Brenda Cleary

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Snapshot
Programmatic Focus:
  • Holistic Community Development
  • Community-based Natural Resource Management
Country:

Guatemala

Participating Communities:

Chiche

Partner Organization:

The Riecken Foundation

Artistic Medium:

Visual Arts - Bookmaking

Empowerment Through Recycled Books
(01/01/2008 - 12/08/2008)
Project Planning
Background and Needs:

Chiche is a small community located in the highlands of Guatemala. 98% of its residents are indigenous K'iche. For various periods of the civil war from 1960 to 1996, Chiche marked the border between the army controlled area and the guerilla controlled area. The town faces a high incidence of poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition. The majority of children are not able to finish their schooling due to a lack of economic resources.

The Riecken Foundation's library in Chiche is always full of people and activities. However, it remains a challenge to ignite a profound thirst for learning and consistent participation in programs. The director and librarian must constantly innovate new ways to make their programs more acessible and inspiring.

Collaborative Goal:

To increase awareness of the partner organization’s mission through art and engage more people in its work.

Project Objective:

By the end of the project, school-aged children in Chiche will have the knowledge to create notebooks out of recycled materials.

Project Description:

This project aims to teach children to transform recycled materials such as cloth, cardboard and cardstock into notebooks that they can use at school. Many children are unable to complete school due to the costs associated with tuition, uniforms and supplies. By teaching children to make notebooks out of recycled materials, some of the costs of school supplies will be defrayed.

The project will be conducted through a series of workshops at The Riecken Foundation library and will be open to any child who visits the library.  By conducting the workshops at the library, it will encourage children to think of the library as a space they can learn and be creative.

Partner Organization Collaboration:

The goal of this project is in line with The Riecken Foundation's mission of literacy, self-sufficiency and a spirit of discovery. I will need to work with the librarians to ensure there is space in the library to conduct the workshops.

Community Collaboration:

This project responds to the fact that many children are unable to go to school due to lack of economic resources by helping to reduce the cost of school supplies.

Before each workshop, I will advertise it with a sign above the library door.

In addition, local businesses have already agreed to donate some of the materials.

Results & Reflections
Results & Impact:

The results of this project were immediately tangible: children without resources learned to make the notebooks they need for school and were empowered to continue studying.

Two of the older participants came to the workshops often and helped recruit kids to participate in the workshops. They played a key role in the word of mouth promotion of the project. In addition, because they shared their thoughts and opinions during the process, their example encouraged other children to express themselves.

The workshop format was different than what The Riecken Foundation normally does. These workshops had an open format - there was a range of time, rather than a set start time, in which any children who wanted to could come and make notebooks. This format resulted in a larger number of children participating in the workshops than had participated in previous workshops. In addition to the open format, just by showing other kids their handmade notebooks, the children who participated were key to promoting future workshops.

Volunteers and members of the library's board of directors learned the bookmaking techniques so they will be able to lead similar workshops in the future.

Preparation:

One small obstacle was obtaining the recycled materials to make the notebooks with. It turns out even recycled materials can have a cost. I was lucky to get cloth, cardboard, etc., donated by local businesses.

Partner Organization Collaboration:

Collaboration with The Riecken Foundation was essential. The workshops themselves took place in the library and it was important that staff engage in the process so that they could duplicate this workshop. The Riecken Foundation recognized that the project and the open format of the workshops were successful and will likely incorporate the content and format into future projects.

Community Collaboration:

The community responded positively the to the project. Several local businesses donated materials for the workshops, which made this project very low cost.

News of the workshops spread quickly by word of mouth. Kids who had made the recycled notebooks showed their family and friends the final products. These syblings and friends would then show up for the next workshop.

Community Participation:

School-aged children in Chiche.

Sustainability:

I believe several steps were made towards the sustainability of this project. First, volunteers and members of the library's board of directors learned the bookmaking techniques, so they will be able to lead similar workshops in the future. Second, leaders emerged among the workshop participants. These leaders could be a valuable resource for future workshops. Third, because the materials for this project were found locally, it shouldn't be difficult to replicate.