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The Centro de Conocimiento Compartido (CCC) is a library project dedicated to serving schools and communities along the Amazon River in Peru. It is situated six and one half hours away from Iquitos City by local boat and the next nearest library. The CCC library is centrally located among 25 primary and secondary schools.
The Centro de Conocimiento Compartido is now registered with the United States government and recognized by the IRS as a 501(3)(c) non-profit corporation (EIN 41 1935346). Contributions to CCC are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
. In this region where the school year is foreshortened nearly 2 months by annual floods and where financial constraints prevent most families from purchasing basic school supplies or books, the CCC provides valuable educational resources promoting curricular and extra curricular reading and discovery.
Additionally, the CCC offers remedial reading instruction, Continuing Education Workshops, interscholastic academic programs and competitions, field trips and cultural events.
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Dr. Nancy Dunn,
Founder and Director
of the Amazon Library Project,
Centro de Conocimiento Compartido
(Center of Shared Knowledge).
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How You Can Help:
With Books
Book Donations are welcomed. Please contact Nancy Dunn before shipping so that she can give you the best and most current procedure. Please note that whenever possible, the books should be hard-covered and tie-bound. Books should be in Spanish or bilingual with Spanish as one of the languages. Plasticized covers are also desirable for preventing mildew.
The following types of books are sought:
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- Non fiction for children.
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- Periodicals for Children and Adults. Back issues are useful especially in complete sets.
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- Activity Books in Spanish for Children
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- Books on Humanities, Arts, Sciences, Health, Religion, Philosophy, etc
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How You Can Help:
Sponsor a Child to Read
Many children visit the library Centro de Conocimiento Compartido (CCC) daily coming by foot up to 1 1/2 hours or by dugout canoe. The library offers them the opportunity to practice their alphabet and syllables, reading, comprehension and writing skills. The children explore the world, learn and re-enforce their skills through educational games and activities
In a part of the world where the local economy prevents most of thechildren access to the most basic school supplies, the CCC opens the door to a lively source of crricular and extra-curricular activities. An average of 120 children sign up for the reading club. The books they read as well as the letters and syllables learned are recorded.
We keep track of their progress
and make sure their skills keep developing.
Nine students read over 200 books;
four read over 300 books and two read 500 books!
Additional activities include field trips to Iquitos, workshops in art, music, science, health,
nutrition, sewing, animal care and crafts.
Click here to download a
Sponsor A Child To Read donation form
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How You Can Help:
Financial Contributions
Financial contributions are the easiest and most effective way you can help the CCC. Contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law in the USA.
Centro de Conocimiento Compartido is a 501(c)(3) corporation as determined by the IRS of the USA.
Donations of any size are needed and appreciated.
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Please make checks payable to:
Centro de Conocimiento Compartido
and send to:
Karen Johnson
6200 78th Avenue N North # 206
Brooklyn Park, MN 55443.
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How You can Help:
With Gift Cards
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How You can Help:
By Volunteering
Volunteers are welcome. Applicants should be able to converse in Spanish. Duties will include:
Help teaching children to read
Cataloging books
and as needed.
Housing can be arranged with near-by tourist facility at reduced rates.
Contact Nancy directly for further information.
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Dr. Nancy Dunn, President and Director of the CCC, Iquitos, Peru
Mr. Alex Thomas, Chairman of the Foreign Language Dept., Potomac School, McLean, VA, USA
Mrs. Pat Dunn Walker, Secretary of the CCC, Rochester, MN, USA
Cathy Tanner
Bothell, Washington, USA
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2003
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Week long guitar workshop with 25 students, 5 guitars and lots of sore fingers.
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Teacher Alberto Pizango, a professional guitarist from Iquitos, found plenty of enthusiasm in his
guitar-workshop students.
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Rubí, Flor and Kateri practicing reading during their summer vacation. So many kids came that we had to divide into morning and afternoon sessions.
