Listen to the primal voices

The campesino families who belonging to the Network of Rural Libraries drink from the wisdom of the Andean culture, a cosmovision that implies an intrinsic and sensitive experience with nature. Therefore, for the upbringing and care of everything there are daily practices in rural communities; it is an affective relationship with the world, that is, the worlds: the one here, the one inside, the one above, the one there.

This expansion of the habitat allows the reverential, ritual and full conversation with other beings because it is not only the human community that knows: the plants know, the clouds, the Apus (sacred mountains), the farm, the lagoons, the rivers, all the people of these worlds that make up the Andean primordial culture.

You live, you talk and you learn from the authentic filiation with her; the Pachamama is in everything that exists, in what we see and cannot see, in what we share and support, because we are all land, we are all community.

So mistreating, exploiting, fouling and polluting the earth is the biggest affront we make to nature.

Listening to the voices of the Andean culture allows us to synchronize again with the voices of the crops, the sound and meaning of the winds and rain, the songs that community life generates, the simple and full life; the diverse, plural and happy life of the people of the countryside.

The balance of reading

The readings, the readers and the ways of reading in the countryside continue to show us the dynamism that inhabits within the breast of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca.

As our colleague Alfredo Mires Ortiz says: "Reading is not an academic exercise, it is not to get a good grade: reading is to awaken the ability to read the world and, through that reading, read books."

Together with the readings that Cajamarcan peasants take of nature, there are the readings they take of books. We want to highlight Fernando Alexis, 11, from the province of Chota, who is one of the most frequent readers of the rural library in his community.

If reading, as Alfredo teaches us, "must be a constant passion", rural libraries in the provinces of Hualgayoc and Cutervo attest that among their constant readers are girls, boys and young people between the ages of 7 and 18, and also a good number between 19 and 35 years.

The Cieza family, in Hualgayoc, stands out for the number of books they request and read. Don Anaximandro Velarde, librarian of his community, is distinguished for being a tireless reader.

On the other hand, one of the sectors of the province of Contumazá, registers an important number of readers of 61 years and older.

This news encourages us to continue to promote reading practices in the countryside; thanks to our librarians and coordinators, men and women, girls, young people and adults who promote the exchange of books, reading circles and 'nutritious' reading that leads us to "read our own reality, put what we know to the service of our people and be humble." Reading "has to be a proclamation of freedom, to grow, to imagine a better world."

Ideas and ties

By the way, a few days ago this news appeared in the media:

"Scientists reveal the negative effects that wearing a tie can cause in the brain.

A group of German scientists revealed that tight ties reduce the flow of blood to the brain by crushing the neck veins. The results of the study were published in the Neuroradiology. Robin Lüddecke, of the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and his colleagues scanned the brains of 15 healthy young men before and after putting on a tie.

Each participant was instructed to tie a Windsor knot and tighten it to the point of slight discomfort. Right after the men narrowed the ties, the blood flow in their brains fell by an average of 7.5%. No changes in blood flow were observed when the experiment was repeated with 15 men who did not put on a tie.

The scientists found that the use of a loop compresses the veins in the neck, pushing the blood into the skull and creating a build up of pressure. It is very likely that this additional pressure will crush the blood vessels of the brain and reduce blood flow, says Lüddecke."

That explains a few things...

Heart Links in Cajamarca

Each year we are visited by a group of friends from Heart Links - Lazos de Corazón, a fraternal organization based in London, Ontario, Canada. They have been working for more than twenty years through friendship and support, and also with the Network of Rural Libraries.

Each year they organize a solidarity trip to Peru to give Canadian residents the opportunity to visit, meet and participate with Peruvian entities and friends and better understand our reality. In this way, upon returning to Canada, with the support of the participants of the trip, they try to raise awareness in Canada about the social, environmental and political problems in Peru.

In June we had again the visit of some friends of Heart Links. Cecilia, Janet, Julia, Melissa and Sheila told us about the situation in Canada, they listened to what we told about the work in Libraries, they supported us in the preparation of books for the exchange in the Network, they got to know some places in Cajamarca, shared meals, songs and conversations with us.

A fruitful sharing always encourages.