With you

‘With you'

Will be synonymous with

‘With me’.

Alfredo Mires

In: La ensoñación del Ñaupa (The dreaming of Ñaupa)

Reading Encounter in Contumazá

Every year in November, our coordinator Ramiro Yglesias from Hoyada Verde, in Contumazá, holds a Reading Encounter in a community where he has libraries. Ramiro tells us about his last meeting:

‘The Coordination of Rural Libraries, Contumazá zone shares the work done in the Reading Encounter last November 12th of this year, which was very rich for having had the participation of librarians, teachers and children readers from different educational institutions, reaffirming the commitment to continue this task, to continue rescuing the uses and customs of our elders.

Sincerely

Ramiro Yglesias Díaz

Contumazá Sector Coordinator’.

Congratulations, brother Ramiro. And thank you very much for taking the initiative to continue organising these events. Let's move forward!

Consuelo with us

Since mid-November, Consuelo Solis Rivera, journalist and reading mediator, has been volunteering with the Rural Libraries Network. 

Consuelo is helping us to organise our reference library, but she has also supported us with a lot of dedication to the training in reading mediation during the last Assembly of the Network, in November. She goes out with us to the rural areas to visit rural libraries and to support the training of our librarians and coordinators. She takes on various daily tasks and simply enriches our team with her talents, her knowledge and her encouragement.

Thank you, Consuelo, for being with us and for sharing.

New roof

The house of the Rural Library Network was built in minga many years ago. And, like any house, we know that it will never be completely finished; we know that there will always be something new to do or something to repair.

Our dining room, for example, is a large space, full of light, with a view of the trees and all the dear plants we planted in the garden beside It's a special place, because that's where we sit down with our fellow librarians, coordinators and all the other volunteers of the Network to share our meals during our meetings. We also share the occasional delicious coffee, remembering those who are no longer here, welcoming those who are joining us, celebrating the life of some of us, making plans, thinking about new dreams... in short.

And, like every space in our house, this time, we were warned that the rainy season would cause it to suffer some inconveniences; it had several leaks, deteriorated wood and one or another tile moved by the kittens that always visit us.

So, with the help of our companions Sergio, Dilber, Sheguito and Javier, well accompanied by Karina, who always gave them the recommendations we hold in mind from Alfredo, we managed to change and improve the whole roof.

As a preventive measure for the dry season, we fixed the tanks where we collect the water from the rains, which we then use for cleaning the toilets or watering the gardens, as well as the tank that collects a little water, so that we don't run out in the kitchen.

Now, we are just waiting for the rains -although they are a long time coming-, or maybe they are waiting for our little roof to be ready to be used for the first time, hopefully.

These repairs have been made possible thanks to the support of our friends from the Italian association Help for Friends, Sarah's Rural Libraries Fund, who are always looking after the maintenance of the Network's premises, and the Belgian organisation Esperanza TM, who recently contributed to the repair of the roof of our book depository.

I am a librarian!

My name is Antony Llanos, and a few months ago I was invited to become a librarian at the Centro Cultural Quiritimayo. My arrival coincided with the formation of a Rural Library in the institution.

I had the good fortune to visit the central premises of the Rural Libraries Network in Cajamarca. It was a turning point in my work as a rural librarian: I entered with trepidation, but every space there tells you something. The bookshelf that can be seen at the entrance impressed me; when I asked, I was told that they are books published by the Network itself that go to the communities.

Continuing to walk through the Library premises made me feel in touch with an imaginary world: the small garden, the phrases written on the stones and the steps, turned my fear into curiosity.

In the Exchange Centre I was warmly welcomed, I was very excited to see the support they give us there. The box of books of different genres and themes that they gave me awakened in me a feeling of gratitude and responsibility towards the work I was undertaking.

