Juan Byron Guarchaj (age 10) lives in the rural town of Pasaq, Guatemala. He goes to school in the morning and spends his afternoons harvesting coffee or bananas to earn money for his family. He chops firewood in the mountains and carries it into town in giant bundles on his back. Around dusk, he spends an hour or two in the library that Child Aid helped create last year.

In November of 2010, during Guatemala’s three month school break, Juan participated in Pasaq’s second Adventures in Reading program, which helped more than 25 local children work on their reading skills while school was out. “I want to be a doctor,” said Juan, “and I want to do Adventures in Reading again this year.” He’s not alone: Parents in 20 towns and villages enrolled a total of 1,605 children in Adventures in Reading last year. This is double the number of children who participated in the program the year before. We are thrilled with the success of this program and glad parents are taking an active role in our work.