The dreaming of Ñaupa

Basic learning:

seasoning of love

(e.g. chocolate)

Alfredo Mires

The Journeys of the Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions -BRIE

The Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions -BRIE- stand out for their encouragement and commitment to reading, books, conversation and the appreciation of our rural Andean culture. We acknowledge the students, teachers and directors for persisting in this journey with books from the ground. Their coordinators tell us what they are doing:

- In the BRIE of Sucse, district of Sócota in Cutervo, every week they distribute their books by grades; through the alforjita viajera (travelling saddlebag) they promote reading and conversation about books.

- The BRIE ‘Bicentenario La Pauquilla’ in Cajabamba exhibits books to encourage students to take them home; in addition, through a library notice board they offer information about the various reading activities they carry out in the institution. 

- The BRIE ‘El Calvario’ - Los Baños del Inca, in Cajamarca, carries out reading activities: ‘La pijamada de la Lectura’ (The Reading Sleepover), ‘Un día entre Libros’ (A day between books) ‘El Rey y Reina de la Lectura’ (The King and Queen of Reading), together with the development of artistic practices such as theatre and the production of theatre costumes with recycled materials. 

An old car brings us new books

In the UK there is a charity called GiveaCar: Donate your car to charity - quick, easy and free. This non-profit organisation sells old cars and donates the proceeds to charity.

Sarah's Rural Library Fund, in the UK, is the charity that was formed after librarian Sarah Heery passed away and donated part of her estate to the Rural Libraries Network. Since then, Sarah Heery's family and friends have continued to fundraise for the Network.

For this reason, Sarah's Rural Library Fund is also registered with GiveaCar. And recently they have sold Sarah Heery's old car. Sarah's car has had many owners after she passed away, including her sister, nephew, sister-in-law and great-niece. Sadly, the car has now reached the end of its useful life, after 20 years and 356,000 kilometres. GiveaCar retired the car and donated the proceeds to Sarah's Rural Library Fund, then friends in England sent this donation to Rural Libraries so that we can buy and publish new books.

With everyone's hands

Our elders taught us the value of reciprocity and collective, community work; perhaps they did not know these terms, but they practised them. Thus, they established the mingas for planting, harvesting, building houses, cleaning rivers and streams, building fences and other community tasks.

Here in the Network, we try to apply these lessons and, for several years, we have been building and taking care of the house through communal work and with solidarity contributions from different friends.

On this occasion, we celebrate the presence of Javier Huamán, Ramiro Yglesias, Sergio Díaz and Edilberto Rodrigo, who join our family from the central team to support us with activities of decoration, restructuring and maintenance of the premises.

We make the impossible possible, with the hands of everyone.

 

Looking back at memories

As part of the celebration of our 54 years with books on earth, we decided to make a photographic exhibition showing some of the learnings and beings that have been present in the time of our Network, with the help of our volunteer friends, Jorge Camacho and Francisco Vigo.

So, one afternoon, we sat down to review the selected photos to write a brief review of their moment and the people they showed... and many feelings were awakened.

Seeing the young faces of Fr. Juan Medcalf, Alfredo Mires and so many companions who left their youth in this dream, moved us to the point of not wanting to write a brief review, because we felt that nothing would be enough, we would like to say everything that these photos mean to us, because in truth, it is so much. There are not enough words.

And it's not just about memories, but about the roads we have travelled. Seeing the photos of each jornada, as the training meetings were called at that time, of each activity, of each meeting, from that time to the present day, makes us happy, but it also saddens us because we think that the time of those brothers and sisters was too small, it was insufficient to teach us more, to leave us more.

31st March, an important date

Undoubtedly, for each one of us this date has a lot of meaning in our lives since we are part of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca.

54 years ago, starting the work of a rural library with a unique reading promotion system has been a great contribution to humanity. The beneficiaries, mainly rural men and women, were offered the opportunity to read. Access to a book changes lives because books are a powerful tool for individual and social transformation.

Thank you, Juan Medcalf and Alfredo Mires, your wisely thought out, planned and executed work has been sustained over time, enriching, today, the thinking and feeling of our students.

At the ‘Sagrado Corazón’ Educational Institution in Jaén, they know and love the Library Network because it is close to them through the books it provides us with. The students usually go to the ‘Reading Animation Room’ during recess, when the door opens and leaves their valuable treasure within reach of everyone.

Happy anniversary Rural Libraries of Cajamarca!

That light from within

Photographic exhibition for the 54th anniversary of the Network

On the occasion of the inauguration of the photographic exhibition Esa luz de más adentro in homage to the 54th anniversary of the Red de Bibliotecas Rurales, our brothers Sergio Díaz and Javier Huamán have dedicated themselves with patience and care to touching up the paint on the walls of our main hall or Hatun Wasi. They also installed some ropes on the walls to be able to place the more than thirty photos that make up the exhibition.

Thank you, dear family. Without this preliminary work, our exhibition would not exist.

We also thank Francisco Vigo and Jorge Camacho, photographers and volunteers of the Network, who have dedicated themselves to designing the exhibition, and all the friends who accompanied us at the inauguration of Esa luz de más adentro.

For those who have not been able to attend this event, the Network offers guided tours of the exhibition throughout the month of April, with prior coordination via WhatsApp 988216050.

We look forward to seeing you.