Books for all!
Children in the library in the community of Soure (in the state of Pará)
Since February I have been building a relationship with an NGO here in Brazil called VagaLume (the site is only in Portuguese unfortunately). This organization was started by three young women who were travelling to the Amazon and wanted to take something for the communities they would visit there. After some thorough research, they decided to take … books!
The Amazon (like the Canadian Arctic) is massive and extensive travel is required by boat or plane to reach many communities. There are no roads –which is a good thing!
So these young women started this organization because it turns out that books are expensive and they needed support to make this mission come true. Although illiteracy is a problem in the Amazon (and many other parts of Brazil) the organization trains local volunteers to read the books aloud for all who would like to listen. The project helps in this way to improve illiteracy rates although this is not the primary goal of the program.
Looking at the beautiful high quality children’s books, I remembered how much I loved to read these colourful and imaginative stories…
My plan is to work with the organization to complete one or two international funding application requests in the coming months. Looking forward to it!