At this moment, I understood that being a librarian of the Network not only implies the physical transfer of the books, but also represents a direct connection with the knowledge and culture that the books of the Rural Libraries house: we are carrying the culture of the rural communities of Cajamarca. Each book is an open door to knowledge and imagination, ready to be shared with the children of the Quiritimayo neighbourhood. 

This day we received a box of books and, to tell the truth, I have almost read them all. 

At the Quiritimayo Cultural Centre the books caused a lot of excitement. The children enjoy reading stories from the countryside. I think it brings back memories of their grandparents. Every day they choose a new book. I love to see them queuing up to sign the reader's registration form; the children write their name and sign it, which makes them feel very important.

Throughout these months I have come to understand that the books produced by Rural Libraries are not only physical objects, but powerful tools, another way of learning through the history of our people.

Antony Jahmpier Llanos Valdivia

Through their eyes

I saw the sadness of a hummingbird, it is difficult to imagine it, I know, and I have a feeling that this emotion will disappear soon, because a hummingbird always follows its flight, its mission in time, while it inhabits this earth.  

A year and a bit more will have passed since I was accepted as a volunteer in The Rural Libraries Network of Cajamarca, and I have seen in this time a lot of hard work and effort.

In mid-August I supported the sectoral meeting of librarians in Sócota - Cutervo, I felt very gratified to meet again with good friends, but I was also happy with the meeting - with the common feeling as librarians and volunteers, also to feel that the fabric of the Network is composed of a big family and, well, as often happens in families there are older brothers and black sheep and other smaller ones. There are also hard times, frustration and sadness. However, like the hummingbird, we always fly on.

I saw, from everyone's heart, the sense of belonging, of continuing to be and continuing to walk. Although at times it seems that we walk in solitude, that great family accompanies us and supports us.

Jorge Camacho

To continue reading, to continue being

The Escuela Campesina Alternativa de Pomabamba (The Alternative Campesino School of Pomabamba) ‘ECA’ is an educational project that had the pleasure of having the teacher Alfredo Mires Ortiz as an adviser, friend and companion for many years. If you come here you will see that, in every space, there is something that reminds us of him: respect for peasant culture, conservation of the environment, the house as a community space and the colours of life.

From the educational proposal that we share, the books produced by Rural Libraries is a tool for a transformative education; that is why it is the inspiration in each of our projects, being part of the sacred rite that guides us. A book from the ECA always occupies an important place not only to see it but also to read it and discover something to learn in each page.

Our gratitude to Alfredo for all he has given us and because his books continue to be a light to continue reading and to continue being.

María Isabel Gutiérrez Chávez

Us II

Not ours is the sound

of dismay

nor the calamity

of impunity.

Not ours is the society

of satiety

nor the eloquence

of decadence.

It is not ours the order

of nausea

the upside-down judge

the whorish deputy

nor the delinquent 

president.

Alfredo Mires

in: Romance of the mountain

Books, exchange and emotions

Books! It is a celebration to find a new book, it is an awakening of many emotions and of special gratitude; either because they were chosen with great care according to the needs of the readers, or even more, because most of them tell our history. In them we can find the wisdom of our grandparents, they narrate the respectful connection of man with nature, they unite us and make us feel proud of our roots, not to mention being our own productions, written in our own language.

Thus in each Assembly we celebrate the Festival of Exchange, a very special moment because, just as in the countryside where products are still exchanged, here books are exchanged - amid smiles, songs, recitals, readings, questions, recommendations and more. 

The books arrive and leave for the communities to continue to encourage us, to be companions and great advisors.

All'pata paguikun in Utcubamba

Today, 24th September, 2024, at 9:30 am in the classroom of 2 “A” of the secondary level of the I.E. “Petronila Abad Carrión”, in the hamlet of La Victoria, belonging to the province of Utcubamba, we carried out a little paguikun (offering) to the earth, recognizing and valuing our living family - like the water, mountains, earth and also our dear departed.

