2026 New Year, Exciting Projects

On January 7, 2026, board members Regi Akan and Patti Stewart-Garbrecht along with Regi's husband John traveled to Guatemala to kick start the new year. We spent the first two full days in Guatemala buying hard to find items for the little library. By "hard to find", I mean brand new library books (many by Guatemalan authors) and children's library tables and chairs. We also purchased 50 backpacks and school supplies for each one. While these items aren't actually hard to find in Chichicastenango, we were looking for items directly from the supplier which saves money but also ensures that we had a variety of colors. We tried to purchase 50% "girl" colors and 50% neutral or "boy" colors. But as it turns out, about 70% of our library patrons are girls and the pink backpacks went very quickly. We distributed them on a first come, first serve basis. The event scheduled to begin a 3:30 pm started at 2:50 pm when kids started showing up. The pink backpacks were gone by 3:15:)

But the backpack event didn't occur until Thursday and we arrived in Chichi on Saturday afternoon. So much to cover. So many successes. We met and picked up Delmy, an author and professional storyteller in San Lucas on our way to Chichi so that she could hold a workshop for teachers on Sunday. The workshop taught the art of storytelling in a way that is exciting and intriguing to kids. We had twelve teachers attend. In the afternoon there was a storytelling event where families could come and hear Delmy read her own book. As always the story was followed a craft activity that is related to the story.

On Monday we held a craft event and we made friendship bracelets. This was a big hit, even with the parents. Being a crafter herself, the supplies were donated and brought by Patti. The kids and moms were super proud of their creations.

On Tuesday, we had a Rubicks cube class where John and Regi taught the kids how to solve the cube quickly. We had signed up 20 kids for the class and supplied 20 cubes. But we opened the class up to anyone extra who already had a cube. The event turned out to be standing room only with and overflow of kids outside solving the cube. We sent each participant home with printed instructions on solving the cube again and again.

We thought we would have a "rest day" on Wednesday. But it turned out to be a day of back breaking work! We prepared 50 backpacks filled with school supplies for the next day's event. And we prepared the special backpacks for our scholarship students. We also bought tools and wood to reinforce our bookcases and we rearranged furniture. We all slept very well that night.

I need to write a whole blog post about our scholarship program which went from zero to sixty very quickly and unexpectedly, but no time for that today. We welcomed 18 new students to our scholarship program, ranging from primaria (elementary school) through university. We had a fun party for the kids and parents to meet the others. They were all super excited to start the new school year that starts in January in Guatemala. They all loved their Empowered Guatemala swag bags too. We distribute scholarship funds in January and again in June, 50% each time. The students have to maintain an 80% average and not get into any trouble. I have no concerns, especially since I have known 12 of the students for many years and all are stellar students.

On Friday we had movie night or una noche de cine. We set the library's downstairs area up theater style and projected our movie, Luck onto a screen. Again the room was filled and people arriving late had to watch through the door or windows. We served popcorn and water to the kids and parents. We hope to do similar movie nights every couple of months. The Friday night clean up was intense, as there was spilled popcorn everywhere in a place that usually prohibits food consumption.

On Saturday, we departed our beloved Chichicastenango for Antigua. For us

this was when the vacation began and the work ended. We were able to enjoy several days of R&R in Antigua, even getting massages and pedicures. Patti traveled back to California on January 21, while Regi and John are enjoying a little more time in Antigua.

Our hearts are full. We have a job that doesn't seem like work. We get to see the joy on the faces of the kids and parents of Chichi who have so warmly received us.

We have a lot of exciting things happening this year that will be covered in time. The first one is an expansion of our English language program. We have two teachers now. The new teacher, Eduardo, speaks English better than most native speakers and we fell beyond blessed to have found him. We recently added a new class for beginners that filled up within an hour of being advertised. We call that success!

Cheers to all of our donors and supporters!

Patti