Reading and coming together

Here at the headquarters of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, for weeks we have been reading as a family to enliven the afternoons, drink coffee, listen and travel. We started with a book by Luis Sepúlveda: ‘An old man who reads love stories’ and with him we went to the Amazon jungle and we were with the Shuar.

Then, by the hand of ‘My name is Gandhi’, we traveled to India with Mahatma or Big Soul; We went with him to London and South Africa, we were at Phoenix Farm and we joined his non-violent struggle; we join forces with his spinning wheel to demonstrate independence; We were in prison and died with him on January 30, 1948.

With Emilio Salgari we were ‘The exiles from Siberia’. We traveled with those who were accused of being nihilists and sentenced to be imprisoned in Siberia. We were among the Cossacks guarding the Tsar, experienced the taranta (rigid car with wheels), the Yenesei river and the Irtich, the chains of the prisoners and countless geographical references and Siberian landscapes, we felt the cold and ice, the fatigue, the danger, hope and love.

Later, through 'Warma Kuyay', by José María Arguedas, we returned to the Andean landscapes of Peru, the Chawala hill, the paca-pacas, the charango, the couplets of love and heartbreak, we saw the abusive power of the landowner Froylán and we understood the meaning and depth of the love of little Ernesto.

We travelled through lots of places through the stories of Eduardo Galeano in his book ‘Women’, texts that highlight the voice and action of comrades who, through their integrity and flight, have made history and process. In Nicaragua, in the Somoza dictatorship, with Luz Marina, the maromera, or Mónica Baltodano, the commander of the Sandinista struggles; in Bogotá with Patricia Ariza, a Colombian artist who "was on the list of those condemned for thinking red and living red"; We toured the Amazon river with the Conlapayaras; with Nanny, leader of the Maroon community in her fight against slavery in Jamaica, and with many other women and many other stories and contexts of panic, war, dictatorships and violence, winding paths of love and freedom.

With the terrible story of Julio Ramón Ribeyro, ‘The Gallinazos sin Plumas’, we lived the story of Pascual, the pig; Grandpa; Pedro the dog and Efraín and Enrique, and we realized, once again, the helplessness and suffering of many who peer around the corners of the rubbish and garbage dumps of today's cities.

For now, we are still on a trip through Germany, with the book 'Krabat and the devil's mill', by Otfried Preussler, among apprentices of black magic, friendship and suspense, we spend our days travelling to other places, to a thousand characters, to many stories and geographies, to many learnings!

Thank you to the Rural Libraries family, because the magic of being here is just being together.