Source: Religion News Service, March 4, 2024
Terra Nueva is a tough area. Potholed roads make journeys difficult. Shops on the main thoroughfares are rundown. Many families have endured poverty and disruption since the time of the nation’s civil war, which lasted nearly four decades and led many rural families to move to the metropolitan area’s relative safety. But the cities have a high level of crime, much of it linked to gangs.
Many children in the Guatemala City metropolitan area leave school at 14. In rural areas it can be as young as eight. For those who do attend, there’s often a shortage of teaching materials, including textbooks and modern reading devices. In Mixco, 650 pupils share just 12 computers.
In response to these challenges, Mixco school administrators have introduced a program created by the Bible Society in the United Kingdom called Open the Book that dramatizes Bible stories, with students singing and dancing along as a way of learning both reading and the Bible.
Read or listen to the whole story. to see how the community is changing.
You might also be interested in another RNS story about iBible, a new animated Bible series aims to reach post-reading generation. Looks like it will launch on Easter.