At the same time, we reflected on the damage we cause by the greed of human beings for possessing more material wealth and destroying ourselves, as in the case of forest fires. A student made me realize that, in our village, water and electricity services are constantly suspended due to drought and high temperatures.

We also rescued the voices of our villagers who say:

 “Times have changed; little by little the flow of the Utcubamba River is decreasing and becoming polluted”. 

Then, the students, excited, formed themselves in a circle: they had brought the elements for this ceremony. They said to me:

“Teacher, I brought my grandmother's yonque (cañazo, aguardiente)”, ‘I brought the sugar’, ‘I brought the roses from my garden’, ‘I brought the corn that my dad harvests in my farm’, ‘I brought the lentils that I like so much’, ‘I think we need to recognize the music’, among other comments.

It was beautiful to see how the students took the initiative. They spread out a crocheted and embroidered blanket and placed the saddlebags, bracelets and other things. Their curiosity and joy was phenomenal; it made me realize that they wanted to learn; one student said to me:

“Professor, who taught you?”

Quickly the face of our beloved teacher Alfredo Mires Ortiz and the beautiful memories we had in Cajamarca came to my mind. And, in a summarized way, I told my students a little about the Cajamarcan Libraries Network and how I learned this beautiful ritual.  

Then I explained to them when they can do this ceremony; for example, when they are about to start planting, during the harvest and even after the harvest as a thank you to our Pachamama for all that has been achieved. We also read the prayers to the three elements: earth, Apus and the deceased. Then I started, taking some coca leaves and making a little ball with the help of my hands, I gave three breaths and left them inside the clay pots. I took the sugar and finally, in the form of rain, I added the yonque.

At the end I mentioned the word “All'imiri, all'imiri, all'imiri”. I explained that it meant “It is good, it is good, it is good” and so we continued with all the participants.

Finally, we culminated with a reflection from a student, highlighting the value of what our elders teach us and how beautiful it is to value the knowledge they possess. Then, another student, in a special way, asked me not to bury our offering because she wanted to bury it in her farm and teach her parents what she had learned.

I take with me this beautiful experience with my students. We had a different class, very meaningful for everyone. A class of Andean cosmovision or cosmovivencia, as Alfredo would say.

I know that it is a challenge to get out of the routine of teaching, that many teachers cling to the traditional when teaching, that sometimes we are blindfolded and indifferent to the needs and changes required by the environment where we work.

That is why, together with two other teachers, we have also started to change an abandoned and dirty space, which was the library, and we have planted tamarind and coconut plants in our school.

I want to teach my colleagues, students and friends to learn and unlearn many things, to show them that there is a robotic classroom that limits us.

We are already taking our first steps in this journey.

Miguel Lopez

Verses that inspire

The students of the school “Sagrado Corazón” - Jaén, who participate in the weekly workshops of reading animation, applied a technique to create a new text: “tracing poetic structures”, and for this they used as a literary source the poem “Vengo” (I come from) by Alfredo Mires Ortiz, published in the book “Romance de la montaña”, (Romance of the mountain), page 44.

Our readers read the poem and then answered the question “And where do you imagine that you can come from?”, the answers were not long in coming: from a hidden stone, said one, from a green leaf, said another, from a volcano fire, said a third, and in this way they were socializing what their imagination dictated.

Then, they received the poetic structure that they were going to trace and the poetic results were interesting and praiseworthy.

Here, I share some of their productions: 

I COME FROM some rain drop.

FROM some sad cloud I come.

PERHAPS I AM a path without a road.

PERHAPS I AM a meaningless text.

I COME from some haunted forest.

FROM SOME part of space I come.

PERHAPS I AM a king without a crown.

PERHAPS I AM the light of my path.

Dalton Jhampiero Lozano Ruiz

First grade. 2024

I COME from a bird of hot fire.

FROM SOME purple moon I come.

PERHAPS I AM breakable grass.

PERHAPS I AM a blue meteorite.

I COME from some floating bubble in space.

