Yossi reading

My name is Yossy Katherine Carranza Guevara, I am sixteen years old and I am from San Luis de Lucma, in the province of Cutervo.

Reading for me is magic: when I read or take up a book I immerse myself in its words. There are words that make me laugh, or make me cry. Reading is my life because I love to read: it is incredible to jump into stories and hallucinate that I am the author.

Rural libraries helped me a lot because one of the main inspirers was the Coordinator of my area, bringing books. With my classmates we read and it was there where I discovered that I loved reading, it impassioned me. That is why reading is now my passion.

It pains me that many people do not place so much importance on reading; more prefer to go to the internet and all that, when they could, for example, read works. But they no longer read them, they buy the movies instead and watch them on TV.

There we have a great challenge.

In the Geography Congress

Our sister Nathalia Quintero, volunteer of the Network, traveled to Tacna to participate in the Congress of Geography with the paper titled: Books and rural geographies: the case of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca - Peru.

There she presented some reflections on the cultural geography of books and the Andean geography of Cajamarca; she told the audience who the readers, writers and speakers of the Network of Rural Libraries are: where, how and what they read, write and talk about.

In her presentation she stressed that: "the campesinos, community members of Cajamarca members of the Library Network, are deeply linked to life and happiness. They are part of a sacred vision of nature, united with the enunciating and creative force of solidarity and encounter; to the complementary rhythm of the soil: of their farm and their crops, which are food, water, living substance of the land they love, care for and protect.

Nathalia emphasized that in the Network we do not stop examining the meaning of the task, the impacts of the actions, the reasons that founded us and allow us to be present even today; we ask ourselves about the kind of society we dream and deserve, for the world we want for our children, for the reverence and sacredness we owe to the land, the water, the Apus, the deceased, our food, the sustenance of a life worth living. And she made it clear, as we usually do in a coherent and consistent way, the nonnegotiable position in the defense of nature.

The Network also reaches academic universes where it moves, inspires and, as Professor Miroslawa Czerny said, fills with optimism because it makes one feel that yes, it is possible!

Launch of the Cajabamba Tourist Inventory

At the end of September the presentation of the book 'Tourist inventory of the province of Cajabamba' was held during the traditional cultural night held in the framework of the celebrations of this province of Cajamarca.

In the presentation that our brother Alfredo made, he emphasized the usefulness of books like these, since they offer relevant information of the territory itself, of what we love and that makes us feel proud. Cajabamba, said Alfredo, "has countless fortunes, and this book is a mirror in which we can rediscover them as we look at ourselves. That is to say, in these pages we see ourselves reflected as the earth and the beauty with which we have been made is reflected". He emphasized the effort, persistence and love with which Miguel Rodríguez Sánchez and Miguel Rodríguez Roncal - authors of the book - have directed their research and projects.

The tourist inventory of Cajabamba joins the circulation of the books by the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca. It is a sample of the passion for places and geographies, seals of the vital presence of nature, time and space, of the permanence and memory of the people.

It is the moment to congratulate the authors and to exalt the bonds of an imperishable friendship, that has crossed times, dissertations, learnings, teachings and the deep passion to know the environment that inhabits us all.

Wanderings in Cuntumazá

"Colladar mountain announces rains: the apu has put on a cap," said Alfredo. They are the signs that nature in her fullness- by the roads towards Contumazá - showed us. We could say that this province, besides being "Land of intellectuals and good wheat", as announces a huge poster at the entrance of the town, is land of librarians and community members, as the movement of books, readings and conversations daily encourage families from Cuntumazá. And the encounters had heart and feeling.

With the family of Ramiro Yglesias, coordinator of the area, Doña Isabel, her son Javier and the pleasant company of Roque Florián, veteran coordinator of the sector La Cocha, we learned the meaning of the word Community, how this way of land tenure works, the difficulties and the organizational strategies.

With Andres Léon, another of the network's veteran librarians, we had an interview to recall the beginnings, his recollections of Father John Medcalf and Alfredo Mires ("When he was a little one" he told us).

With Marcos Florián, librarian of Taya El Colal, we also had a memorable encounter. He, with enthusiasm, showed his rescue book full of letters, memories, wisdom and simplicity; the words, drawings and peasant knowledge made available to be published, to share and enliven our voices.

Contumazá is really a province of immense community members; they, with the books, the readings and the writings of their own traditions, have made of the Network of Rural Libraries an exemplary experience for all this family.

Interview

On 18th September, the first program was broadcast ofRadiolibros (Radiobooks), on Radio Nacional del Perú (National Radio of Peru). For this occasion they interviewed our brother Alfredo Mires Ortiz about the experience and work of our Network.

Here the interview link (which starts about halfway through the program):

http://www.radionacional.com.pe/audios/radiolibros/radiolibros-ya-esta-en-el-aire 

In Catache

At the end of September we traveled to Catache, in the province of Santa Cruz. There we met with teachers, students, authorities and parents interested in learning about our Rural Libraries.

The participants of the meeting - at the San Agustín de Catache Educational Institution - watched, listened and spoke: they were the creators of a moment in which sensitivities sprang up and projections flourished.

How is it possible to forget the words of a communal authority when he said that, in his 72 years of life, he had never heard a proposal like ours. Or the words of one of the young teachers, recognizing with joy the fact of being a peasant and to be proud of the dignified and firm references of the agricultural tradition. How is it possible to forget the reflective and attentive look of all the participants and the words of our brother Alfredo saying that reading is a developer of the mind, that reading is a frank passion and that the book is a source in which we can see ourselves ...

The participants, in communion, wove with words the possible encounters, the possible community and educational links; they laid out the haystack of joint projects where books, readings, stories, traditions, the Andean world and a future reading plan can open up vibrant and generous paths where we will most surely walk together.

Coming alive in Santa Cruz

Memories of the roads traveled at the end of September, previous conversations, rock art sanctuaries to be visited and the exuberant sacred and planetary geography united with the immense and warm presence of the people of the community of Poroporo, in the district of Catache, Cajamarcan province of Santa Cruz.

In all these years, we had never been an institution in Santa Cruz: so we traveled there after much coordination by telephone and correspondence with Prof. Luis Calderón, who also acted as our gracious guide.

Our brother Alfredo, to the rhythm of some stories collected in the communities of Cajamarca and published by the Network, demonstrated how the voices of the community members extend from province to province, from family to family, from heart beat to heart beat through the extensive territory of Cajamarca. Alfredo exalted the treasure that is being a farmer: to cultivate and to read the earth, to live in community; he explained how it is to work as volunteers, with books, readings and rescue of the traditions of our peasant communities and the ways of doing it.

Many interested eyes and hearts, enthused, showed that they wanted to have the books in their hands. Many voices told how many stories they have to relate, how many meetings are left to go forward.

The community assembly decided to form its Rural library.

After delivering the batch of books and choosing their librarian, the community of Poroporo integrated into this desire to read and be read, to write and be heard, to meet letters, conversations and presences.

We welcome teacher Gabriel Paz, the new librarian, and the entire community of Poroporo. It is an immense joy that they are part of this family of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca and that together we start this walk, this journey, this communal beat.