Thank you

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children

- Kahlil Gibran

December 2016 - January 2017

With brotherly hugs

The Earth recounts

Our friend, Daniel Canosa, an Argentine librarian and member of El Orejiverde -Indigenous peoples' publication-, has prepared a note on the conference that our brother Alfredo Mires Ortiz gave in Medellín on the occasion of the launch of the Citizen Reading, Writing and Orality Plan 2016- 2020:

http://www.elorejiverde.com/el-don-de-la-palabra/2129-lo-que-la-tierra-cuenta

The full text of the conference can also be accessed through the link.

Thank you, Daniel, for accompanying with such generosity and affection these journeys.

Community and territory

In preparation for the Assembly of the Network, we had the Encounter of the Encyclopedia Campesina, a meeting in which the team of coordinators (villagers, teachers, students, all volunteers) presented the cultural rescues made in the field, according to the topics we decided to investigate together.

We have almost reached the end of the compilation of our own words and their meanings, which has taken us so many years. And we take up the theme of Community and Territory, in the eagerness to recognize our own conceptual roots regarding these significant issues.

And we still have a long way to go!

We continue on the journey

In mid-December we had our General Assembly of the Network, a culmination of our organization to meet, evaluate, plan and encourage the spirit to continue walking.

New challenges arise: in a context of "very low reading" in the country and with a very high growth of shamelessness and corruption (especially among those who are paid to be at the service of the nation) communities continue in their search and effort not to succumb.

Many communities in the area of ​​the province of Celendín are requesting to have their rural library ... And from Pión - one day by bus and another on foot - came Don Jesus Quispe, who is even receiving chemotherapy treatment, animated to retake the libraries in his sector. Some of the participants had lost their crops and others had been greatly affected by the wildfires in the area ... but here they were.

Librarians, coordinators, readers and even the granddaughter of one of the villagers, participated in the Assembly, animating and encouraging us to continue on the journey.

How it intensifies this will and how it guides this journey!

Cajamarca with snow

In these weeks it came around to me to travel north to visit children with projectable abilities from the Community Program.

In Cajamarca in these months we have been going through a very hard time, with a lot of drought, fires and an extreme lack of water. Many, many seeds and crops have already been lost and many people no longer know how to fill their pots and stomachs. This is a very worrying situation for all of us.

Although it is now beginning to rain, many now have no seeds or have to buy again, getting into debt and not knowing if they will actually have crops that will allow them to repay this debt.

For my part then, I was prepared to find fields with maize dying, trees burned by frost, animals thin because of lack of water and grass. I had also heard from the people of the Jalca (the high altitude) that hail was falling and it was freezing and I imagined the fields with hail grains or frost ice in the early hours. But what I saw was actually snow.

Having been born and lived in cold German lands, it caused me a confusion of feelings. I felt a lot of nostalgia, but also chills imagining the people here and their animals without warm houses or stables, without clothes that keep you warm, without being able to move to warm up your body - thinking of some of the children of the Community Program -, without sufficient food or firewood to prepare a hot drink. And without a government that provides and supports in these situations.

It will be cause to get together more, to learn more and prepare better ... because no one knows what is coming.

Rita Mocker

Community Program Manager

Our way

In mid-November, the Community Program held its annual meeting of monitoring, evaluation and planning.

For many years this review process was accompanied by "specialist" members proposed by the entity that supports the work of the Community Program, but since this year it is again up to us to carry out this evaluation.

We worked hard and intensely during this meeting, but felt a very fraternal atmosphere. There was a lot of sincerity and openness to recognize our failures, a lot of willingness to improve and keep growing, a lot of closeness to support others, much affection to give even more in the work with children with projectable abilities, a lot of criticism and much desire to correct our mistakes.

The possibility of looking at each other with our own eyes, in our own way, also opened the doors to us to be more sincere and authentic. Thank you to all participants for this wonderful experience.

Assembly

Are you in agreement?

That they should not stain the skies

That they should not poison the river

That they should not dirty the soil.

Tender lúcuma of the valley

Golden wheat field

Gladiolus of the ravine

Come and sing with me.

Original in Spanish:

¿Están ustedes de acuerdo?

Que no se manchen los cielos

que no se envenene el río

que no se ensucien los suelos.

Lúcuma tierna del valle

campo dorado de trigo

gladiolo de la quebrada

vengan y canten conmigo

Alfredo Mires, "Resuellos"

With the Librarianship and Archival Studies students of the UdeA

Since some time ago, the students of librarianship and archival studies, from the University of Antioquia, gathered in a Research Seminary, wanted to ask about the rural world; many observed their peasant roots or those of their parents; others, tired of the emptiness of meaning in the urban life of Medellin, aspired to know the wisdom of that forgotten or invisible oracle of nature.

