The Rural Library of ISP of Jaén

On 12^th April of this year, the Social Sciences Department - V Semester of the ISP "Víctor A. Belaunde" of Jaén, with initiative and enthusiasm, prepared with new copies and posters the Rural Library that has been operating since the last quarter of the past year.

It is known to all that our Library is part of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, which has made it possible for us to avail of its bibliographic collection, such as the copies of the Peasant Encyclopedia and various publications. This access to the books of the network has multiplied because of the book exchange system, and from the recent Encounter and Assembly. Books included literary works, dictionaries and other texts.

The aim is to encourage the critical and voluntary reading of students and teachers to inform themselves and to train as people, as well as to disseminate stories of rural culture in order to recognize, rescue, value and put into practice the knowledge, values ​​and positive identities.

The students who frequent the library are entering Social Sciences – First Semester, who arrive with much desire, choose their book and register. For their part, the 7 students of Fifth Semester started the first Reading Circle, on 17^th April, to discuss the book "Esa luz de más adentro" by maestro Alfredo Mires Ortiz.

Prof. Sara Moreno Alberca

Rejuvenating

The first weekend of April more than fifty community members of the Network of Rural Libraries met to celebrate the first Assembly of this year. Many of them have attended these meetings continuously for more than twenty years. They come from far away, carrying their books and their contribution to the common pot. The re-encounter each time is a joy.

In this assembly there were also many new faces. The youngest librarian, Maicol Burga, arrived after two days of travel; walking from the community of Yunchaco, in the province of Cutervo. Maicol participated with great emphasis and conviction, transmitting to everyone the importance of reading and learning from our elders.

We also welcomed Laura Quiliche, student and head of the Open Library of the Superior Pedagogical Institute "Víctor Andrés Belaunde", Jaén. In this library one can read there, in the open air or take the books home, but the contact with the book is real and experiential, not restricted to the physical space of the library. Laura is an animated young woman who convinces with her effort and fresh and innovative spirit: we are very grateful for her presence among us.

From the Superior Pedagogical Institute of Jaén was also teacher Sara Moreno. We really appreciates your presence and your important and precise interventions.

From the I.E. "Sacred Heart" of Jaén were also our dear friends Cleofé Guzmán, Elizabeth Olano and Polinéstor Huamán, who have been carrying out intense rescue work with the Peasant Encyclopedia Project.

From Colombia we counted with the presence of Nathalia Quintero Castro who is in charge of the Technical Secretariat of the Network and took great pains in this assembly to satisfy the concerns and needs of each librarian and coordinator.

Also there were Consuelo Gaitán, Director of the National Library of Colombia, and Luz Adriana Martínez, Leader of the Technical Assistance area of ​​the National Network of Public Libraries of Colombia. Their integration, openness and willingness to share were transcendental for this assembly.

The presence of some children of librarians and veteran coordinators seems to us very important because in most cases it is the family members who, from a young age, attend to the readers in the libraries during the absence of the librarians. Welcome Lennon, Magaly and Jorge to this assembly!

Manuela Vásquez and Ricardo Delgado are two teachers who, since last year, have been members of the Network family, from their centers in Bambamarca and Chota. Their presence, interest and work renew the spirit.

Thank you all for joining us on this journey.

Willing to share

When the librarians and coordinators of the Network of Rural Libraries arrive for the General Assembly, it is all celebration, joy and laughter. This 6^th, 7^th and 8^th of April we celebrated one of these meetings full of friendship, openness, trust and solidarity: we are family.

In the book El duende del laberinto, by Alfredo Mires, published by the Network in 2016, is this story:

Bread

God told the bread:

- Multiply!

And the bread answered him:

- First multiply the flour.

God multiplied the flour.

- Now multiply yeast, said the bread. God multiplied the yeast.

- Now multiply the man willing to share me -finished the bread.

God began to cry.

Here, in our assemblies, God doesn't have to cry. Here we share what each one brings for the common pot. But we also share the news of each library, the achievements and congratulations of the readers and the concerns and challenges of the librarians and coordinators. We are united by the appreciation for others and a spirit of support and protection invades the environment.

Once, during an assembly dinner, we observed two of our coordinators talking: one had a cup of coffee and the other was dipping his bread in the other's coffee. Normal, because everything belongs to everyone.

Although one can be surprised or laugh at such familiarity, that is the spirit of sharing in our meetings. Familiarity is lived and affection is felt. And that is worth more than a "logical framework" or a "leadership training".

We are happy to be the way we are.

Libraries and schools

When the Network of Rural Libraries began to rescue the wisdom of the Andean communities, back in the 1980s, many criticized us, especially because we were using the language of our own people in our texts.

- How is it possible! Peasants who dare to produce books? They said.

They were mostly teachers who did not want our books in schools because "in these texts there are many barbarisms"; So they said, referring to the way we talk about the Cajamarcan countryside.

Over the years - and with a lot of patience - this situation has changed. Nowadays, many teachers and directors of educational institutions are the ones who are interested in this task of ours. Or the students themselves, when they have to complete their homework.

- It is imperative to permeate education and schools - Alfredo Mires, our Executive Advisor, often says. However, there is still a long way to go.

Several of our coordinators are teachers. We have agreements with schools in the countryside and there, in the same educational institutions, rural libraries. We are coordinating our work with Higher Pedagogical Institutes and we even have requests for a Reading Plan that is truly in accordance with the life of the communities ...

