The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Sunnyvale concert buys books for Leon's children

By Mike de Give

The Sunnyvale Music School and Pangaea Productions will host a concert by classical guitarist Kurt Rodarmer Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of Sunnyvale, 728 W. Fremont Ave.

Money raised at the concert will benefit Imagina--a nonprofit organization founded by local parent Lulis Camarena--the goal of which is to create libraries for children in Leon, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Rodarmer's recent release of Bach's Goldberg Variations now ranks as the No. 4 bestselling classical CD in Mexico.

Tickets are available at the door and are tax-deductible. The price is $25 general admission, $40 for couples and $15 for students and senior citizens. For more information call 739-9248.

When Camarena in 1995 visited her native Leon, she was appalled at the state of the library system.

In a sprawling city of 1.1 million people, there were only 95,000 books--less than one book per person.

In comparison, Sunnyvale--with only one-tenth the population--has nearly three times as many books in its collection, or 282,268 titles.

None of Leon's libraries have computer access to databases. Moreover, the population of Leon relies on substandard public transportation--and all of the libraries were located in a small, centralized area of the city, making it difficult for most people to check out books.

But what Camarena found most disturbing was that none of Leon's libraries had books for its children.

With the help of friends and relatives, and with donations of time and money, Camarena founded Imagina, an organization whose goal is to provide books for Leon's children.

Virtually all services in Imagina are already provided by volunteers.

"Anything we raise will be used toward books, materials and opening new libraries," she said.

Imagina's goal is to open a network of children's libraries--Biblioteca Infantil--in well-dispersed locations around Leon.

The idea behind Imagina is to encourage good reading habits in Leon's children. Only 2 percent of Leon's population reads for pleasure, according to Camarena; only 6.7 percent of children there finish high school.

Many of the children wind up working in Leon's largest industry--shoe manufacturing. The training needed for most of these jobs requires very little education, providing even less incentive to read, Camarena said.

The first Biblioteca Infantil opened a year ago. Donations from several groups have helped them get Imagina's vision off to a good start. For instance, Mexicana Airlines flies donated books free of charge into Leon. A college in Leon donated space for the library. Apple Computer donated $12,000 in equipment. Moreover, the group has purchased 2,000 books for its shelves and has started various workshops for its children.

Camarena hopes what's going on in the Biblioteca Infantil will have an effect outside the library walls.

"If you give them these kind of services, they'll be more interested in pursuing an education," Camarena said.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, November 5, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.