The City of Horqueta inaugurated the Public Library last Monday, a project that I have worked on for almost 2 years now.  It was really rewarding to see the turnout for the inauguration especially with the cold weather and rain.  When it gets cold in Paraguay, Paraguayans don't really leave their house and I don't blame them.  It gets cold, the roads turn to mud, and their is no way to dry  clothes.  It's almost like a snow day in the United States.

But on this particular night about 50 people made it out to the Public Library inauguration.  So many people that we hardly had space in the library for everyone.  The Director of Peace Corps Paraguay, Michael Eschleman, attended and he gave a really moving speach.  The mayor and a youth from the group Juventud Que se Mueve(Youth that Move) also spoke.  Juventud Que se Mueve was the group that founded the library two years ago and the pride in their faces made all of the work worth it.  The Horqueta Public Library is officially open Monday through Friday from 1 PM until 5 PM and contains over 1000 books.  I recently wrote a grant to receive $5,000 for the library in order to buy a photo copy machine, a computer with a printer, 84 university level books, a new bookshelf, 3 tables, 28 chairs and a desk with the hopes that it will create a sustainable public library.  I will find out within the next couple of weeks if the grant is approved.

Why a Public Library?  Well, to buy a book in Paraguay, one will have to pay the same price that we would pay in the United States.  That is rather difficult to do in Horqueta when the average citizen makes $2 a day.  And now we wonder why people in Paraguay are illiterate and can't advance themselves through education.  They don't have books!  Even the high schools and universities in Horqueta don't have books. So, the idea of the founders of the public library is to provide books that can be lent for free so that people can advance their education and their future by learning to read and having access to books, computers, and internet.