Burning Books

Today I attended another meeting of the Reading Circle, a group a talked about earlier that uses the books I donated. The Reading Circle is a small group of select students from fifth and sixth grade who meet weekly to discuss a book that they are all reading together. The teachers hope to use these students as an example to motivate other students to read. Outside of their textbooks in class, students do not read at all. This is because of two things: one, the students don’t have books to read and two without books they are not accustomed to reading and have no desire to. The books I donated to start La Biblioteca Mis Primeros Pasos (My First Steps Library) helps to address the first problem by giving students books, but we are still working on the second part, which is very difficult and will likely only come about after several years of exposure. The kids who are in fifth and sixth grade now will probably not develop a strong level of literacy or a passion for reading, that’s the simple truth. But I think there is hope for some, especially the children in the younger grades who will no be exposed to literature at a younger age.

Its important to note that solving this problem is not a simple function of donating books though. A school could have all the books in the world, but if they’re not used probably they serve no purpose. This is a problem that I think plagues Panama, and probably the rest of the developing world. Last summer I was here with a group of doctors who were distributing medications to various patients here in Calobre. This type of resource, something which is immediately consumed under the supervision of an expert, will serve its purpose. But donated resources which are consumed over a long period of time are less likely to be well-used or taken care of, mostly because the people responsible for them may not have the expertise to do otherwise. Luckily in this school, the teachers have done a very good job of implementing the books into the curriculum, and I do believe that they will have their intended impact, but this is certianly a complicated process.

When I was with the Reading Circle, I couldn’t help but think about one of my favorite books, Fahrenheit 451. I told the kids about the book, of a future where fireman don’t put out fires, but instead burn books to prevent people from having them. In Fahrenheit 451 people don’t have books because of coercive powers. In many ways, the situation here in Calobre is very similar. Although someone isn’t coming and burning their books, there’s no need to, because they don’t have any in the first place, and there’s not really anything the people here can do about it. Fortunately, the predicament here is one that has a much more hopeful future.