A few days ago, the Rural Libraries calendar for next year came out, just in time for our general assembly. This meant that coordinators could take it back to their libraries and communities.
This time it features a photo taken by Jorge Camacho at one of our sectoral meetings and a text from a presentation by Alfredo:
"Before being librarians, we are human beings. And we are a collective, we are the other, we are the rest."
A beautiful message for a beautiful new year.
Amidst much nostalgia, a beautiful gift from our brother Alfredo Mires appears: Uncle Lino's book.
And Uncle Lino arrives to continue telling stories and enchanting us, to make us smile even when life gets difficult. He tells us picaresque stories, full of traditions, customs and beliefs and, as Abelina says in the first pages, rather than reading with our eyes, we should learn to read with our hearts.
Let us try to read this great book with our hearts, so that we can hear the voices of our grandparents, of those who always saw the light in the darkest of times, and discover the sparks of hope captured in the illustrations by the children of Contumazá and Cajamarca.
Quite simply, Uncle Lino's book has a lot to teach us.
Our gratitude goes to those who made this publication possible.
The Rural Library in Educational Institutions (BRIE) at the Víctor Andrés Belaunde Public Teacher Training College in Jaén held a Blind Date event with the Rural Library Network books on 20 October at the college, with the aim of strengthening identities and reading practices. We conceive of our rural library as a living space for encountering others and books, as a place where coexistence and rural culture are present.
For this activity, eighth-cycle students in the Citizenship and Social Sciences Programme, accompanied by teacher Sara Moreno, had covered 185 books from the Network with recycled paper. They also placed a phrase alluding to the content of each book on each book cover.
Then, students and teachers from nine Study Programmes at the School of Education freely chose one of these books, registered it in the library with a commitment to read it.
Now, the organisers of the Citizenship and Social Sciences Programme are attentive to reading and exchanging with other BRIE books.
From the Central Office of the Rural Libraries Network of Cajamarca, we congratulate this wonderful activity to promote reading.
On 24 and 25 October, we held our second Network Training Assembly, with the valuable participation of librarians, coordinators, representatives of BRIE (Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions) and the central office team.
It was a pleasure to reconnect, share, renew the relationships that unite us as Network volunteers, and feel the spirit of collaboration and mutual support that continues to be at the heart of our work.
The main purpose of this assembly was to analyse the progress made, reflect on current challenges, and define new goals and projects that will continue to strengthen and encourage reading in rural communities.
Active participation in our assemblies is essential, as this is where we learn new methodologies and strategies that inspire us to promote reading in our communities.
Shared reading fills us with motivation to continue working with commitment and affection.
In addition, the assemblies offer an excellent opportunity to exchange books, thus allowing us to renew the titles available in each library, share the wisdom of our grandparents, and renew our cultural identity.
The goals we have set for ourselves on this occasion can only be achieved together. We say goodbye with hearts full of gratitude, hope, and a commitment to continue bringing reading to every corner of the countryside, where a book always finds hands willing to open it and hearts ready to learn.
Rosa Rumay
Responsible for the Network Exchange Centre
