New books

On the evening of Thursday, 23rd October, the Cajamarca Rural Library Network enthusiastically presented ten new publications: El libro del tío Lino (Uncle Lino's Book) and the first nine volumes of our Biblioteca Campesina (Peasant Library) series, in their second, third and fourth editions.

Mr Ramiro Yglesias, a community member from Contumazá, was in charge of presenting El libro del tío Lino. He told us about the origin of these traditional and popular stories from his region. Ramiro also mentioned the students of the school in Cosiete, Uncle Lino's birthplace, and the students of the Cristo Rey School in Cajamarca, whose drawings embellish our edition of El libro del tío Lino.

The new first volumes of the Biblioteca Campesina series were presented by Professor Sara Moreno, representative of our BRIE (Rural Library in Educational Institutions) at the Víctor Andrés Belaunde Public Higher Education School in the city of Jaén, and by our comrades Javier Huamán, Manuela Vásquez, Rosa Rumay, and Sergio Díaz, from different libraries and provinces.

Having these new publications in our hands is a great joy for us. Teacher Alfredo Mires said that a new book is ‘like the birth of a new child.’ 

But the reissues are also a source of happiness for us, because for years many of the books in the Biblioteca Campesina series have not been available in our rural libraries because they have been out of print. Soon, all these new books will be distributed to our libraries in the countryside, and we are sure that the communities will receive them with great affection.

Thank you to everyone who joined us tonight.

Sergio Días Estela, from the community of Masintranca, Chota

Coordinator of the Cajamarca Rural Library Network

The Network in Colombia

The Rural Libraries Network was invited to participate with a presentation at the Cundinamarca Public Libraries Meeting in Colombia, an annual event organised by the Departmental Institute of Culture and Tourism (IDECUT) which brought together hundreds of librarians and cultural agents in the city of Girardot from 14 to 17 October. 

The meeting was held under the slogan "Roots that read, communities that grow, public libraries that enrich rural life" and focused its programme on the role of public and community libraries as spaces for community development, culture and social cohesion.

We were able to share our 54 years of experience with libraries in rural communities in Cajamarca, Peru, and the important role that volunteering plays in our organisation. Our publications were received with great interest and inspired efforts to preserve traditions and knowledge in the public libraries of Cundinamarca.

We are grateful for this opportunity to share our experience and thus forge new human and community ties.

 

A Radio Broadcaster in Rural Libraries

Towards the end of August, we received a visit from Cuban broadcaster and radio presenter José Ignacio López Vigil. Together with his sister, María, and his wife, Tachi Arriola, he is the creator of several radio series that take a critical look at Latin American history, society and culture, accompanying and reinforcing many of the principles of our Network.

His radio dramas, such as Un paisano me contó, 500 años and Noticias de última ira (the latter two based on texts by our Uruguayan friend Eduardo Galeano), reflect the unjust reality of our context and invite us to reflect on the injustices that have been dormant until today due to colonialist logic and imposition.

José Ignacio and his people are also great admirers of our work in rescuing and raising awareness of Andean traditions. His suitcase returned to its place filled with several of our books. During the lunch we shared with him, the always interesting conversation was peppered with lessons, teachings, anecdotes and colourful knowledge exchanged in the warmth of friendship.

We cannot close this note without warmly recommending his website (www.radialistas.net), where all his work can be found free of charge. Thank you, maestro and brother José Ignacio, we look forward to seeing you soon to continue our conversation.

Rumi Mires

You are invited...

 

Invitation

The Rural Libraries Network of Cajamarca

invites you to the presentation of:

'The book of uncle Lino'

and the new launch of nine first editions

of the Peasant Encyclopedia.

Thursday 23rd October, 7pm.

Central base of the Network of Rural Libraries 

of Cajamarca, Av. Peru No. 416.

Exact time: we are grateful for your punctual arrival.

Being upright

“There is a very beautiful word called consistency. One is consistent when one says what one thinks and does what one says. An upright person is correct in everything, with everyone and in front of everyone.

Let's say, for example, that someone comes to destroy our land. Wouldn't an upright person defend the rights of nature?

