A few months ago, the National Library of Peru invited our brother Alfredo to publish one of his books in the "Reading, Library and Community" Collection.
On Thursday, 27th May, then, the launch of "The book among the sons of Atahualpa", a selection of international conferences that Alfredo has given in recent years, took place.
In many ways and for a long time, Madelaine Grau continues to volunteer for the Network.
Just a few days ago, from a friend's terrace, Made was surprised by the portentous greeting from Apu Qayaqpuma.
She has shared this photo of hers with us and, with it, the blessing of the sacred mountain.
Who has not enjoyed the delicious meals prepared by our beloved mothers: no matter how poor they are, they have an extraordinary flavor.
Today we remember that flavour because new books of ours have arrived: it is as if they tasted like hot food, like bread fresh from the printing press oven.
And so it is that these books have also been kneaded, dressed and cooked with the love and commitment of many volunteers, encouraged by the proposal and with the desire to share the knowledge of our beloved grandparents.
Soon we will be sharing our table!
Thus, our Network is a source of hope and inspiration, of encounter and vibration. It is the heart that collects all our heartbeats, all our blood, all the strength and tenacity in this collective, supportive and loving endeavor with books on earth.
On 29th April, our brother Alfredo was invited to participate in a discussion organized by the Family Compensation Fund of Antioquia (Comfama) of our sister country Colombia.
He offered deep reflections on the relationship between words and the earth; he explained how words transcend the human dimension, since all nature speaks. He stressed that the peasants are bearers of the immense wisdom contained in the full conversation with nature. He also mentioned the legacies of the Cajamarca Rural Libraries Network. Here are some sections of what Alfredo said:
- “Here, in our land, the stories and testimonies of the elders teach us that the word is not only subject to the human dimension or to the narrow definitions of dictionaries, but to all living nature: because everything speaks, everything say, everyone participates with their voice and their expression in community life. Dreams herald and animate, plants declare, clouds reflect, hills foretell, stones warn, coca pronounces whether bitter or sweet. The fin-fin bird announces death, the hummingbird proclaims life ... "
- "This land gave birth to a culture brimming with practices and wisdoms capable of conversing with nature to solve the challenges of human survival."
- “For centuries, the indigenous and peasant populations were vetoed from the very nation that they themselves had forged from the roots; all they got from the dominant side was disdain for their culture and mocking prices for their products. But this life-giving culture was also nurturing and taming adverse words, in the same way as it cultivated wheat and tamed bulls and everything that the usurpers of their destiny brought.”
- “Perhaps the greatest legacy is courage: advocating at every step the dignity of our peoples; the gift of celebrating and being thankful for being together; having redeemed the book from its invasive condition to turn it into an allied tool; having built our house in Minga; being and loving each other as a family, in this wonderful land that gives us the blessing of being her children.”
And to Jacinto Aguilar Neira, veteran librarian, coordinator of the Araqueda sector.
Our infinite thanks to them for their loyalty and commitment to the great family of the Network.
Many years ago Beatriz Blanco, a Spaniard from Miranda de Ebro, was here and joined our Network as a volunteer. But despite the years the bond does not stop: it grows!
Bea shares her readings with her two girls and with all the children at the school where she works, in Madrid.
Recently, she participated in a virtual conversation in which our brother Alfredo told how one time, when he went to visit the school in Pingo, in the province of Cajabamba, he found that in Professor Miguel's classroom the children had built a “cave” with the tables and they had gotten under it to read, with even more emotion, his tales of enchantments.
Bea told her children about it. And recently they also built their own "cave", to keep reading.
We welcome and congratulate two new families that now join our library community: the Julca Fernández family, from Sócota, and the Julón Pérez family, in San Luis de Lucma, Cutervo province.
We are grateful for the encouragement and enthusiasm of Abel Vásquez, librarian coordinator of the area, who accompanied the impulse of these two initiatives.
Now there are more Rural Libraries in Family (BR in FA) and we are very happy that the ayllu of the Network is growing.
Like threads of light, hugs, offerings, blessings, good wishes, petitions for life and a cease-fire, solidarity, and accompaniment reached Colombia.
In the unfortunate days that we have lived and continue to live, it is you - brother and sister librarians of the Network - who once again haven shown us that the Network of Rural Libraries extends throughout the world, the planet, from and to all hemispheres, to the constellations.
Infinite thanks for the presence and the voice, for the strength and the hope.
Nathalia, Colombian Volunteer