I COME FROM SOME haunted house.

PERHAPS I AM an invisible wizard.

PERHAPS I AM a witch in love.

Dayira Sleiter Dávila Solano

First. 2024

Absences

VIII

Drunk with sunshine

the leaves fall

to give thanks

to the earth

that gave them body.

XXII

I went away, I arrived

but to another place.

XXXII

Absencemeter:

apparatus for measuring the distance

from heart to heart.

XLIV

One plus one is one:

you, me, us,

the world.

Alfredo Mires

in: How to go to bed undecided and wake up ready to take a risk

Elena

This is Elena, our kitten, our companion. We received her for adoption when she was two months old, to keep us and Micaela, our older cat, who, until then, was a loner.

Elena, who quickly adapted to our company, was playful and very mischievous; she loved to roam and doze on the office furniture, leaving us the souvenir of her fluff.

When we arrived at the Network's premises, Elena was waiting for us with a tender meow, she would lie down on the floor and show us her tummy, to stroke it, then she would follow us to the offices to keep us company.

Elena was a very affectionate kitty, she would jump up and down and be patting us, kneading us and relaxing us with her purr.

When new books arrived she was the first to check them out: she smelled them, looked over them and sat on them, as if to say these books were mine...

Elena got lost one morning in June, we don't know exactly what happened; she didn't climb the roof or leave by the door. We searched for her for days and weeks, hoping to find her. Several months have passed now since her disappearance..., we know nothing about her. We prefer to think that one day she will return. We look at the work table and imagine that she is there, asleep on the books.

We miss you, Elena...! We only have the consolation of thinking that you are happy and that you are giving happiness to the people who are now with you...

Present at ‘Bambamarca reads’.

Hello, I'm Luis Ángel Gálvez Carajulca, I'm 10 years old, I'm in the fourth grade. I study at the Institución Educativa Nº 82663 Bambamarca.

Reading is the most beautiful thing for me, especially when I read the stories told by our grandparents.

I am excited to share with you today about my participation in the event ‘Bambamarca reads’, on the 28th of August, organised by the CEBA ‘Alcides Vásquez’, in Bambamarca.

There I read the story: ‘El zorro y el Huaychao’. I started reading a bit nervously, but little by little I gained the attention of the young people present. I heard them giggling and talking quietly because of the particular language in which this story is written, such as ‘oye sobrinito, cose pue mi hocico, pa’ silvar pue a las chinas’ - “fiu, fiu”, among other words that some of us still speak, pue, here in the countryside.

I was so happy that when I finished reading I realised that I had got everyone's attention. Now I am a happy and even better reader of the dear books of the Rural Library of my Educational Institution.

Don Custodio

Joining the Rural Libraries Network means being part of a family. It means going beyond projects to promote books and reading; it means learning from each other, moving forward together, even if we are far apart, sharing joy and sadness, revitalising our Andean culture of fraternity and companionship.

For this reason, we celebrate the return of each member of this family and, for this reason, today, we are grateful for the fraternity of our compañero Custodio Cabrera who, for many years, in the company of his wife, coordinated the libraries in the San Pablo area. Today, with his wisdom and good cheer, he continues to accompany us in our meetings.

Compañero Custodio, you are always welcome in this family, your presence encourages and comforts us.

Visiting is living together

These rain-free months are filled with field trips for Network members.

When we visit our coordinators and the children of the Community Program in their communities and their homes in the countryside, people think that we are going to help these children and their families. In other words, according to the logic of the support programs, they are the “beneficiaries”.

I think it is the other way around. I think and feel that we are the ones who receive the most. We receive the hugs and smiles of the children, the gratitude and affection of the parents, the tasty and healthy lunches, the joy of learning to harvest peas or feed a cow. And we learn from the Andean cosmovision -or cosmovivencia-, in a holistic way, the respect for the water and the land.

Our gratitude will always be immense. And our reciprocity will always remain small.

