Cultivating reading

I am José Antonio Vílchez Chávez, from the San Isidro community, in the district of José Sabogal, San Marcos province, Cajamarca, Peru.

For me reading means a refreshment of the mind. That is to say: after a job, after the fatigue of the farm, grabbing the book one is distracted. Well, according to the book we read ...

Reading is always refreshing: it clears us of the concerns we are in.

That is why the presence of our Rural Libraries is an achievement.

I used to drink and argue with my friends, but when I came to Rural Libraries, I came into myself, I educated myself with others: now I can educate other people, collectively.

When my community said to me "Antonio, you have changed a lot", then I started to train more like this. And I was not the only one: all my companions on this path, and people from different nations, from all over the world, sharing and training. That was then an example that we could share in the community.

My role in the community is to show that I am a lover of reading. Because if we are not lovers of reading we cannot challenge anyone, neither can we present a book nor explain the subject of a book.

That's why my greatest challenge is to continue reading and continue sharing with children, with young people. Although the adults almost do not want to read now: be it for cell phones or television, they are already in other things, they see other things to distract them and have left the reading aside. But we have the courage to continue cultivating reading.

1.