They are huge advances and, as a network, we are happy with these challenges. But we know that the road is arduous and that we are few. Fortunately, we do not have the inclination to be discouraged.

New distribution of books

If we think of the book as an instrument of farming, as a brother or sister of our journey in the countryside of Cajamarca, then books must find new ways of sowing, multiplying and moving: going from family to family, from library to library, from group to group, from community to community...

Therefore, from the Central Office the Library Network, a new distribution of books taking the form of special donations is underway, especially to educational institutions that are forming their rural libraries. Also for friendly organizations interested in education, reading, writing and defending their own culture. Or for the same communities of our rural libraries that will be able to carry out their reading circles (which gather from ten to more than two hundred people from the communities) where each participant has the book in their hands to read with others and for others.

With this new distribution of books, the Library Network wants to strengthen the bonds of community meeting, where reading, words and conversation is the best way to continue this community, agricultural, Andean and peasant way.

I read and I write

We are about to receive the start of a new collection from Rural Libraries, aimed especially at children and young people, but also entertaining and useful for older people.

It is a book-booklet that, through the reading of a short, inspiring and impactful text in the line of the Network, encourages readers to write down their reflections, thoughts, understandings or texts that have arisen, after reading, in its blank pages.

This publication wants to contribute to the formation of more readers, to provoke and maintain critical thinking and to catapult the audacity to write after reading, to say and to compose texts based on comprehension. And to slide one's eyes and heart over the written word.

Sarah Heery, present

This April 12 was the tenth anniversary of the death of our sister Sarah Heery. Her sister Helen and her family, with Sarah's Foundation for our Network, have not stopped accompanying us in all this time, thus the spirit and example of Sarah has been present.

The poet Antonio Machado said that "While we are, death is not, and when death is, we are not".

That is to say, immortality is here, in the steps that we are taking, in the presences that we are cultivating.

Today is our 47th birthday!

There is must left to walk

To the Assembly!

«The poor man does not need comfort ... To step on the earth, my brother, without fear, without fear».

José María Arguedas

The Wizard of Oz with Libraries

For World Book Day, our colleague Helen Heery held an assembly at Alexandra Primary School in North London. This event was organized by her friend Heather Johnston, who at the same time has been supporting Sarah Rural Library Fund.

But it was not a simple assembly ... because the magic was multiplied: the children and their teachers disguised themselves as the characters from the Wizard of Oz!

This also shows that solidarity is not suffering charity: it is a heroic creation, animated and encouraging, fun and divergent.

A huge hug for this dream that brings us together and recreates us!

Gazette No. 2

Our Gazette No. 2 of the Network has already appeared, this time with the theme of Cultural Affirmation. 

We can read it here:

https://issuu.com/docs_bibliotecasrurales.caj/docs/gaceta_br_03_2018_n__2

Encouraging and growing

Just a few weeks ago, our sister Helen Heery presented the experience of our Rural Libraries to The Funding Network.

With the accompaniment of our dear friend Simon Wheatley and the entire team of the Sarah's Rural Library Fund, the success has been resounding.

It was not only the clarity of the proposal and the solvency to answer all the questions: it was Helen's conviction and spirit, that inspiration that makes possible the spirit of solidarity and generosity of those who make hope a reality.

Scorza

How Manuel Scorza contiues living! What a tremendous talent, that of this Peruvian writer whose literary production shows his fine and deep attention to the social context that his country lived through.

Scorza did not forget the voices of those who were silenced and not heard, he gave a face and action to those who had been made invisible: he gave voice and presence to the peasants and indigenous people of Peru: women, men and all beings whose magical presence resides in the Andes, immense and dignified beings, courageous and determined not to give in to injustice, pain, silence or humiliation.

"Redoble por Rancas" is part of the series of novels by the author, entitled: "The Silent War" which, at the same time, is enunciated as a "solitary struggle". It tells of the resistance of the community members in Rancas (Pasco) to the expropriation of their lands and abuses by the North American mining company Cerro de Pasco Corporation and the ensuing massacre of May 2, 1960.

Novels like these should be read and reread, passed through the minds and hearts of all, here in Peru, throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia and a thousand other worlds so as not to forget what has happened to us and what continues to happen, to remember -as we say, the community members from here - that together we are stronger and we are more.

Co-Libris: reading and pedagogical animations

The Network of Rural Libraries celebrates, as on other occasions, that good ideas are converted into letters, games and drawings that encourage and prepare "readers for others". And so it is that "Co-Libris: Project of reading and pedagogical animations" emerges, a magical book for the collective formation of readers: children, teachers and rural librarians, who will find in these lines the breath to inspire the desire for reading.

Alfredo Mires Ortiz, author of the text and Executive Advisor of our Network, explains that the Co-Libris project proposed "To promote collective, solidarity and encouraging reading from the formation of critical readers of the communities of Cajamarca, for the consolidation of peasant organization, the protection of the environment and the rescue of traditional Andean community knowledge ".

The Co-libris are in our Cajamarcan countryside, full of stories to tell, spirit to inspire and desire to drive. In addition, they are ready to read and to listen; to learn and to teach, to inspire readings that establish or strengthen criticality and respect. This is to give soul to reading, which is not only the practice but experience and cooperation, creativity and joy.