Thanks to everyone and everything. From the bottom of my heart.

Rita Mocker

Let it rain... please, let it rain....

We are all suffering, people, animals and plants; our fields are parched, the rivers have decreased their flow significantly. And although in Rural Libraries we always take care of the water, reusing it as much as possible and even harvesting rainwater for our plants and animals, it is also running out. It has been normal in Cajamarca for the rains to begin on September 8th, but this year we reached the end of the month and the drought still continued.

May these difficult times help us to reflect, to take measures to know how to use water responsibly and that our treatment of nature be one of gratitude. And when the rains come, let us greet them with respect, let them feel welcome, for it is on them that there will be bread on our tables, that life will continue.

Masintranca and the rain

At the end of September we had a zonal meeting of librarians and coordinators in Masintranca, Chota.

The intention of the Network is to animate and reactivate our libraries from our own books and community reading, to live in small what we want to achieve in big and to turn our small libraries into living spaces of formation and encounter.

As usual, we began our meeting with an offering to the earth, and while we were in this ceremony we began to hear the soft sound of rain on the roof of the house. How wonderful! What a blessing after months of drought, lack of water and burnt jalcas!

We went outside to greet the rain - joyful and happy.

And the meeting was light: we enjoyed the librarians' reports and presentations, we did our reading circle remembering our commitments to the Network and we participated in the dynamics where we affirmed that books and reading have always been and always will be an important part of our lives.

Today I saw the most beautiful sunset in the world, in one of the most beautiful towns I know in Cajamarca.

...

“To deserve”.

“Thank you.”

With them, villagers, one can sit and watch and be thankful for this sunset.

Mara

Reading Marathon in Chancay

In September, the Educational Institution of Chancay, in San Marcos was celebrating its anniversary. As part of the activities for this celebration, the Rural Library that we have in this institution, had organized a Reading Marathon.

We share with you some comments from the students of this educational institution referring to this activity:

“I had a great time during the reading marathon; I read quietly and concentrated; I found it very interesting and eye-catching.”

“It was a wonderful Friday where all the students of the IE “Víctor Andrés Belaúnde” read the works of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, which are very beautiful. I invite you to read the book El campesino y la tierra which has many ancient stories.”

“I have read the book Cosmoviviencia de la Rede, which has helped me to know a lot about my country and its customs.”

“At the end, we all made index cards of the reading that touched us, commenting on how we understood these texts.”

“From my point of view we should value this activity very much because we fill ourselves with knowledge, with amazing things. When we read, we travel to another world, very spectacular and beautiful.”

“Reading Day is a wonderful day that we should have respect for. And we should not only read on this day, but always, because it helps a lot to form us as people and as a society.”

“We all have the right to read. Books help us to be better people.”

“Books help me reflect on my problems."

The jalca

In the jalca it's cold

and there is more distance

between house and house

and its warmth.

In the jalca the hair is restless in the wind

and we hide among the sparse bushes,

because urinating costs more.

And then in the icy air

we eat standing up,

feeling the grace of the food.

Javier Naranjo

El Carmen del Viboral, Colombia

Balm for the soul

These past few months I have been going out a lot to visit the children with disabilities in the Community Program. Before arriving at a house I always feel some concern. Are these children well? Have they improved a little? Have they been able to have breakfast this morning? These are some of the questions that cross my mind.

Most of the children we accompany live in situations of extreme poverty and in these months the lack of water, which is felt throughout the countryside of Cajamarca, worsens their uneasiness. I see the fires destroying the few remaining forests and I see the women carrying their cans and buckets of water from early in the morning and from far away. I see the farms producing less and less and I see the mining companies “eating” more and more fertile land in the jalca....

The concern is not vain, it is omnipresent.

