Jorge Argueta from Talleres de Poesía says:
When the first buses
arrive at the Children's Poetry Festival "Manyula", it is truly a
marvelous moment. All heaviness, frustration, or any difficulty we may have had
organizing the event at that moment disappears, magically everything turns into
smiles, into hope. I feel goose-bumps all over. I know that in front of me is
the present and future of a whole nation. I cry from the emotion. It is so
wonderful to see our children coming from Sonsonate, Cabañas, San Miguel,
Chalatenango. The majority of these children don't know where they are going,
they came happy, for some of them this will be the first visit to San Salvador,
the capital and the first time away from their hometowns. For our children this
is such a fun and fantastic trip. Suddenly these buses have taken them to a
place called Biblioteca Nacional, the National Library of El Salvador, the
house where books and knowledge live. Here we wait for them, we receive them
with happy cheers and applause, the library is dressed with balloons, music,
clowns, and banners, Manyula the festival mascot greets them. These children
are the little heroes of El Salvador. Throughout the day they hear poetry, they
read poetry and they write poetry. They last part of the festival is a fun
"educational fiesta". The kids enjoy lunch and participate in a
show. As they leave they all receive a festival tote bag with goodies including
books and pencils. When the day is over, they will bring home memories of
an unforgettable day, a wonderful experience and more than one of them
will say "I would like to be a poet". This year the festival will
take place from the 19th through the 22nd of November. I kindly asked you
to please take 5 minutes to donate $5, $10 or whatever you can - the process is
very simple (see link below). Our children deserve it. Long live El
Salvador.
Please visit thisr site
for more details and to make a donation:
