Why Books IN SPANISH are the Greatest Treasure

By Adam Macenczak

Last semester, I was given the opportunity to teach PUBLIC SPEAKING to our High School students. To make it more interesting (and less intimidating), I decided to mix up the assignments and have them speak in front of different crowds. One of those assignments required them to read a children's book to our kindergarten class at AFE. Yet, as the teenagers at AFE went through our library here to find a book to read to younger children, they encountered a surprising difficulty. Of all of the books we have at AFE, the majority of them are in English!

What has happened is that when teams visit from the States, they often bring donations in the form of books---but in English. The motivation has been to offer books that can help our kids learn English, but these books have quickly taken over our library. And in Honduras, children’s books are unfortunately, a scarcity.

This need has been weighing heavily on my heart. I think back to when I was a child and all of the books I had at my fingertips. These children are missing out on such a wonderful and necessary component of their education. We want to offer them the kind of library that we had growing up and give them the opportunity to open their eyes to a new world. The love of reading is often where the love of learning begins.

BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP!

AFE does not have the funds to makeover the library. At this point, we are lacking the most basic need...the books. We want to ask you to consider being a part of this project and help our kids receive new books in their language. WE NEED BOOKS FOR ALL AGES: beautifully illustrated books for children…more challenging books for early readers, and classic novels for the older children.

If you would like to participate in this way and donate books, we currently have two "drop zones" where you can bring them (or mail them):

MOUNT CARMEL CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
6015 Old Stone Mountain Rd.
Stone Mountain, GA 30087

SNELLVILLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
2485 Scenic Highway South
Snellville, GA 30078

Or, if you are further from Georgia, you could bring them with you on your mission trip! Even just one book will be able to help many of our children.