However, when I arrive at the home of the families we visit and this child with projectable capacities runs to greet us with an immense and eternal hug, I feel that we are doing some good. I feel that our joint efforts serve to alleviate sorrows, to help these children walk - in the broad sense of the word - on the path that the universe has traced for each one of them. And, suddenly, I am the one who feels relief, hope, a light in these journeys. Because these children, these families and this community are balm for the soul. I cannot live without them.

Rita Mocker

Manuela and the elves

Manuela Vásquez Gonzales is in charge of a Rural Library in Educational Institution (BRIE) at school Nº 82663, in Bambamarca. Manuela is a second grade teacher and she is putting emphasis on bringing books and reading closer to her little eight year old students.

At the moment they are reading the collection of twenty story booklets Biblioteca Campesina ...y otros cuentos, published by The Network. The children take a booklet home for a week, read it and then share it in the classroom. They then exchange the booklets with other classmates. This week, in class, they shared their comments about elves in our stories and what they themselves know about elves.

Manuela writes to us:

To share day by day with the children is to be filled with joy, satisfaction and richness for the wisdom transmitted by their parents and grandparents, a legacy that we can't stop rescuing to keep our culture alive, as we have learned from our friend Alfredo Mires.

Thank you, Manuela, for your kind words and for sharing these experiences with us.

The sweet pages of coffee

Coffee is, nowadays, one of the most popular beverages in the world. Its aroma, flavour and the intoxicating energy it provides have made it a daily companion. The whole world wants coffee; in the mornings millions of people drink it to start their day, and yet few people imagine where the brown bean comes from and how much it had to go through to reach their table. A little known side of the coffee trade (and of almost every agricultural product) is the imbalance in the value chain, where the farmer is the one who earns the least, generating what we call unfair trade or exploitation.

Today I am going to tell you a different, perhaps happy, story about coffee and a magical town called San Juan de Cutervo in Cajamarca, Peru. 

Commissioned by Sarah's Rural Library Fund, and in collaboration with the Rural Libraries Network, I visited this small, beautiful and remote village. With the rural librarians of the area I was able to learn about their coffee production system and the dynamics of the village around their main source of income.

Don Anibal told me that, at 77 years of age, he lives alone and manages his coffee farm and the books of the Rural Libraries Network. Growing coffee has not made him rich, but he can live peacefully and also have time to share the knowledge of the books. Aníbal says that it is common for students from the San Juan School to visit him to ask for help with their homework and books.

Jorge Carrasco, a teacher at the local school, is also a coffee producer and librarian. He comments that the ecosystem of the zone has welcomed the coffee, which is of good quality, with exalted aromas and flavours.

According to barista experts, it is a very good coffee that is also qualified as organic, since the use of chemical substances in the process is almost nonexistent. Specifically, the origin of this precious bean can be considered happy in San Juan de Cutervo.

And so, between books and coffee, these librarians and farmers share the wisdom that the ancient Cajamarcans told, sitting around the campfire.

Jorge Camacho

The owner of the world

A man climbed to the top of a mountain and thought:

- Being up here, I feel I'm the owner of the world.

And the mountain said to the wind:

- Brother, I feel something strange on my back... could you see what I have?

Alfredo Mires

In: The elf of the labyrinth

Venturing down new paths

At the beginning of August we met with the coordinators of the Community Programme and their children for a very special meeting: we wanted to know what these young people who are the second or third generation of ‘librarians’ and ‘companions of the children of the Community Programme’ remember, learn, think, feel and dream about our organisation and our trajectory.

It was a very emotional reunion where we lived with joy in community. We meditated, with all our senses, on how being a member of this network has influenced our lives. We remembered the books of the network and formed a big mandala with them. We wrote down what has impacted us most in all these years of living together and, at the end, we also wrote down the dreams and contributions we want to offer to the Network. 

Here we share some dreams with you:

‘I would be very happy if I were given the opportunity to draw and paint for the Community Programme.’

‘I dream that my children will at some point participate in the Community Programme and the Rural Libraries Network.’

