NPO Shien Crowdfunds 150 Books for Guatemalan Village with No Bookstore
The campaign has already funded 100 of the 150 books in its first month, and the remaining funds go to toilet and entrance floor repairs at a center that now takes students from kindergarten through sixth grade.
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
NPO Shien, based in Kariya, Aichi, is running a crowdfunding campaign to send 150 books to Academia 100, a learning center it operates in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, a Maya village with no bookstore. The campaign, which runs from August 1 to September 30, 2026, targets 800,000 yen: 600,000 yen for books and 200,000 yen for toilet and entrance floor repairs. In its first month, 56 supporters funded 100 books.
Academia 100 opened in 2023 with six students and three staff in Santiago Atitlan. It now takes students from kindergarten through sixth grade, with nine local staff, eight teachers and one accountant, and enrollment past 30. Many children speak Tz'utujil as their first language, which makes reading in Spanish, their second language, a real barrier. The center's answer is books: donor names go on stickers inside each volume, and students and staff help attach the covers. The campaign is certified under the K's House NPO Support Program, which covers payment processing fees so donations reach the NPO in full.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.