The Nicolas Fund for Education offers a full-day, high quality, middle/high school education for children from isolated villages in the Central Highlands of Guatemala at Colegio Cristiano Nicolas. NFE also provides free, 5th/6th grade tutoring to prepare students for middle school. However, these children still lack Spanish fluency and have poor reading comprehension and weak vocabularies. Since most of their parents are illiterate and speak only a Mayan language, and all Guatemalan education is in Spanish, these children must learn Spanish in school. But rural, public elementary schools operate only half-day with few books or resources. No public libraries exist in the region.

In response, NFE created public, mini-libraries in three villages in 2020, five more in 2021, and one more in 2023. Now, we need more books to open our 10th library in the village of Vichibala in 2024. You can help by donating a book or an entire bookshelf. See some samples on this page. The Sophos bookstore in Guatemala City gives NFE a 20% discount and will ship your book(s) to the highlands. NFE staff works with village leaders to set up each library, train volunteer librarians, and promote reading. NCS students build the shelving in their carpentry classes. Since 90% of vocabulary growth comes from reading, these books will help children increase their vocabularies and background knowledge, preparing them for success in school and life. Your gift of books can help break the generational cycle of poverty and empower future leaders of the Ixil region of Guatemala.