‘I want to re-read some of the books from the Network and read the new books that have been published in the last few years.’

‘I would like to contribute volunteer hours for what is needed in the Network.’

‘I want to open a library in my home, in the schools where I have children from the Community Programme and in the Health Centre where I work.’

‘I want to continue to volunteer my time, my experiences and my knowledge to the Network.’

‘My dream with and for Libraries is that it is allowed to transform, transmute and transcend. That we never lose our essence or direction, but that we are willing to venture down new paths.’

Readers' Day!

A few days ago, Readers' Day was celebrated in our country. Regardless of the reason and merit, this date is intended to promote reading as an essential and urgent activity for cultural and personal development. And, certainly, some institutions organise various activities to make this date visible.

It seems strange to us to set aside just one day to celebrate the tenacity of those who dare to be different, to delve into many worlds at once, to dig into the pages of a book to discover something interesting or simply to be entertained. It's good, but at the Rural Libraries Network we see reading as a permanent exercise, which goes beyond any format.

We read books, yes, and we also read the weather, the gestures and wrinkles on the faces of the elderly, the hands and feet of the peasant who tills the soil to give us the fruits of each day. Alfredo Mires said that the oldest book is the earth; it is certainly there that we do our first reading, long before we begin to read with letters and symbols.

Moreover, if it is a question of promoting reading in books, we cannot do it just for one day, because the readers of our Network read all the time. And they don't do it for the photo - even if we like to take a few snapshots of them from time to time. They don't do it for a competition, even though we love to encourage our best readers by gifting them more books. Our readers and our librarians who encourage reading do so spontaneously, with real appreciation for books and for those who write them.

We salute, then, those who always read: without pressure, without the need for call outs, competitions or photographs.

I am still trying to understand...

Experiencing first hand, or in person, what is the Rural Libraries, was like lovingly receiving a reading guide from the hands of the villagers.

First from those who meet once or twice a year in their Assembly, and then in the beautiful village of Masintranca, thanks to don Sergio, doña Dona and her daughter Nerly. With their patient and generous company I went through this ‘guide’; not on paper or in classrooms, but through everyday conversations, in meals around the ‘richest’ tables I have ever seen, or in gestures and silences charged with enormous meaning.

The illustrations of this kind of first sketch were the colours of the city, of the sky, of the crops, the tones of voices, the chanting of languages combined around something big that I try to understand with the body, more than with ideas; stories of migrations, of losses and achievements, of hopes and of enormous tasks to be done, to be rethought.

That ‘something big’ that I am still trying to understand is like its guardian hills, its apus, firm and strong in their history, but still in movement, in permanent growth; something that stirs my own roots - as it should be, I think -: the relevance (and belonging) of words, the awareness of the infinite in each one of us, the solitudes and struggles that unite us.

It is curious to call ‘volunteering’ (which we generally associate with ‘giving’ in a top-down way, with a certain paternalistic generosity) an activity that is by no means individual or one-way. My particular encounter with the community members (librarians, coordinators, teachers, students and other volunteers), enlarged and enriched my own notebook of questions, that imaginary notebook that one carries and fills in one's head throughout life, not only to understand others, but also to understand and know oneself. Why is it important that each one is recognised for his or her effort to be in the world? Why are words such a precious gift and at the same time so complex and scarce at certain times? What was that word that, without realising it, changed the course of the relationship with someone we care about? What is it about me that, without even sensing it, I went looking for in other lands? What did I find that was not already within me? Why did I need to meet someone, listen to someone, tell someone, perhaps someone whom, possibly, I will never see again?

All this and more (in addition to the Qayaqpuma earth in my shoes, found with emotion when unpacking, as if I had unwittingly stolen something priceless), all this was given to me in Masintranca and in Cajamarca, with actions and words, and even with expressions on faces that have names and stories. Like mine. Like everyone's.