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Parents gather to put a fence around the library. The neighbors plan to raise water-buffalo
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Doña Amelia holds her dog so that the veterinarian can check it out during "Love Your Animal Day." The dog was treated for parasites and scabies. The vet treated 17 dogs, 2 chickens, one guinea pig and
one parakeet.
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Socoro and Elizabet, who have regularly attended the sewing workshops, make book-bags for our new book-lending program.
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Year-end party. Some students dressed up for their plays. This was our first attempt at theater.
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2002
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A typical village classroom;
there are not many learning resources in evidence!
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A steep climb up a muddy riverbank from the Amazon to reach the walkway that leads to the library building.
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The library is on stilts in an attempt to keep it above the annual flood waters.
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Interior furnishings and resources may be basic and sparse in comparison to the standards of the First World countries...
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...but the children's love of learning and their thirst for knowledge is universal.
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The reading records of the high achievers in the Reading Club literally go off the charts in their quests to learn.
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Local children come to the library after school and during school vacations. They want to learn and the Centro de Conocimiento Compartido provides the resources, the atmosphere and the location for them to learn about their world and the world beyond the Amazon
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Young girls learn their letters...
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...while older ones practice
their reading skills.
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...and everyone
enjoys the music workshop!
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Notes from Nancy
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Feb 2005
We were sitting on the riverbank in front of the library waiting for a boat which was taking its time in getting there. The moon had risen about one quarter of its ascent. Of the seventeen people who had come to help receive six hundred roof leaf panels, already eleven had gone home. After four hours of waiting the rest of us were getting punchy, telling jokes and acting silly when Wilder said "Hey Antonio, you are just like Jorge" Antonio was dangling from the handrail on the bridge. Wilder and Antonio are fathers of children who come to the library. Wilder has six children and Antonio has four But who is Jorge you ask? Jorge el Curioso-Curious George, that famous monkey of children's books. Wilder knew of Jorge because his kids had borrowed the book for a weekend and Alex, his son, had eventually won the book as a prize for reading 150 books in the reading club. There we were enjoying the effects of Jorge the Monkey even after the book had been closed. People sometimes ask me if I think the library has a lasting impact on the lives of the people here. My answer is YES!
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April 2003
I have a new dog. A boat driver found her swimming in the middle of the river. She was just a puppy. She changed homes several times before she came to me. She loves to ride in the canoe and sleeps in a hammock. Spoiled? Maybe.
A few days ago I noticed a bad smell in the house. I knew I had smelled it before but couldn't recall what it was. I also noticed the frog population diminishing. I thought maybe they were moving into the swamps since the water is getting higher. Yesterday when I was opening the front door a stick fell and hit me on the head and shoulder. I thought it was the roof support over the stairs...rotten and broken. I looked up but the roof was still there. I looked down and a large (2 1/2 meter or about 7 1/2 feet)whip snake was slithering away. That expained the decline in the frog population and the bad smell. Also explains the thumps in the night. Hope she comes back because she left one frog. I don't like frogs.
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" March 2002
The water is rising. And the animals and insects are fleeing to higher ground-which includes my house. Two weeks ago it was swarmed by army ants. Looked like an oil spill coming in from under the backdoor. I turned back the tide with insecticide...I can't imagine what would have happened if the ants came in the middle of the night. The floor was crawling with them in just five minutes. The stairs and outside floor boards looked like they were covered in shag carpeting.
Last week I was greeted by a fer-de-lance snake on the front steps. It was sunning itself in the first sun after several days of rain.
But high water also brings good things. I bought a piano a few weeks ago and it will be delivered just as soon as the water level makes smooth delivery. It's been almost four years since I've had a real instrument to play. It's an old German upright with a nice round sound. Brahms will be so nice to play!"
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| CCC |
For further information
all correspondence can be addressed to:
Karen Johnson
6200 78th Ave. N. Number 206
Brooklyn Park, MN 55443.
notjustmaps@comcast.net
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Nancy Dunn
dunn_nancy@hotmail.com
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Any problems with this site, please contact the webmaster at::
drlarsen@aol.com |
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