Because it could be that someone acts uprightly by defending with words, but when it comes time to exploit the farmer or attack the land, they just stay quiet. That's no longer being upright. That's being inconsistent.

One takes a stand now and later and in any circumstance. That is being consistent.

An upright person has a position. That is what our grandparents in the countryside have taught us.

But how do you learn that? Is there a course in school called 'Being Upright'? No. Do they teach you to be upright at university? No. So how and where do you learn to be upright? How do you learn to be upright in a broken reality where the authorities steal, the corrupt are influential, the educated are ignorant, the lazy make demands, those who destroy progress, those who commit crimes boast, those who are slow-witted are respected, and those who lie govern?

There is no baptism of uprightedness, no graduation or diploma in uprightedness. There is no confirmation ceremony at the age of fourteen to proclaim that a person is upright. That test of being upright is taken by life at every moment.

A person who can be considered upright, even if they are eighty years old, may run the risk of straying: "The old man strayed," one might say. He strayed: he went off the path...

Being upright is not a title: it is a virtue and a temperance that is acquired through incessant practice and inexhaustible consistency.

Alfredo Mires

in: The Right to Essence

Climbing the hill!

The Rural Libraries Network depends, to a large extent, on the supportive backing of a friends' association in England: Sarah's Rural Library Fund. These lovely people do everything they can to raise funds and thus underpin our activities and tasks.

Here is an example that touches us deeply:

The intrepid collaborators of Sarah's Rural Library Fund are back in action this weekend. Paul Mansell, an old friend of Sarah's, will be running in the Great North Run to raise money for Rural Libraries on Sunday 7 September. It is the world's largest half marathon and Paul will be running with 60,000 other runners through the iconic city of Newcastle in north-east England.

Our thanks go to Paul and to the family of Sarah Heery, an English friend who passed away many years ago but who continues to help us from where she is.

Thank you. Now and forever.

Seeking paths

It has been almost three years since Alfredo Mires, co-founder and Executive Advisor of the Network, passed away. During this time, I believe we have learned to keep moving forward, sometimes with firm steps, other times with more concerns and uncertainty. 

When I think of Alfredo, I feel he would say to me: I know you are following my compass, but it is time for you to learn to find your own path and face new challenges in your own way.

Alfredo was an extraordinary teacher, our guide, our faithful companion. We are not looking for a replacement, but rather a way to continue his legacy with consistency and dignity. 

To that end, at the end of September we organised a workshop to reflect on our history and search for new paths, with an old friend of Alfredo's: Grimaldo Rengifo, from PRATEC (Andean Project for Peasant Technologies). Alfredo and Grimaldo met in the 1970s and have shared a long history. If I had to point out a historic and lasting alliance of our association, it would be the one we have with PRATEC.

And once again, Grimaldo, with his closeness to the Network and his great wisdom, helped us in this workshop to find paths: small trails perhaps, still hidden in the darkness, but with a ray of light that we can see at the end. 

Thank you, Grimaldo, for helping us to keep going.

Rita Mocker

Javier presents

This Wednesday, 1st October, the General Coordinator of the Rural Library Network, Javier Huamán Lara, librarian and member of the El Tambo community in Bambamarca, represented the Rural Libraries Network of Cajamarca at the seminar Roots that Read: Rural Libraries as Spaces of Memory and Interculturality, organised by students from the National University of San Marcos, Lima.

Four female speakers from different institutions and associations, all linked to communities and libraries, also participated in this seminar.

At Bibliotecas, we decided that Javier was definitely the right person to represent us, not so much because of the position he currently holds within the Network, but because of his long career in rural libraries, his direct relationship with rural communities and his long involvement in our Peasant Encyclopedia Project. Javier joined this team in 1984 and played a significant role in the preservation of Cajamarca's traditional culture and knowledge, guided by the master Alfredo Mires Ortiz.

Javier's participation in the seminar demonstrated that he is well versed in this context.

Congratulations, Javier, on this discussion.

Thank you for representing us and the community members who make up the Network. We are proud of you.

