Cuentos para Cambios / Stories for Change

OUR MISSION

To create safe spaces that foster reading and to implement incentive based literacy programs in impoverished and under resourced areas throughout Latin America.

WHY WE DO IT

Just a few kilometers from the foothills of San Cristobal volcano sits the El Chonco community.  With over 270 families, the village is full of life... and struggle.  The sun rises each morning, calling families out to the fields or to the heart of Chinandega over 20 kilometers away to work labor intensive or mundane jobs.

One school, grades kindergarten through sixth, serves the entire community. Because many households depend on daily work to put food on their tables and clothes on their backs, it’s common for students to miss school in order to help their families. 

There are not enough rooms in the building, and grade levels have no choice but to share classrooms. The teachers struggle to hold the attention of their students amongst the crowded rooms and the constant distractions.  Resources are limited and support is minimal. Because they are under tremendous pressure for their students to pass from grade to grade, teachers exhaust themselves to bring the students to a barely passable level.  Using broken crayons and a handful of books worn by dust and age, they do the best they can in their given environment.

But it just isn’t enough.

After living in Nicaragua for several years, our co-founder, Kelly, moved home to the States but frequently returned to El Chonco to visit the beloved community, bringing with her fellow teacher and co-founder, Carmen. They came armed with leftover school supplies- used binders, pieces of crayons, nearly dried up markers, and pencil halves. The most cherished items, however, were the donated books.  With minimal books in the classrooms and virtually no books in homes, students flocked to these books in a desperate attempt discover, learn, and venture outside their everyday environment.

After several trips, founders Carmen and Kelly knew there was more they could do. A few months a year and a couple of suitcases weren’t enough to meet the needs of an entire community of potential learners and world changers.  

Joined by an army of supporters, Carmen and Kelly founded Stories for Change in 2015, believing that exposure to literacy could profoundly impact an entire community. The results have been astounding, and our library has become a central aspect of the community. Its doors are open daily, with classes offered to all ages.

We know that El Chonco isn’t the only community hungry for books.  There are places just like it all over Nicaragua, full of children and adults desperate for literacy. With your help, we hope to create safe places for community members in impoverished areas to fall into a book and develop a true love of reading- more than just the basics to pass on to the next grade.  With your help, we hope to build a resource center for teachers that supplies them with the tools they need to promote a different kind of learning- a richer, more meaningful approach to building the foundation for change. With your help, we hope to implement literacy programs that provide adults in the community with the skills needed to read. With your help, we hope to use stories to make a difference.