It takes a village to raise a library

Maybe a wall at the border would keep the Mexicans out.

But Tyler Clark might have a better idea: Build four walls, not one, and put them right in Mexico. Then put a library inside.

“Nobody wants to leave their communities,” said Clark of Allouez. “That’s the first thing you notice in Mexico: The culture is vibrant, beautiful, and so united. The families are so strong. Nobody wants to leave that.”

But for many, leaving is the only option. Employment opportunities are few in their impoverished, rural communities, and the quality of their schools isn’t powerful enough to qualify them for the jobs in the Mexican cities, so over the border they come.

“If these kids can learn English and Chinese, they could have any job they wanted in Mexico,” said Clark, who worked as a missionary in rural Mexico almost a decade ago. “If you speak English, you can get really good jobs in the city and you can also buy a car, live in your village and commute 45 minutes.”

So Clark’s idea is this: Give a kid a fish, he or she will eat for a day, build 'em a library and you could find yourself working for them one day. Get them to read, get them to be able to compete with their better-heeled, better-educated city neighbors, and they can learn the language skills, the computer skills and whatever else they need to start providing for themselves and their communities at home.

“These communities are just killing themselves, because they can’t function without youth, and most of them leave and never come back, and you can’t blame them,” Clark said. “But at the same time, if you can give them education, the kids will see there’s hope, and that’s the reason to stay.”

A library is key.

What’s that you say? It takes a Carnegie to build a library? Nope. Clark’s already done it.

It’s called the Library of St. Mary of Atezcac. The community put up the building, and Clark and his wife, Rebekah, raised the money, $3,700, through gofundme.com, a web-based crowd-funding site. Maybe you helped. In any case, it’s hardly the Brown County Public Library, but $3,700 can buy a tremendous number of books south of the border.

At the end of last month, Tyler and Rebekah Clark headed down there to deliver a library.

“It’s amazing, because they thought we were going to bring these old books,” Clark said. “We showed up with three suitcases full of stuff, four or five giant boxes full of books…computers, a projector, headsets.

“Teachers down there made a list of textbooks and lectures they needed, and we ordered those. And one purpose of a library is to develop a love of reading for kids, so we ordered the best books: “Lord of the Rings,” “Chronicles of Narnia,” “Harry Potter,” “Hunger Games,” “Charlotte’s Web,” books that grab kids’ attention, and also a lot of development books: “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” “The Richest Man in Babylon,” “Rich Man Poor Man,” things that will help them understand principles of self-development, all in Spanish.”

There are also computer programs to teach computer skills, Rosetta Stone for English and Chinese language learning.

“It was amazing, life-changing,” Clark said. “It’ll have a bigger impact than I thought it’d have.”

You want to get in on it? There’s still time. The community is rallying around the Clarks’ efforts, trying to get better Internet service, and the Clarks could easily find 100 more book titles that would be appropriate. Visit gofundme.com and search “Atexcac” and “library.”

And remember: Four walls are better than one.

psrubas@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter@PGpaulsrubas