Miguel's Books

On Friday, 29th August, our headquarters was the setting for the presentation of the books Rondo and Catequil by Fr. Miguel Garnett Jhonson, a dear friend of our Network.

For us, this re-launch is a cause for immense joy. And although Miguel says that nothing has changed inside, we know very well that a book read for the second or third time is not the same as when it was read for the first time, because the reader will always find something new and different, even if the reader is the author himself.

It was a simple and very emotional ceremony, and the image of our beloved brother Alfredo Mires was if course present, because when we talk about reading, that name resonates like an echo of every word, every page read.

Good luck, Father Miguel, with your new publications.

The map

The compass found his friend, the map, distressed.

"Help me, I have no countries to fill my space!" said the map. 

"I'm sorry," replied the compass. "This void cannot be filled. All the countries have already been sold."

Alfredo Mires

in: The Goblin of the Labyrinth

The magic of reading together

Hello, everyone! 

I want to tell you that, as part of the activities planned for the anniversary of our school, Generalísimo Don José de San Martín, in San Martín de Porres, province and district of Jaén, we celebrated our 5th Reading Festival, an event where the joy of sharing dreams, smiles, and imagination took centre stage.

With our teacher Gabriela, my classmates and I worked diligently, preparing every detail. We transformed the reading club into a magical space, full of colour and life, with decorations we made ourselves.

When the big day arrived, the courtyard was filled with enthusiastic voices that brought the stories of our beloved Cajamarcan culture to life. We are particularly pleased to highlight the participation of the Jorge Bassadre Educational Institution from C.P. Valillo, which joined this event for the first time and whose presence brightened our day, allowing us to share reading and strengthen bonds of friendship. 

Today we confirm that reading not only opens doors to knowledge, but also strengthens friendship and the spirit of our community.

The customs of love

"Because kneading bread and writing a story are very similar things. 

Because sharing bread with everyone and reading a story aloud are the oldest customs of love." 

Liliana Bodoc

Restorative reading

As a reading mediator, every learning experience enriches my work and my connection with books and their readers. On Thursday, 10th July, I had the opportunity to participate in the virtual discussion "Restorative Reading," facilitated by renowned librarian Lina Pulgarín Mejía, a meeting geared towards librarians from the Network of Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions (BRIE).

It was a deeply valuable space, where Lina shared her reflections on the power of reading to live, heal, think, and converse. Her words resonated with me, especially when she recounted her experience as a reading mediator in hospitals, accompanying patients in critical condition through stories. Her work is a reminder of how books can be comfort, companionship, and a bridge to difficult emotions.

The most moving moment came when she read us the story "The Duck and Death" by Wolf Erlbruch, a tender and profound narrative that addresses death from a serene and humane perspective. This reading reinforced my conviction that stories help us understand the incomprehensible and navigate complex emotions.

I am grateful to the Cajamarca Rural Library Network for organising these spaces for training and dialogue, which nourish our work as reading mediators in rural and community libraries. I will continue to bring these lessons to my work, convinced that books not only inform, but also repair, accompany and transform.

Haydee Limascca Mejía, BA

Good news from Namora!

On Friday, 10th July, we met with the teachers at I.E. Segundo Briones to share some great news:

We are now part of the Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions Network - BRIE Cajamarca!

Thanks to this initiative, the school has received a valuable collection of books that will be used by teachers in classroom libraries, strengthening reading skills among our children.

As a professional, I am filled with joy and commitment to be part of this beautiful project that strengthens reading and the bond with our rural communities.

Haydee Limascca

Librarian and reading mediator in Namora.

All' pata paguikun

I have always believed that gratitude is a good way to go through life. Life presents itself to us in different ways: vast, unsettling, sailing through the dawn, crossing the darkness, with joys, with sorrows, with flashes, with shadows. And we must be grateful for this time, our time on earth.

That is why we are grateful for this book, for this offering; its pages reveal its importance, the importance of giving thanks to the Earth, to our Apus and to our Ancestors, because they are part of our fabric, of our spirit.

