Book Drive

Read to Live is the theme for International Book day this year

NCA Matagalpa opened the lending portion of our library last week and the kids are really excited about the opportunity to check out books and read them at home with their parents.  None of our students have ever had this opportunity before.   It is refreshing to see students getting so excited about reading.    One of the best ways to get them engaged and  reading is to have a variety of good books for them to choose from.    Obviously an obstacle to this is that books weigh a lot and it is harder to get them here in suitcases because of weight restrictions from the airlines.

This is where I need your help.   NCA Matagalpa has access to a shipping container being loaded up at the end of May.  We can send as many boxes of books as we want to Florida for the next 5 weeks and all you have to pay is the local rate for shipping.  

Can you help collect Spanish books from your local thrift stores and book stores and help us grow our library collection?   You can even order books from our Amazon wishlist.   Spanish Books for NCA Matagalpa.

Are you interested?? Yes, ok here's what you need to do in order to minimize problems with Customs once the container arrives in Nicaragua.

1. Scour your community for Spanish books, set up a collection box at your church or in your small group.   
2. Once the box is full.   Make a list of all of the book titles packed in the box and write a letter to Susan Hall stating that these books are a donation for Nicaragua Christian Academy.   Print the inventory and the donation letter and put them in the box.
3. Send an email to Susan Hall at hsprincipal@nca.edu.ni and me cfranklin@nca.edu.ni with an electronic copy of the letter and the box inventory attached.
4. Mail the books to the following address.   NOTE: If you send the box with USPS get delivery confirmation.  Last year many books were lost and never recovered by USPS.                            
5. Nicaragua Christian Academy                                                                                                           c/o TAN Cargo Edgard Toruño

         7215 NW 41st St. Bay E
         Miami, FL  33166
         305-470-9730
        Contact person at TAN Cargo:  Edgard Toruño 

 Ship the books to the freight forwarder in time for them to arrive by May 31, 2012. 


If you order the books online and want them delivered directly to the freight forwarder please send a copy of the order inventory or confirmation that you recieve to Susan Hall and myself so that we can print this for the customs agents here.

Thanks for your great partnership in this way!   I can't tell you what a blessing it is me and to all of our students.  More pictures to come soon of our Celebration of International Book Day. :-)  

Books, Books, Books!

The Policemen Read

Books are an essential part of learning.   In Nicaragua there are very few books children are allowed to hold, look at and most importantly read.    Part of my job in preparation for opening the new school in Matagalpa is to help the model school Nejapa start a lending library at the school.   Nejapa has been blessed with donations of books over the past few years.   Sadly, the books are not being used because they are not allowed to leave the room they are currently stored in.

Three people from a small barrio learning about libraries too and Jane and Kenya

Jane is the director of the first lending library in San Juan Del Sur.   She has helped many people around the country open libraries for children and families.    Kenya, the administrative assistant and "librarian" for Nejapa and I had the opportunity to visit Jane and learn from her experience with Nicaraguan Libraries. 

Choosing our 100 books

Kenya and I spent two full days at the library learning and taking copious notes.   It was so fun to see Kenya coming up with all kinds of ideas for the library at Nejapa.   The opportunity to see a real lending library in action was a first for her.   We were able to purchase the start up kit to get things started.   As a part of the kit we got to pick out 100 books.    It was like letting kids loose in the candy store.

Carey, Kenya and Jane