Construction Projects - Library

Thanks to the Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Project, Quezalgauque now has a beautiful well-stocked library.  Fund-raising for building the town’s first library began in the fall of 2000, and in July, 2002, a group of volunteers, under the direction of Raymond Borsman (who also coordinated work on the Health Center) began work on the building along with  volunteers and paid laborers from Quezalguaque.

In January, 2003, when the building was nearing completion, Fr. Jaime Ramos, then pastor of Quezalguaque’s Catholic Church, lent us space for a temporary library  in a room belonging to the Church. The Nicaraguan National Library donated two book cases and some tables and chairs and – along with the Ministry of Culture- the first 300 books. In 2003, Parsons Engineering – a firm based in the Boston area - donated more furniture,  and money was raised to ship it – along with  more than 2,702 books collected in Brookline – to the library. Both new and used books were collected by individuals, schools and organizations and local merchants. A  student group at Brookline High School, for example, collected $3,500 for the purchase of books and  both the Egleston Branch of the Boston Public Library and the Brooklyn, NY Public Library contributed large quantities of high-quality books withdrawn from their shelves.  The Friends of the Brookline Public Library have also been generous with books and contributions.

The ribbon cutting ceremony on the new, building was held in February, 2003 when the exterior was completed. Meetings and functions began to be held there, but the books were not moved in until August 21, 2003, when the upper windows, electrical work, plumbing, and interior walls were completed. The move into the new building was facilitated by many young Quezalguaque volunteers and made possible by vehicles lent by both Padre Jaime and the Health Center.
Money was raised in early 2004 to tile the library floor, and the work was completed in March..  
A generous grant from the Rotary Foundation, achieved through the collaboration of the of Brookline Rotary and the León Rotary completed the furnishing of the library and its computer room, which was inaugurated in November 2004.