Valeria's school libraries

Would you like to start your own Library just like Valeria? Download our step-by-step guidelines at the bottom of this page and let us know what you did at changemaker@kidsrights.org. Valeria and her younger brothers and sisters are living at their mother’s house. She loves volunteering and helping others. At her school, she is part of a club that raises money for people in need. Next to that, she likes to work on projects like planting trees and collecting food. Together with her friends, she is raising money for orphans. In the future, Valeria wants to work for the United Nations and help solving social issues in Guatemala and rest of the world. She would especially like to see a change in the attitude of men towards women. She also wants to end violence against children and gender based violence. What is the problem? Illiteracy is plays a big role in Guatemala. Someone who is illiterate is someone who can’t read, write or spell (well). Many groups of the Guatemalan population live in poverty, and the quality of the education differs from school to school. The difference between rich and poor schools is large, even though education is the foundation for the future of a child. Valeria herself is going to a wealthy school and would like to help children at less wealthy schools. In this way, she hopes to fight illiteracy by promoting reading and writing, to ultimately fight illiteracy. What is Valeria’s solution? Valeria wants to create a fun and safe space filled with books. A place where children are encouraged to show their creativity and where reading is fun. To achieve this she will start an organization that collects teaching materials and books. Encouraging children to read and making this something that is fun, means they will continue to develop and learn to think about various subjects. Reading also improves their vocabulary and imagination. Valeria is also planning on having a campaign to promote reading. She wants to award a prize to the children who read the most, hoping to motivate children to start reading more. What is the goal? Valeria wants to make reading and learning fun by building libraries at poorer schools. She hopes the children will realize that reading will improve their future, and is fighting illiteracy. How does Valeria work? Valeria and her friends will organize two days on which they will collect books at their own school and other richer schools. They will use the books to set up a small library at one selected school. Valeria will run the library for one month, after that the school will take over. She thinks it will be a challenge to make reading and learning fun for the children. Would you like to start your own Library just like Valeria? Download our step-by-step guidelines via the download button below and let us know what you did at changemaker@kidsrights.org.