Orlanda Agudelo Mejía

from El Carmen del Viboral, Colombia

The beautiful table

I want to talk about a beautiful table

where everything occupied

the place of abundance,

abundance of heart

and of fruits and leaves

and roots of the earth.

A table where everything was a human

offering.

We made offerings to the little gods

who were the hands of Doña Dona,

the laughter of Nerly and Salomé

and the generous conversation of Don Sergio.

We made offerings

to the gods of all of us

who appear 

when we give thanks.

Javier Naranjo

El Carmen del Viboral, Colombia

Fixing up the house

When we were fixing up our central premises, built in minga, we would look at the needs that arose and see how to improve them to make us feel more comfortable. Alfredo proposed, drew, took measurements. The rest of us gave our opinions. The master builders would say whether or not it was possible and suggest improvements to optimise space, save on materials, among other details.

After a while, we realised that, despite all our efforts, some spaces had to be improved or corrected, for example: reducing the height of the steps on some stairs, making it easier to get to the dining room if someone needs to use a wheelchair... Until we felt it in ourselves, we didn't see the need. If we already have an elderly parent who needs to be transported in a wheelchair, if our siblings had an accident and is forced to use canes, if we have some difficulty with our knees, then things change. Putting ourselves in the other person's shoes is always important to us.

We acknowledge the support of our volunteer colleague Nathalie Estrada, for the redesign of these spaces and for the coordination she made with the master builder.

Many thanks, also, to our colleagues from the central team for being attentive to the needs of our premises.

Strengthening walks

On 28th July, a day of great significance for Peruvians, young Ben Heery, son of Dan Heery, set off on an 86 kilometre walk. In just four days he will walk through the Massif Central in France, determined to raise funds for the Rural Libraries Network.

Ben is staying the course despite his young age and the difficulties. He set off accompanied by his friend Alasdair, he will have to camp, prepare or forage for food along the way and will surely continue to face new challenges. 

Our appreciation, dear Ben, for all your effort and commitment to the Network's proposal. Our best wishes on this journey: your gesture moves us and motivates us to continue on this path, revaluing culture and promoting reading.

Coffee and dirty water

I lived in Zaña, on the northern coast of Peru, between the ages of seven and eighteen. At that time there was no house without a corral and no corral without a pig.

Conceited, the pig was the sanctum sanctorum of the zañera cuisine. One could die of fright if a piece of pig skin did not appear in the middle of one's beaten beans.

I will not detail the pig's own diet, because the hygienists would be scandalised, but a fundamental expression of its diet was what was called ‘dirty water’: husks, leftovers of food or soft drinks, bran and leftovers, water from rinsing and crumbs, unfinished chewings and gualdrapos constituted the syrup with which the pig gave free rein to its most expensive appetites.

I had to remember this when I was in Ethiopia. Coffee, which I love with great enthusiasm, originated in Keffa.

Coffee has revolutionised tables, palates and conversations in the most unlikely corners or countries of the world.

After drinking coffee in Ethiopia, I realised that the coffee I had drunk in other places, especially canned coffee, had not been coffee: it had just been dirty water.

Alfredo Mires Ortiz

In: Librarianship and the bad thief

Ethiopia, May 2001

I think it is necessary to mention that Alfredo recovered his faith and charm for Peruvian coffee since he met the coffee producers of San Juan de Cutervo, in Cajamarca. And I would especially like to thank Don Aníbal Segura and Professor Jorge Carrasco, librarians and coffee growers in the community of San Juan, who enriched Alfredo's life until the end by giving him coffee from their farms. We still receive this precious gift and every time we roast coffee in the house, not only the faces of Aníbal and Jorge appear, but also Alfredo's smile.

Thank you friends and brothers.

Rita Mocker

Absences IV

When I am

in the mountains

the sea exists

and it is with me.

Alfredo Mires

In: Como acostarse indeciso y despertar a arriesgarse

(How to go to bed undecided and wake up to take a risk)