Logos Hope welcomed Manlio Argueta, director of Binaes (National Library of El Salvador), and Francisco Salvador Delgado, co-ordinator of the Bibliobus, on board Logos Hope.

Bookfair Manager David Waugh (Scotland) enjoyed spending time getting to know more about the project and gave them a tour of the bookfair.

The Bibliobus travels to rural areas in El Salvador, encouraging children to read books. Puppets and story books with pictures are used creatively to encourage children to read.

Francisco said, “Bullying is a problem with many young children in El Salvador, and reading one book helps to educate a child on how to get away from being bullied in school.”

Logos Hope donated 500 books which included children’s stories, novels and educational books to the Bibliobus. After choosing and receiving this book donation, Francisco said, “The children of El Salvador are the ones who will benefit from this donation the most.”

Francisco travels with the bus and organises all the programmes with the children. While he was selecting the different titles for the book donation, he came across a children’s book and became quite emotional as he held this book in his hands. It was called ‘El Soldadito de Plomo’ (‘The Tin Soldier’). This was the first book his mother read to him when he was five years old, and he had been looking for this book for many years. He was thrilled to find it on Logos Hope.

David presented him this book as a gift – a special moment for him. David remarked, “You never know how much reading a book to a child can impact their life.” Francisco had found the love of reading at a very young age with the help of his mother and now, years later, he is reading and sharing knowledge to many underprivileged children on the ‘Bibliobus’.

Manlio Argueta also presented David with a book, ‘La senda antigua de Elim’ by Antonio Villalta; a book about Christianity in El Salvador.