We celebrate our ‘without counting and four years with books on the earth...’.

 

New proposals

In mid-February we met with the coordinators of the Community Programme for our first training meeting this year. After last year's evaluation, we had proposed some changes to optimise our resources in working with children with projectable capacities in the field.

The methodology of the Community Programme, as we were running it so far, has a high demand for different therapeutic materials for each child because we were trying to provide for each of them according to their own needs. But we realised that it is not possible to continue with this dynamic; that is why we are now providing each coordinator with a stock of their own materials that they can use and lend to any child or family.

In this last meeting, then, we have delivered many and varied therapeutic materials into the hands of our coordinators, who returned, happy and grateful for this supply, to their communities.

How good they smell...

New books smell good. 

The process of producing a book in our Network involves a lot of dedication. We must respond in a way that is relevant to the needs of the readers, especially our brothers and sisters in the communities; the wisdom is passed down from the grandparents and our desire is to make this knowledge transcend.

Today, fresh off the press, two new children of the Network have arrived: Trenzando sombras, who tells us about the art of weaving hats and all that is woven around them, and José María, who tells us about the family and how it articulates with nature. 

Loaded with culture and a great deal of wisdom, these dear children are here to continue touring the different libraries in the communities of Cajamarca.

Rosita, in charge of the exchange centre, happily receives the books from Mr. Roger, in charge of printing.

Thanks to the friends of Heart Links for their contribution to make these reprints possible.

Bad copies

Over the years, the Rural Libraries Network has published, in addition to the series and collections of books with different rescue themes, other publications that are the result of the meticulous research work of our remembered Alfredo Mires.

Such is the case of his artistic representations which he called ‘Ñaupas’, or ‘Ñaupitas’, referring to the most ancient character of our culture. As well as other traces, graphs, icons, taken from the mountains - many times - by hand and fist in the absence of a good camera, as Alfredo himself said. All of them, captured in his books of Iconography, in the Qayaqpuma series and in other valuable printed treasures.

These books, which for us are a sacred legacy, for other people are a wonderful source for copying the work of others. We often find reproductions of these images on clothing, posters - such as the one for Carnival 2024 - to whose promoters we sent a notarised letter that they never answered, only asking them to clarify the origin of the iconography used. We also find Alfredo's drawings on handmade souvenirs offered to tourists - some of them even retain the watermark, characteristic of our digital publications. We also see, from time to time, some prints on carnival costumes.

As a community organisation we do not oppose the use of this wonderful heritage, we only ask that the credits of the artistic author of these representations be respected. That the work and memory of this great man who left his life in every step through the mountains of our peoples be respected.

Farewell Don Antonio!

We received the news that our beloved don Antonio Vílchez Chávez had passed away on 9 February 2025. With these words we would like to pay homage to our friend, to the veteran librarian, to the one who with determination and patience did his voluntary work as coordinator of the José Sabogal Zone in San Marcos.

Antonio Vílchez Chávez joined the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca in 1994, after he met one of the coordinators of the Rural Libraries, who invited him to take part in this voluntary work with books. This is how he described it:

‘I was going to Coyón, and on the way I met Mr. Juan Garay, the coordinator at that time. I asked him what the Libraries were and how they worked. He said to me, ‘We lend books so that the community knows how to read, because some older people know how to read and forget, there are some children who know how to read, they are lent a little book. In your community, could you be a librarian? - So, I told him I was going to think about it, -call me when I think about it-, the next day they sent the request to the house and Don Fidencio, Don Pascualito, Gonzalo left with books. It didn't take long.

(Antonio Vílchez, veterans debate, 2009).

For Don Antonio, being part of the Rural Library Network meant a process of training, self-education and a change in his life:

I first read the books in order to be able to lend them to the community, I carried the books in a little bag and took it to every house, going from house to house, saying: ‘Look at the books so that you can be informed, here are stories, they are made this way’, and so I got readers. And the library educated me one hundred percent. Here in libraries, thank God I stopped drinking, and I'm fighting this way [...] thank God I learned a lot from here and I'm learning.

(Antonio Vílchez, veteran debate, 2009).

Don Antonio will be forever in our hearts and we will follow his teachings, his tenacity, his commitment to rural libraries. Goodbye, Don Antonio!

Nathalia Quintero Castro

Medellín, Colombia

The earth

- What is that little piece of dung doing in infinity,’ asked the God of Order.

- It's my creation,‘ said the God of Love, “I'll call it ”Earth’.

- Wait till you see the people I'm going to put on it...’ thought the God of Madness.

Alfredo Mires

in: El duende del laberinto

My saddlebag

The ‘My Saddlebag’ workshop, shared with some of the coordinators of the Community Programme, was an endearing experience. Starting from the meaning that the saddlebag has for each one of us, feelings and experiences towards it were expressed: a faithful companion that keeps secrets, family memories, gives us identity, balances us and accompanies us in our tasks. ‘Only she knows the good and the bad, our joys and secrets’.

‘If we were a saddlebag’, a personal reflection on the values that each of us has about ourselves, about what we give unselfishly and receive with gratitude. 

