The Library in San Miguel is Open for Business

The dedication of the Alice Cool school library in San Miguel took place this morning. It included speeches from the school director, all of the teachers, and a representative of the Parent’s Association. They all expressed appreciation for the donations that made the library possible, and then focused on the opportunity the students were being given and the hope that they would take advantage of it.

The village parents had cleaned and painted the room. We supplied four tables, sixteen chairs and two book shelves. We replaced broken glass panels in the room’s three windows and provided a metal grill protector for the window that borders a vacant lot. We also gave three tables to the kinder school located on the opposite end of town.  

Director Guadalupe and her staff had accumulated over 100 new and used books from former students and other sources. When the dedication formalities were completed she let the kids look at the books for the first time. It was interesting to see how eager they were to look at them. Throughout the morning Maribel and I were repeatedly hugged and thanked by the kids, and our feeling was that the library is genuinely appreciated by them…something I didn’t expect from kids that age.

This project has been in the works for over two months. There were some minor delays along the way including the furniture being two weeks late but all’s well that ends well. Hopefully succeeding generations will continue to learn that “Leer es un placer” (reading is a pleasure) in the Alice Cool library for many years to come.

To all of our donors and especially the Alice Cool Foundation….a big thanks from all of us!