Dream of a Community Library

The community of Santa Lucia Lachuá is a 30 min trip from Salacuim and is home to an incredibly motivated and organized group of leaders as well as a robust school system that includes a teachers school (magisterio). We have enjoyed working with the community and are supporting and encouraging their request to host a Peace Corps volunteer after we leave the region in April of 2008.

In February the community submitted a proposal for a community library project to the "Peace Corps Partnership Program", where the Peace Corps in Washington publishes and advertises community projects to corporate sponsors and regular givers. The idea is that the givers enter a "partnership" with the community and receive communication directly from the people that benefit from the gift throughout the project. Unfortunately, the project has not received funding as quickly as we would have hoped. The project needs to receive funding within 2-3 months or they won't be able to complete the construction before we leave in April 2008.

Below is a link to a detailed project profile in PDF as well as a link to the project profile website (where donations can be made).

If anyone out there knows of potential donors (businesses, corporations, etc.) or any other creative funding ideas, please contact us!

Proposal for the Community Library (1.25 MB)
Peace Corps Website Promoting the Project



Youth group during planning meeting


Judging an environmental art competition in Santa Lucia Lachuá


Joint Youth Group / COCODE meeting in Santa Lucia Lachuá

Child of the week

name: Ingrid Caal
age: 9
grade: 1st
favorite subject: spanish
favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to be a teacher

Sometimes is is hard to see the direct academic impact that our scholarship program has on the kids. We know that all the children in our program could not have studied this year without outside help. We can see that they are in school and now part of something academic, but are they succeeding and thriving? The school system in Salacuim is a long ways from being known as the best of the best, but you work with what you have.


first ever school supplies

Ingrid has been one of the rare transformations to watch academically. At 9 years old, she was given the chance to go to school for the first time in her life. Being from one of the poorer families, she had never been able to attend the last three years that she was eligible. In the last 5 months, we have seen her go from only being able to draw pictures to express herself to writing words and sentences. She is now able to read and write at a basic level. A level which is well beyond what her mother is at. To me, that is progress. To see huge steps like this being taken in a short amount of time is the definition of why we are doing this program. Ingrid gives us some hope that we are doing the right thing and making a positive contribution to the way people think about education here.

In Salacuim and perhaps rural Guatemala in general, girls quickly become labeled as future mothers and wives that will take care of the home and have no need to be educated. We hope to break some of this cycle by starting young and giving the girls a chance to explore and succeed before they are consumed by years of tradition. Ingrid is now setting the example for her two younger sisters and living the dream of her mother to be an educated adult.


ingrid, mom and sisters

Top 10

There are many mornings when I wake up and wonder what it is I am doing and accomplishing here. While there are frustrations, there are also things that I cannot imagine living without that I have discovered during our time in Salacuim. Each day makes me appreciate the little things.
A common first reaction when visiting a third world country or a very poor area tends to be focused on the surface ugliness. Whether it be the extreme poverty, trash everywhere or lack of hygiene practices. It takes a long time to see beyond what we are trained to see as beautiful. I think I have reached the point where I can look beyond the surface and see what lies beneath. An enormous amount of potential and one amazingly BEAUTIFUL place.

my top 10 of Salacuim ...



the faces, laguna lachuá national park, time together, at your door service, chixoy river,
jungle shower, the ride, fresh pineapple, main street, hammocks

Ropa Americana

Friday is shopping day in Salacuim. The fresh produce usually comes in Thursday night and the big truck full of ¨ropa americana¨ (american clothes) pulls up early Friday morning. It's an exciting time for the people of this small aldea. It's a good chance to socialize with your neighbors while buying your supplies for the week and checking out the latest fashions to come into Salacuim. For us, it's kind of like a day at Goodwill. The people here are firm believers that clothes from the states are of the best quality even if the majority of them are a flashback from the 90's. They seem to stand up to the test of getting scrubbed in a cement sink day after day. The trucks pull up and do their routine drop of piles of clothes on the ground, to which everyone dives in to see what they can find. Simultaneously, there is usually a man on the microphone calling out the deals like a cattle auction. Typically, you can find a good t-shirt for about Q4 or $0.35. Of course the shopping day inevitably ends up with a grown man buying a t-shirt that says, ¨I'm a big sister¨ or an 80 year old wearing a ¨Class of 2006 shirt¨. It provides for much humor and really makes the day what it is.


The ¨pile¨