Community Library

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Adilson Siqueira searched for administration books at the community library in the Jardin Catarina neighborhood of Sao Goncalo, a poor city in the metropolitan Rio de Janeiro area, Sept. 19, 2005. Hoping to give neighborhood children a better education than they received, Carlos Luiz Leite and his wife Maria de Penha de Oliveira Mello started the library in their home in 2003 with about 100 books using their own money and labor. It has grown to over 5000 titles and their tiny home is filling with books as donations arrive, including brand new items from book publishers. Adults also use the resources to study, many who quit school early to work.(Australfoto/Douglas Engle)

brazil rio de janeiro education school poor library children youth child book reading exhibit