So we started to build workshops, social cartographies, readings of rural texts: then we turned our eyes to Cajamarca, to Máxima Acuña, to the campesinos: women, men, children, young people; to their Network of Rural Libraries and with them to Alfredo Mires Ortiz, the man who carries and enlivens the voice of the villagers of Cajamarca, to those whom we want to know and from whom we want to learn.

We began to cherish a dream: to be closer to Cajamarca and its Rural Librarians. And part of this dream was fulfilled because the students could be with Alfredo on 28th November 2016, in the University of Antioquia.

He has taught us, he has shown us how, who and why they carry out the work of the Network of Rural Libraries; the work of gathering the oral tradition of their communities; the reading, the books and their role in the Cajamarca context; the solidarity and communal work that guides their human principles.

For Alfredo an embrace of gratitude for reconnecting us, through the voices of the campesinos of Cajamarca, with the cosmos: as he says "Of all with everything, between all, for everything".

An immense embrace for the Cajamarcan villagers!

Medellín: Citizen plan of reading, writing and orality

Medellín, Colombia, took its time to reformulate its Reading Plan: it consisted of almost two years of consultations in a joint effort between academia, the citizen population and the Secretariat of Citizen Culture. Two research groups from the University of Antioquia accompanied this process.

Today, Medellín has an excellent citizenplan ofreading, writing and orality 2016 - 2020, aimed at making a city of readers, through actions that promote books and encourage reading among citizens.

"Participating in the evaluation and formulation of this Citizen Plan has left us with the conviction that through reading, writing and speaking it is possible for citizens to build a culture of progress, equity and peace," expressed the director of the Research Group on Didactics Investigation and New Technologies, Doris Ramírez.

The delivery to the community of the new Plan took place during these days and, for that purpose, the Mayor's Office of Medellín held two events: a conference on reading, writing and orality by our brother Alfredo Mires Ortiz, on Monday 28th, and the Presentation of the Plan, on Tuesday 29th.

Information about this exemplary process can be found at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMnvNSo3Mg8 

They continue to sprout...

The edited edition of our Series "... and other stories", from the Biblioteca Campesina Collection, continues its course ...

It is going slowly, but surely. And hopefully soon we will have the 20 fascicles printed and on their journey.

César Eladio: The willingness to walk

I come from the community of Yunchaco, in the district of Cujillo, province of Cutervo.My name is Cesar Eladio Burga Bustamante.

Reading for me means to learn more, to know many other things that we do not know. Thus, in my view, through books many things are known even if other sites are not seen. It also has a meaning that we share with others. Think of this: we read a book and the others listen, and from there we learn many things, we learn to defend our rights, rights due to the citizens. And such.

I have been participating for ten years already with Rural Libraries, but for me there has been a big change. Many things have been fixed. In collecting what had already been forgotten of the elders, at least the stories, we have recovered ourselves. And we have learned to reclaim also the duties of the authorities.

In order to continue improving the conditions in our Rural Libraries, it would be good to have more reading circles and increase visits, so that we can meet up with our rural brothers. Apart from that also having the time or disposing of our time, going out to our communities, being willing to walk.

Finally the rain has returned!

Friends,
although they may beat you,
never lose faith;
even if dirty days may come,
never lose faith,
even though I myself beg you on my knees,
do not believe me
love life
keep the dew
for the flowers
do not suffer the rogue nights that will come!

Be happy, 
I beg you,
Come out of the shady rooms,
Be happy so that I do not die
Slaughter the sadness,
Sing in front of the sea.

Give me your hand, my friends.
I love the skinny earth
Which followed me hobbling to exile.
I only know how to sing, but I love you;
Also the aurora is built with songs!

A great wind rises.
There is too much pain.
A great wind rises.
I have seen strange rivers burning.

Manuel Scorza (original in Spanish)

“Bocas del tiempo” (Mouths of Time) in Chinese

In 2003, Eduardo Galeano finished writing his book "Bocas del tiempo" and asked us to illustrate it with the ancient Cajamarca iconography that our brother Alfredo Mires has been collecting and publishing. And so this beautiful book produced that was later translated into several languages.

From these comings and goings of words and connections, Mengye Han - a Chinese translator - made contact with Alfredo some years ago. And so that extraordinary bustle of stories and voices like only Eduardo could say, popped up last year.

Generous Mengye sent us the book, which is like a tribute to Eduardo, as she says: "Who will be loved by us forever!".

Thank you, Mengye.