Community Event in Honduras
During the weekend of May 19-20th the community of Copan Ruinas in Honduras closed the three year project with the Finnish Embassy of Central America. Over two hundred community members showed up at the town hall for talks and presentations of the three-year project. The library did a fantastic job of organizing the event. The various Maya Chorti communities sent delegations to thank Riecken for its work. The local regional director is working to help develop sustainability with local teachers for the 10 Chorti community mobile libraries. Our next challenge is to find the funding for a “bibliobus” to continue to serve the Chorti communities as well as other under-served communities.
Rising Voices Internet Project in Guatemala
Recently the first meeting was held with the young participants from the three communities in Xela, San Carlos Sija, Huitán and Cabricán. The participant ages range from 14 to 24 years and all have basic computer knowledge, mostly using Word to do some of their homework at the libraries. Some of the participants have a little more experience in the use of internet and they will be supporting those who don’t. The school in San Carlos Sija, where two of the participants go to, is very pleased to have two of their students participating in this project, and have asked them that besides implementing the library’s blog, they do also a blog for the school, so that many students can get involved in the use of that technology to share information and generate dialogues. For more information on this project promoting free access to information please follow this link.
First meeting for Rising Voices Project in Xela
Honduran Country Director Participates in “Saber de Sur” in Panama
Paco Alcaide, Riecken Community Libraries Director in Honduras, was invited to participate in a regional meeting this month sponsored by the government of Panama and the development office of the United Nations for Latin America and the Carribean. A total of 21 countries participated offering 33 successful strategies for cooperation in the region on a diverse number of challenges including political concerns, natural disasters, environmental issues and the sharing of information through technology. For more information on Cooperación Sur-Sur (CSS) please follow this link.