Of the few certainties we have on our journey, one of them is the earth that breathes and nurtures. Sometimes when you get lost or forget, the only thing that welcomes you is the earth, the only comfort is that Apu who knows your journey and knows it because of the favours you give him, because he carries your breath; so too, when the questions are deep, we talk or ask our ancestors, who are always there, even if we sometimes don't feel it or forget it. 

This offering sums up everything that is important in life. We are grateful that this great Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca has been able to share this book with us, to remind us of this joy, which is "giving thanks and offering".

Mauricio Pérez

You fly

hawk

and I

contemplate

your wings

nostalgaing

the sadness

of my feet

on the earth.

Alfredo Mires Ortiz

en: How to go to bed undecided and wake up to take the risk.

Don Pascualito, how much we will miss him!

Pascual Sanchez Montoya from the community of Chuco in San Marcos, was born on 24th March, 1947 and passed away on 19th July, 2025. 

The great, the humble, the wise, the loving and in love with rural libraries is no longer there in his little house in Chuco, with his wife Doña Juana, his children and grandchildren. His body is gone, but his soul, bright as the sun, will always be in the heart of this librarian family that learned so much from him. Infinite thanks to Pascualito for always being and remaining with us. 

We want to acknowledge his life and teachings, through the following words said by him back in 2017: 

The objectives of libraries "have been ambitious, very healthy, for all the peasants that did not have the opportunity to have books at home, was this great opportunity, (...) because I said just as I have this insatiable desire to read, that everyone had; I wish society would change, I wish there was more awareness, I wish there was more love for our land, more love for our plants, for our little animals, because with that one can feel happy; loving, helping, serving and sharing. It is the greatest happiness that a human being can feel, the greatest satisfaction, because that is what we were born for, to serve and not to be served..."

Don Pascual as a legendary librarian of the Network was very clear about his presence in this world, he told us: 

"Of course we need the service of others, that is welcome, but more than being served (one) must be a servant, there is the challenge, and there is the greatness of a country, when there are people who think so, better to serve than to be served, better to help than to be helped, better to give than to receive; that is the challenge."

In addition, Pascualito emphasized that: "we must be all love for our neighbour; and by neighbour I do not mean only human beings, my neighbour is also my dear dog, my neighbour is also my dear horse, my neighbour is also my dear sheep, they are all my neighbours. Because everyone needs to live, just as I need to live, they also need to live" (Pascual Sánchez, 2017, interview)

Hasta siempre, Pascualito.

Our books for Latin America

More than a month ago I was invited to a conversation at the Pilot Public Library in Medellin, Colombia, to talk about the Rural Libraries Network, our legacy, our work, our challenges and our dreams. 

The library is actually called the Medellin Pilot Public Library for Latin America and was founded in 1952 by UNESCO. It was Alfredo Mires, our co-founder, who initiated a close relationship from the Network with several libraries in Colombia, among them the “Pilot”. Alfredo always told us how amazed he had been with this experience. And when Alfredo passed away in 2022, the Pilot Public Library paid him a heartfelt tribute. 

As I entered this beautiful library in June of this year, the friend who greeted me took me directly to a very special shelf: there were our books, Alfredo's and the Network's other children. And there I was, with tears in my eyes, because of so much affection and so much admiration that the beautiful people of this giant of librarianship have for us.

Thank you, friends, for this reception and recognition. 

Rita Mocker

Yearnings

Blessed are those of us who have enjoyed the wise words of our grandparents, those words that come at the right time, to encourage, cheer, learn and continue walking; life goes on, they told us; and in the pain, those voices resound seeking to calm us down. 

Today we mourn the departure of our companion and guide Pascual Sanchez Montoya from the community of Chuco in the province of San Marcos. Surely he is already reunited with our comrades Alfredo, Juan, Luis, Sarah, Oscar, Fidencio, Antonio, Andres, David and other librarians who have gone ahead of us.

And picking up that beautiful word of don Pascual - yearning; this family yearns after such honourable characters; who have left us a legacy of humility, dedication, patience, solidarity, companionship, courage, love, respect for our brothers, for mother earth, for our culture and for our elders.

