recess. We all had a great time and were very blessed to help with this amazing project.
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