Word share with the children of Zihuatanejo, from Sister City Collingwood, Canada
The Collingwood-Zihuatanejo sister city committee has been in existence since 2004, bridging the communities of Collingwood, Canada, and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, through cultural exchange and philanthropic projects.
This year’s project will provide English language books and English language books on CD’s to Casa de la Pacifica, a program of educational enhancement for 120 of the city’s least advantaged, elementary school children. The Sister City committee’s idea of “Books for niños (children)” was very enthusiastically received by contacts in Zihuatanejo, who recommended the recipient program. Casa de la Pacifica has been operating since 2001 and its graduates have begun to move on to secondary school. English skills are an important asset in Mexico for further education and for employment. It is primarily taught in the private schools whose students are from more affluent families. Casa de la Pacifica provides a chance for public school students to enhance their education including the learning of English.
Community support for the project has been fabulous. Saunders Smart Apple Media will be the primary source of new books; CDs have been provided by Staples; contributions of books have come from Thrive Chiropractic Clinic and several private citizens; former Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival musician and Collingwood resident Drew Wright will be supervising recording of the CDs; Big Brothers/Big Sisters´ “Littles” will be reading some of the books to record onto CD’s; Collingwood Public Library may provide recording facilities and Wordstock welcomed our presence to publicize the project. The major challenge for the project is the transportation of the books and accompanying CDs to Zihuatanejo. Westjet airlines has offered to allow passengers going to Zihuatanejo to take three pieces of luggage with no more than 50lbs of books each, free of charge. Now we have to find passengers. Shipping via DHL is possible but very expensive; estimate of about $600 US for a 50 lb. Box. We are working to find other options to get the books into the kids’ hands.
Want to get involved? Join the Sister City Committee, Read a book or two to record onto CDs. Take book-filled bags on your trip to Zihuatanejo. Donate funds for shipping. Share creative ideas for all aspects of the project, including transportation.
Past Sister City activities have included a visit to Collingwood by Zihuatanejo school children and an official visit to Collingwood by a Sister City delegation from Zihuatanejo.