We will continue to listen to your words, Don Pascualito, we will continue to read them, we will always keep you in mind.

Our comrades, may these yearnings be a reason to honour his memory.

In front of the mirror

Micaela is our kitty, the great guardian of the house, a member of the Network; she enjoys drinking water in the rainwater harvesting pond. Each time, she takes some time to look at her reflection in the water mirror and with her little hands she caresses it with delicacy.

Micaela with her attention, as well as many other little animals, teach us to value the goodness of nature, to enjoy it, but above all to be grateful and to treat it with affection.

It is a call to humanity and especially to the librarian family to stop our careers and look at ourselves in the mirror, in the mirror of nature: to know what we are involved in, what we are doing with so many gifts that Mother Earth gives us and if we are contributing to take care of her and protect her.

May it also motivate us to look in the mirrors of our libraries, may we continue to read nature and may our books be the mirrors that invite us to reflection and responsible action. 

Books and reading under the trees

This June 22nd we went to the community of Sapayut, Sócota, Cutervo to celebrate a zonal meeting of our libraries in the communities. 

Although the community had offered us the community house for this meeting, our brother Abel Vásquez, who organized the event, had arranged for us to meet in a small field. The place was spectacular: an open field with green grass under some trees near a little house in the countryside that also offered us fresh water and a bathroom. It could not have been better.

Almost thirty people had gathered, some from nearby communities, others from farther away. Our librarians and coordinators arrived, but also some of our BRIE (Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions) leaders, local authorities and readers.

We began our day with an offering to the earth; then there were different participations on the history and organization of Rural Libraries and then a discussion on the question: "I read: what, why, when, with whom, for what and where?"

Later we presented the books of the Network in the form of a mandala and ended with a reading circle.

Lunch was waiting for us, prepared with local ingredients. And then we made a small book exchange so that the librarians could take some new books to their communities.

We left happy, with nourished minds and happy hearts.

See you next time, family!

Territorios Narrados: the shared heartbeat of a living word

Between mountains that speak and rivers that remember,

the word travelled wrapped in memory and hope.

It was not only a book that crossed the border:

was a living history, a sowing that walks.

In the framework of the international internship "Territorios Narrados: Formación LEO, Perú-Colombia", held between April 21 and May 5, 2025, Lesly Espinoza, LEO promoter and librarian of the 'Red de Mototecas del Centro Cultural Valle Colorete' (Cajamarca-Perú), delivered a selection of books from the Rural Libraries Network of Cajamarca to the 'Biblioteca Comunitaria La Bellecera', located in the Cabecera del Llano neighborhood, in the municipality of Piedecuesta, Santander-Colombia. 

The delivery was part of the LEO-OLE Binational Meeting, in an act full of affection and meaning: books that do not seek to be sold, but to take care of the memory of a people. Born from the field, from the hearth, from the conversation with the land; written by teachers, wise ones, community members and the teacher Alfredo Mires, collected in the Proyecto Enciclopedia Campesina (Peasant Encyclopedia Project) and other publications that the community has decided to tell and share.

This act was much more than symbolic: it was a bridge between two reading territories that share a common vision of reading as a communal, affective and political practice. La Bellecera, like the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca and Valle Colorete, sustains its processes from collective work, self-management and rootedness with the territory. Therefore, the books will not only be part of the collection, but will actively circulate in workshops, meetings and shared reading spaces, provoking new memories, questions and links.

For Valle Colorete and the Network of Mototecas, this delivery is a sowing of a bond: words planted in sisterly soil, with the hope that they will flourish in new reading hands. It is also a firm step towards the construction of a binational project that intertwines reading, orality, writing, memory and community between both territories.

This exchange is not just a gesture: it is a heartbeat that unites hearts and geographies, an invisible alliance woven with threads of memory and hope. In each book delivered, in each word read, revives the voice of those who tilled the land, of those who guard ancestral knowledge and of those who dream of a future woven from identity and mutual care. May these pages, crossing mountains and rivers, become deep roots that sustain new shoots of community, resistance and love for the shared word.