Taking care of the caregivers, we breathe consciously, we connect with our body, we play and we become the Moon, the Earth, the Water... and then we dance knowing that we are unique and important for ourselves and for those who accompany us on this path of Life. A paper heart with words that come from the heart. 

Thank you one and all for this unforgettable sharing!

Sara López, Lima

therapist and responsible for this workshop

For ever, Antonio

On 9th February our dear brother Antonio Vílchez Chávez, coordinator of the José Sabogal, San Marcos area, passed away.

Don Antonio was a faithful companion, dedicated to books and a lover of reading who spent whole days walking to visit the more than twenty rural libraries under his care. He organised many reading circles in various places in his homeland and was also a member of the team that rescued the Encyclopaedia Campesina. Many people still remember the meetings and offerings to the land that don Antonio held on behalf of the Rural Libraries Network.

Antonio Vílchez was a teacher, healer and storyteller, librarian and coordinator at heart. It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to a great friend and brother. He will always be in our memory and in our hearts. May he rest in peace.

During the year 2024...

As a coordinator, volunteer and member of the central team of the Cajamarca Rural Libraries Network, during the year 2024 I have taken on different tasks and carried out various coordinations.

I have frequently visited the rural libraries in my sector, I have met with other coordinators in my area for us to support each other and exchange experiences, and I have also been able to visit some libraries in other areas. I have participated in sectoral and zonal meetings in Chota, Cutervo and Contumazá, events that help us to strengthen links with other members of the Network and to understand the joys and difficulties of our work in other places.

My house has been a meeting point and starting point for many volunteers who have had different experiences in the Network. I have made new friends and so far, as a library family, we are in contact with Javier Naranjo, Orlanda Agudelo and Fernando Hoyos from Colombia and Jorge Ventocilla from Panama. Together with them we visited several libraries in rural areas, encouraging reading, librarians and other coordinators.

On my last visit I was very happy to see that my librarian in the community Manantial de los Andes has already formed a group of children with whom he conducts reading circles every Sunday afternoon.

Seeing that these children give themselves to books and reading in these times of technology and virtuality encourages me to continue with my own volunteering in libraries.

Sergio Díaz Estela

Coordinator of the Masintranca sector, Chota

Celebrating the rain

The year 2024 was a year with no rain. As a consequence there were many forest fires affecting our flora, wildlife, domestic grazing animals and also the fields of our farming brothers and sisters. 

Normally we were used to the first rains arriving in the month of October, to sow the corn, but the summer continued. The first days of December the first dark grey clouds appeared, signalling the arrival of rain, so longed for by all of us, generating hope for our crops and animals.

In the middle of December the first rains began to fall, which was an immense joy for all of us, since rain means LIFE for us; rain is a time when there is production of all our crops, the pastures for the animals grow and we are no longer carrying water from far away places for the consumption of us and our animals.

In honour and gratitude to the gods for giving us the agüita, community men and women from the various communities, readers of rural libraries, we make our little offering to our mother earth, as the source of life that feeds and shelters us, to our sacred mountains, the apus, for keeping the agüita in their womb for times of drought and in memory of our deceased for their honour, passion, strength, wisdom and their mystical spiritual faith with mother nature. 

Now it is time to sow seeds, words and knowledge by reading our books after a little offering to the Pachamama.

Javier Huaman Lara

General Coordinator

Sandra writes about Libraries

A few days ago, Sandra Rodríguez Castañeda, anthropologist and friend of Bibliotecas Rurales, sent us some copies of the magazine Lectura. In the first edition of this magazine, December 2024, there is an article that Sandra wrote -from her experience and her heart- about the Network. 

The article is entitled Domesticating the Word, Recreating Utopia and refers to Sandra's opinion and vision of our organisation and the lessons she learned in her conversations with Alfredo Mires - such as ‘getting to know oneself’. But Sandra's article is also an attempt to narrate the history of Bibliotecas Rurales: our beginnings, our concepts and our conception, our wanderings and growths, our stumbles and challenges, our dreams and visions, what we are and what we want to continue to be.

In an affectionate way, Sandra reminds us of Alfredo and the things he taught us over the years. She says: ‘Because after so many years, Alfredo continues to be an interlocutor in my head and the work of Rural Libraries a reference for me’. 

It is the same for us, dear Sandra.

Thank you for your clarity, for your reflections and for this tribute.

Learning...

We started 2025 by returning to work in the Exchange Centre of the Network, after a few days off for Christmas and New Year.

As is well known in this area, we always need the support of helping hands to carry out some tasks in the Exchange Centre, the operational area of the Network. One of the tasks is to count, order and place the books produced by the Network into boxes to preserve their good condition, which are ordered and placed on the shelves, according to the themes.

On this occasion we had the valuable support of Don Javier Huamán Lara, General Coordinator of the Network, who very enthusiastically offered to support us in this task that greatly benefits the work of the Network in rural areas.

We are extremely grateful to him for taking the initiative to get involved, learn and support the work of the Exchange Centre.