Celebrating reading in Jaén

The teacher Sara Moreno Alberca sent us this pleasant news from the Province of Jaén:

“The Open Library of the Pedagogical Superior Institute Víctor Andrés Belaunde began operating in the year 2016 through the Social Sciences speciality, following the experience of the Network of Rural Libraries, thanks to the initial donation of twenty five books with stories of the Cajamarcan culture, whose readings were incorporated into the development of curricular areas.

This year the gesture has been continued together with colleague Eduardo Cajandilay, of the speciality of Communication.

The librarian is student Laura Quiliche Gómez, who integrates into the speciality of Social Sciences. And I undertake the coordination.

The Network of Rural Libraries has made a second instalment of books, with which we feel privileged and very grateful.

The library works in the speciality classroom, has a bookshelf and books are borrowed out to home.”

How you encourage us, telling us of your journey!

Many more, more together, stronger!

Valuing

In mid-November, the monitoring, evaluation and planning meeting of the Community Programme took place.

Almost all of the coordinators came together on this important date. We were also able to count on the assistance of a mother and a girl with projectable capacities.

Stopping to reflect on the progress and difficulties of our work and our organization is very important to us. It is a great joy to realize that we always find more achievements than difficulties and that we never surrender; someone always gives us an alternative, a light to continue and improve.

After much recounting, revising and debating, as the last exercise of evaluation each one of us noted in a paper shaped like a drop of water – essential for life and very significant in the Cajamarcan context – the best thing that has happened to us in this year's work.

And so, together, we create our tree of hope.

Journeying

In recent months we have made several trips to the countryside under the banner of the work of the Community Programme. First we went to San Marcos, then to Chota and on our last outing we went to Bambamarca.

It is always a joy to meet the children; they always greet us with a smile and a hug: to see their joy and their advances encourages and motivates us.

The interest of the families and the effort to help their children reach their potential is a huge stimulus for us; as are the shared moments during the therapy sessions we do or the conversations as we share the table.

Here are some experiences that we have lived during these last outings:

* We gave a training course on basal stimulation at the San Marcos Special Education Centre. There we met a child with infantile cerebral palsy and his mother. The mother was enthused by the attention of our coordinator Silvia Pajares and they are now looking forward to continuing with this attention. This persevering interest also shows the value of what we do.

* In Chota we were impressed by so many children with whom our coordinator Sergio Diaz is working since the beginning of the year. All of these children – newly incorporated into the program – have multiple disabilities. It is a great challenge for Sergio especially because, until now, he catered to children with less difficulties. When we asked him about it, he said:

– Yes, it's true, it's harder to work with these kids, but it also gives me a lot more realization.

We really salute this attitude and this commitment.

* In Bambamarca we found our friend José Isaí, who was born with just one complete leg. With the help of our coordinator Nanci Huamán, in the same community they found a carpenter and a gentleman with a lot of knowledge in orthopedic devices: together they made a prosthesis for Joseph Isaí.

* Belvin Franco is attended by our coordinator Humberto Huamán. In just one year, this child with severe cerebral palsy learned to walk. The joy and satisfaction of the family – and of us, obviously – was immense to see him walk.

And so, walking, journeying, we learn and grow together.

16th November: Here We Are and launch

In spite of the deaths and the oppression, here the defeat never drowned us, nor diminished our desire to continue being.

This 16th of November, in the afternoon, it will be 485 years since the invasion, of the wrongly called "Encounter of Two Worlds". We will remember our departed, but our hearts shall not be at half mast: standing we honour their memory.

That is why we celebrate in the Network of Rural Libraries "The day of Here We Are".

At night, at 7:00, we will have the launch of the 20 fascicles of the series "... and other tales", from the Biblioteca Campesina collection: Our grandparents continue to tell and keep saying.

It will be in the House of our Network: Avenida Perú Nº 416.

We are punctual. You are all invited.

The big circle

Each year, our brother Ramiro Yglesias – Coordinator and librarian of Contumaza –, organizes a great reading circle.

Spirited with their spirit, this time nearly one hundred people gathered: together, community members and teachers, librarians and parents, children and students shared the joy of reading their land and reading their books.

The event was held in the community of Amanchaloc, on the 12th of October, as if to say "Here we learn sharing".

Gazette No. 1

Here, the first of ‘Cosmovivencias’, the ‘Feeling-thinking Gazette’ of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca.

As part of the development of the doctoral thesis project on the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, its routes and Andean geographies, we present the first issue of the Network Gazette.

This monthly publication collects and systematizes, in various thematic axes, the conceptions that orient the actions of our educational and cultural organization. To this end, we review some documents produced by the co-founder and executive advisor of the network, Alfredo Mires Ortiz, in which we can appreciate the guiding thought and the journey of the network.

We want with this, in addition to disseminating the principles that identify and orient the process of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, to promote a Latin American dialogue around the campesino identity and dignity, the Andean cosmovision and the deep links that we have with nature, life and community.

The full text can be found at:

Https://issuu.com/docs_bibliotecasrurales.caj/docs/gaceta_br_n___1

A review

A review of the award-winning film, Libros y Nubes - which expertly captures the essence of our Red de Bibliotecas Rurales de Cajamarca, has just been published in the popular Irish journal 'Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review', by the Centre for Global Education.

The journal is published in both physical and virtual form; its web version receives approximately 145,000 visits annually from 150 countries. The journal aims to celebrate and promote good practice in global education and to debate its underlying conceptions.

The review of Libros y Nubes, written by our sister Lynda Sullivan, appears in the autumnal Issue No. 25: Development Education and Human rights, and presents the key concepts and highlights of the film. Global educators and policy makers are told how the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca is a valid example of a literacy movement; community education; cultural affirmation in the face of colonisation; indigenous knowledge and its oral transmission; volunteerism and community cohesion.

Our humble inspirational work travels to the corners of the Earth where the seed may germinate and, if cultivated, produces its own fruit, but with flecks of Andean beauty.

Here, the link:

https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-25/books-and-clouds