Lesly Espinoza

Valle Colorete, Cajamarca, Peru

Repair Café

A few days ago we received this note from our friend Kathy Doust, from Nottingham, England. Kathy is the sister of Fr. John Medcalf, founder of the Rural Library Network, and since our beginnings in 1971 she has been supporting our activities.

Repair Cafés are meeting places where we can contribute to sustainability. In recent years, they have sprung up all over the UK. They fix appliances, lawnmowers, clothes, bicycles, anything, even jewellery. I often sharpen my gardening tools there. They also do electrical testing of any appliance, all for a small donation. It depends on the expertise of the volunteers. It's to keep people from throwing away appliances when they can be repaired. I remember the time two students brought their vacuum cleaner to be repaired, but it turned out that they only needed to empty the contents of the bag.

Here in Nottingham, the Repair Café is held every two or three months. We also offer coffee, cakes and information about a project that benefits from the proceeds. Today's charitable contribution was for Rural Libraries. Soon we will share with you the funds raised.

Many greetings, much love

Kathy.

Thank you so much, dear Kathy. We could not go on without people like you, like you. Your support and solidarity touches us deeply. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

The fish

He arrived in the early hours of the morning. He had waited for a bus on the edge of the asphalt, for any truck that would pick him up, stiffened by the cold stinking breezes of the nearby sea-drainage.

It had been a nine-hour journey, standing still, squeezed in among the other passengers with no fare and no solvency. And then two more hours on foot, guessing the road in the middle of the darkness, besieged by doggy devils - the kind that charge tolls payable in hard cash - and rascally ghosts, the kind that make you lose your way.

But he arrived smiling, suspecting the surprise his precious cargo would cause the children.

He was carrying his briefcase of a wanderer, of a distant worker, of a wasted labour.

And he was carrying a jar, a jar without a lid, full of water and in the water he: a little blue fish that swayed with every step, as if distracted.

Do you like this story?

Continue reading it in the book of the Network:

El hombre que curaba (The man who healed), by Alfredo Mires Ortiz

Today, 24th June

Teacher Sara Moreno, responsible for our Rural Library in Educational Institution (BRIE) in Jaén shared with us this experience that reflects the learning of our brother Alfredo Mires put into practice.

Today, June 24th, in the Andean and Amazonian calendar, there is a big celebration for San Juan and the Day of the Peasant.

During recess, the young people of Citizenship and Social Sciences VII of the School of Higher Public Pedagogical Education ‘Víctor Andrés Belaunde’ of the province of Jaén, together with those of Cycle I, carried out a ritual in the SAE (School Agro-ecological System) to give thanks for the fertility of the earth and to recognise the valuable work of the peasants.

It was also a moment to share the fruits of the earth in the hope of a new planting cycle in the SAE.

It is a ritual that connected us with the SUN, with the cycle of LIFE (spiral) and our Mother Earth and also renewed our commitment to the historical legacy of the Marañon Culture, with the defence of our fertile valleys and the Chinchipe and Marañon rivers and our crops of cocoa, coffee, banana, cassava, corn, pumpkin and beans.

Many thanks to all the organisers and participants of such a beautiful offering of thanks to our Mother Earth.

The work of the Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions -BRIE

We continue to receive news of the beautiful work done by the Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions -BRIE; their teachers and directors undertake diverse actions of collective reading and storytelling that extend and cement the oral tradition of Cajamarca and the Andean cosmovivencia.

Special recognition goes to the following BRIEs:

- Pomabamba, with its Biblioteca Campesina Alternativa (ECA) (Alternative Peasant Library), and the Centro Cultural Quiritimayo de Cajamarca (Quiritimayo Cultural Centre of Cajamarca) carry out various activities of reading the books of the Network that recalls the countryside, the landscape, the stories of grandparents and the peasant memory through reading circles.

- Bambamarca - Hualgayoc, holds reading circles every week, implementing collective reading, storytelling and reading with parents.

- Malcas, Cajabamba, encourages reading with children at pre-school level, involving parents and teachers of the institution.

