Soul to the air

Dear Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, the great author and friend of yours, Eduardo Galeano, tells us in his book “Mouths of time:

"According to some ancient traditions, the tree of life grows upside down. The trunk and branches down, the roots up. The crown sinks into the earth, the roots look up to the sky. It does not offer its fruits, but its origin. It does not hide the most endearing, the most vulnerable, underground, but risks it out in the open. It gives its roots, raw, to the winds of the world.

-They are things of life- says the tree of life."

While reading these lines, I had to think about you. Now you are celebrating your 50th anniversary of Rural Libraries: awesome! And for all these decades you have done just that: you lived and offered your origin. You have spread your roots in the sky and have been exposed to winds and storms. Without uprooting. Your vulnerability is also your infinite strength that lives every day in the communities of the Andes and far beyond.

Your fruits are offered through your paths and in the form of your beautiful books, your words, your uniting steps.

You have been a role model, inspiration and guardian of life for these 50 years, and more before as well.

Thank you very much, dear friends, for living with such wisdom and generosity of sharing. And thank you also for your beautiful friendship.

We have known each other for 20 years and I am happy for the many more decades to come, in which you will follow your path, leave traces, stretch your roots and embrace the future.

You taught me and a lot of people so much about "the things of life."

Many congratulations and hugs to you! Have a huge party, everyone together: far or near, we are all going to be there in some way.

Forever,

Kyra Grewe, from Germany