Thursday 31 May 2018

The basin and the voice



On Friday, 19th April, 2018, we started off with 4 teachers and 66 students from the Higher Pedagogical Institute Víctor Andrés Belaunde, from Jaén, towards the upper basin of our river Amojú, La Rinconada hamlet.

The fresh air, the chirping of the birds, the sound of the river and the whistling of the wind were set in a scenario that connected us with our mother nature.

It was beautiful the reunion with Mrs. Armandina Cerdán Acuña, a wise woman that I had the privilege of knowing in 2005, when the group of environmental promoters was formed with all the stakeholders of the basin and the Vima; expert weaver of colorful saddlebags, quilts and ponchos in loom of stick and crochet, healer with medicinal plants, generous in sharing her knowledge and very clear in her speeches, virtues that have allowed her to participate and lead participation processes. She is 62 years old, has had 13 children, arrived at La Rinconada with her husband at age 17, her origin is Bambamarca. She proudly signals that 5 of her daughters and 2 of her granddaughters are "labourers" (textile art).

She had an entertaining talk with all the students and there was no question that she did not answer:
"Before, we grew chancaca which we sold in Jaén to buy salt. Before, I produced food like beans, chiuche, sweet potato, squash, vituca ...
Now they don't grow, the food of before has disappeared, there is a lot of plague that attacks the vituca, its stem turns black, it rots and it falls down; only the yellow corn grows. When the weather changed, some engineers came, took the temperature and trained us to plant coffee. Coffee gives us money, but it makes the land poorer because they put herbicide on it, they spray it with herbicide and the earth is weak, when the coffee plants fall, the land remains poor, it does not produce anything anymore, that's why the food is scarce.

Before it was nice, there was enough water, we passed in our beasts, now it has dulled; People cut the forest, they did not think the water was going to run out. For 10 years now there is little water.

The natural forest was a mountain of cedars, romerillos, avocado trees, balsa, higuerón, cascarilla, lanche. The forest has its fodder, where we tread, is the one that brings the strength of the water: that fodder rots and leaves the water. In the forest there were wild animals such as the paujil, the sachavaca, the spectacled bear, cocks of the rock, turkeys, foxes, foxes, mangujos, armadillos. Now there are only monkeys; days ago my grandchildren spotted monkeys in my little mountain ... "

Thank you Mrs. Armandina for your testimony, for the memory of our land.

"We all teach together, we all learn together" (Network of Rural Libraries).

Sara Moreno Pool


Growing and building


A few years ago we started to minguear (to work voluntarily in a collective) to build new rooms in our big house: the family of the Rural Library Network is growing and it is necessary to have more spaces to welcome everyone in the different events.

This dream is becoming reality thanks to the support of friends of the Network, together with the fellow volunteers of the communities, who with dedication and effort are advancing with the construction of two rooms in the style of the Cajamarcan countryside.

They will be humble, but pleasant rooms, shows the learning shared by the volunteers who built them and witness the sharing of those who inhabit them.

Our gratitude to this hand of so many hands.

Thursday 17 May 2018

Oscar Garay: presence and mourning


We lack the words to give this news of mourning.

Last Sunday, the 6th, in the afternoon, while helping in a communal task, our dear brother Oscar Raúl Garay Tongo suffered an accident that caused his death.

Oscar, a community member from Jerez, joined our Network in the mid-80s. And in the early 2000s, he was approved by the Community Assembly as our General Coordinator, a position he held with frank devotion for two years.

When we are a community, joy is a blessing that is cultivated and thrives ... but how the absence of a brother or sister hurts us. Even more if he is like Oscar, a 'human man' who will never stop being one.

The biggest tribute is to keep walking. We are on this path that you helped to clear and make more pleasant, Oscar, brother.


Thursday 3 May 2018

Launch of "The right to essence"



This Friday, 4th May, at 7 pm, we will be launching our most recent publication: 
"The right to essence: children, rights, community and the twisted." 

The ceremony will be held at the headquarters of our Network: Avenida Perú Nº 416.
We are all invited: we welcome your punctual presence!


Consuelo and Luza



During our Assembly in April, we received the pleasant visit of 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.

The National Library of Colombia, besides preserving and cataloging the bibliographic and documentary collection of the country, is an information centre in which you can find diverse and abundant historical, cultural, artistic, religious, political and social documents of Colombia. Currently, the National Library is carrying out an inventory of its documents in different media for its digitalization process that guarantees its permanence, conservation and greater diffusion.

The National Network of Public Libraries is responsible for coordinating the enormous processes of training, articulation and strengthening of public libraries in Colombia.

This visit of Consuelo and Luz Adriana had been gestating for so long, encouraged as they were to share the effort to build, with the reading of the world and of books, a more honourable life, with full rights to the dreams of peace and community joy.

Back in Colombia, Consuelo sent us some of her impressions:
"I still hear the voices of the peasants speaking with tenderness of their farms ... evoking their elders with the devotion of those who know themselves protected by them or laughing mischievously of the tricks and mysteries that permeate their daily life. What a great wealth there is behind that almost mystical relationship with nature! I would like to express my deep gratitude for having had the fortune to live this wonderful commotion."

We also send our sincere and affectionate greetings, from Cajamarca to Bogotá, for this precious time shared.