We continue to grow...

We would like to share with you that, in June, three new libraries have been created: two BRIE in the educational institutions of San José de Paucamarca - San Marcos, and Segundo Briones de Namora - Cajamarca. And the third one in the Sócota Health Centre, in the province of Cutervo. This last one has a special character since it is the first time that a library has been created in a Health Centre. Patients will be able to read while they are recovering or waiting for their appointments, their relatives to distract their minds from their worries, and the staff who work there - in their free time, to continue learning, recover their energy and relax their spirits.

To create a library in rural areas, you don't need a special place or large shelves; all you need is a small space where you can place books in an orderly fashion, as well as a great desire to read books from the Network of Rural Libraries, whose content has been rescued by the community members themselves.

Reading as harvesting

Translation:

Reading as harvesting

The word 'leer' (to read) derives from the Latin legere, which means 'to gather, to collect, to harvest'. This is because it was formerly associated with “picking out words”.

Legere, in turn, is a word related to lignum, “that which is gathered to make fire”, from which the word 'leña' (firewood) derives (3).

With the word leer (to read) are connected lesson, choice, intelligence, religion. And as a verb it goes beyond the reading of a piece of writing, as it can be spoken of reading the eyes, the thoughts, the stars, the time, the lines of the hand, reading the weather, the future, the stains on coffee, a CD and a DVD.

*3. In German, legere is related to the word lesen, which originally meant “to select, to put together”. In English a word read is used, which is not related to the German lesen but to raten, which means “to advise” and also “to guess”, because of the reading of the runes.

Alfredo Mires

en: La dignidad de los pueblos también se escribe leyendo (The dignity of the people is also written by reading)

Notes on the promotion of reading in rural areas

My favourite colour is seeing you

This phrase, engraved on the walls of the Rural Library Network house, encourages visitors from different communities to feel welcome.

Our comrade Alfredo Mires engraved this phrase with love and dedication, inspired by the positive energy that our rural brothers and sisters bring with them; energy from Mother Nature and everything she nurtures.

And, ‘my favourite colour is seeing you’ is reinforced every time we see coordinators and librarians; seeing their joy, their camaraderie, their desire to move forward, their enthusiasm for organising the books they will take to their communities, the act of telling stories, sharing, enjoying reading; but above all, seeing our fellow farmers, who quietly promote reading and rescue the culture of our peoples.

Let us also echo this phrase to thank the animals: the butterflies, the birds, the kittens, who come to cheer us up and enjoy what remains of nature in this little house.

My favourite colour is seeing you. You are always welcome in this, your home.

Guernica Ica

In mid-May, we received several copies of the book Guernica Ica, by writer Isaac Cazorla, as a donation from our colleague and friend Gabriela Hidalgo, who volunteered with Network a few years ago. We are thrilled and delighted to know that we are still a family willing to support each other and continue on the same path.

Thank you, Gaby, for your valuable contribution. It will be of great help in continuing to encourage our readers in the different libraries in the countryside.

Reading and sunshine

Here in the Andes, rural people tend to be grateful for the weather: we welcome the rain, we thank the hail for fertilising the fields, and we enjoy the warm sunshine that shelters us.

However, with climate change in recent years, we also know that torrential rains can damage the soil and that strong sunshine can burn us.

Today we received some photos from our Rural Library in Educational Institution (BRIE) in Quinuacruz, Cajabamba. The educational community at this institution knows how wonderful it is to leave the classroom and read in nature. That is why the teaching staff came up with the initiative to build a reading hut where students can read under a thatched roof, with natural light and in a cosy environment.

We send our greetings and sincere congratulations for this wonderful initiative!

The star of time

Seed of love turned into a path.

Blood of my blood.

Dreams of my dreams.

Light with eyes, eyes of light.

Life force alive, clamour, tenderness.

Grace of ingenuous gods.

Stone, promise, star.

Anarchic and sincere sky.

Sleepless dance of arrows.

Light green, tender moss.

Dance, God, for dawn is breaking.

Fly, wheat, be fruitful.

Never forget who you are,

fill your voice with discovery.

Do not delay in germinating.

Always return in bloom.

Alfredo Mires

in: Romance of the Mountain

Reaching a successful conclusion

This year, the Community Programme for the support of children with projectable abilities celebrated 31 years of presence in the rural communities of Cajamarca. Countless children and their families have been supported by our coordinators, and most of them have improved their living conditions thanks to the love, teachings and comprehensive therapies we have been able to provide.

Over the years, the Community Programme team has been trained and strengthened, we have learned and adapted our methodologies and strategies, and we have grown as people. But we have also grown a little older.

At the beginning of this year, we received the difficult news that the financial support currently provided by Kindernothilfe e.V. in Germany to sustain our programme will soon come to an end.

As a team, we are taking this news with dignity, calm and confidence; we know the mark we have left and the good we have been able to do for many children and their families.

At our meeting in May, we looked for ways and strategies to round off and complement our work over all these years and to bring it to a successful conclusion in the future. As the head of the Community Programme, I am very proud of our extraordinary team and of the wisdom, maturity, courage and optimism of our rural coordinators in continuing on this path, in different ways, for the good of children with disabilities.

I thank you and embrace you from my heart.

Rita Mocker

Head of the Community Programme

Grateful

A few months ago, we received a donation from our friend Daniel Sáenz of several boxes of books from the library of the late historian and teacher Pablo Macera.

Many of these books and collections are already circulating in the communities of Cajamarca, in our libraries. We know that these materials will be put to good use, especially in the rural libraries of educational institutions, where these books were ‘flying off the shelves’ because as soon as our coordinators learned of their existence, they requested them and they were promptly sent.

In a conversation with Cecilia Macera, Don Pablo's daughter, she told us that these books not only belonged to her father, but many were also from her mother, Mrs. Yolanda Urquizo Martell.

We would like to express our gratitude to the entire Macera Urquizo family for this generous donation to our Rural Libraries of Cajamarca.

Books with cheeky words

At a school in Cajamarca, children often enjoy reading our storybook instalments. They are their favourites because they tell different and entertaining stories.

Some identify them by the colours of the covers: they look for the purple book, the green one, the light blue one... Others know the titles very well: ‘I want the Pishgo Indian', or 'the seven pieces of advice,’ they say. Some remember the numbers better: I still have to read number 7, I've already read number 15. Others, from time to time, search for the title of a story: the book where the fool carries the door, the fox uncle and the rabbit. But children's innocence is greater than all academic or pedagogical formalities, their sincerity is exquisite, and one day, one who had forgotten all the other clues managed to say: ‘I want that book where there are cheeky words’.

In the past, perhaps, his teacher would have been scandalised, or perhaps she would not even have had those books in her library; but that is why we unlearn and learn again, valuing the expressions of our communities. So it was not difficult to find the story, although it was not easy either, because in these books there are several that have ‘naughtiness’, the kind that makes children's faces redden, but which they also love.

Read your friendship

In June 2023, during a trip to Medellin, Colombia, I met Leidy Velez. Those of us who love her call her Lez.

Lez is a librarian, reading mediator, archivist...and friend. I think the latter characterizes her best. I met Lez at a bebeteca, a library for babies, a space where she moves like a fish in water. Reading to children -young and old- is her passion. 

This April, Lez came to Peru and did not hesitate for a moment to visit us in Cajamarca to visit Bibliotecas Rurales and offer her support in several reading mediation activities in different spaces of the Network.

She gave a workshop on reading, writing and orality for teachers at the central base of the Libraries Network and another for teachers at the UGEL of Cajabamba. The teachers were amazed. 

We also visited the Malcas Garden, in the Condebamba valley, where the Network has a Rural Library in an Educational Institution. There we carried out four small units of reading promotion in the beautiful library of this garden and we returned with a renewed spirit because of the affection given to us by the children, their parents and teachers.

The few days I was able to share with Lez were full of deep conversations, learning and amazement. But it was also a time of much companionship, kindness and laughter.

Thank you, Lez, for your presence among us.

Come back soon.

Rita Mocker