On the horizon

Some time ago now, our friend Daniel Canosa, from Argentina, sent a letter to Alfredo Mires, director of our Network.

His words were so pleasant and generous that we asked if we could share it. Here a fragment of this dawning:

"It has been incredible the journey that your country people made this year with the Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, an untiring example of what it means to bring culture to distant peoples and, more than that, to build your own knowledge.

You represent that light at the end of the path that guides in the midst of frequent discouragement. Every time I have to find reasons to show that it is all worthwhile, Cajamarca always appears on the horizon.

Keep it that way.

A big hug friend and best wishes.

I sincerely hope that you can enjoy a serene and happy ceremony, that you continue making that beautiful path along with the rural libraries.

I always think that the journey of the people of Cajamarca, in which you were always present, gives hope for others, that as librarians we have a good example to continue learning, I hope you never give up the journey.

Best wishes, a big hug and thanks for sharing your message.

Until next time!

Daniel »

Coming from the exemplary and excellent work that Daniel lives and unfolds, it is an honourable encouragement that impels.

Readings: Paco Yunque

In just twenty pages the great Peruvian writer and poet César Vallejo manages to bring the reader closer to the experiences of a country boy who arrives at that strange place where children are locked in a room, in front of a blackboard, with tall windows to avoid distraction and to ensure, many believe, learning.

"Paco was also muddle-headed because in the countryside he never heard so many voices of people at once. In the country people spoke first one, then another, then another and then another."

How much that place can deafen the children who were born and grew up in front of the mountain, planting the farm, playing around the trees or taking care of the guinea pigs, the hens, the sheep; looking at the clouds, feeling and taking care of the springs.

How much desolation children can feel when they are subjected to ridicule and abuse by others of their age, who are children of the rich, the landowners, the powerful or the abusive city dwellers.

"Yunque does not say anything, sir, because Humberto Grieve hits him, because he's his boy and he lives in his house."

And it is necessary to be outraged by the abuses, injustices and exclusions. Because nobody is more than anyone and the school could not and should not be that place where mockery and fear are everywhere.

The school should not be a place of seclusion and invisibility of the most humble, the most kind, the most dignified. The school, more than being the countryside itself, must be born of it: to learn from and with Nature, the first teacher we all have.

2018 - 2019

Tomorrow, child of mine, everything will be different.

The anguish will leave

by the back door

that they must close, forever,

the hands of new men.

Edwin Castro Rodriguez

December 2018 - January 2019

With fraternal hugs

Blessed farm

With regard to the pitiful ignorance with which some subjects use the sacred word "chacra" (the farm) as a synonym of futile and negligible, here is a verse from "Resuellos":

Blessed source my farm

blessed mother the earth

blessed the farmers

of the coast, jungle and highlands.

If not for these fields

nobody would have food

that is truth shared

from the doctor to the ass.

Farm is worked land

it is sowing and cultivation

and it is the main reason

for this country being alive.

Farm is nurture and tenderness

it is passion, it is foundation

university of the world

farm is life and is sustenance.

When you come to talk about the farm

honour the breath that exhales

know well what you pronounce

without saying the word badly.

Do not insult my kinship

If you come to speak of the farm

Which is my grandparents' honour

the earth and the cultivation.

Rinse out your mouth

invest a little in thinking

and fumigate your prejudices

if of the farm you come to speak.

Here is the verse in its original Spanish:

Bendita fuente mi chacra

bendita madre la tierra

benditos los chacareros

de la costa, selva y sierra.

De no ser por estas chacras

nadie tendría alimento

eso es verdad compartida

del doctor hasta el jumento.

Chacra es tierra de labranza

es sementera y cultivo

y es la razón principal

porque el país está vivo.

Chacra es crianza y ternura

es pasión es fundamento

universidad del mundo

chacra es vida y es sustento.

Cuando venga a hablar de chacra

honre el aliento que exhala

sepa bien lo que pronuncia

sin decir mal la palabra.

No me insulte el parentesco

si de chacra viene a hablar

que es honra de mis abuelos

la tierra y el cultivar.

Enjuáguese usted la boca

invierta un poco en pensar

y fumigue sus prejuicios

si de chacra viene a hablar.

Our upbringing in the Network

The Andean world feels its cosmogonic foundations in the upbringing, which implies caring, germinating, protecting, feeding and, therefore, loving. This practice emerges from the relationship of the Andean families with Nature, who is a mother, a woman, a deity and a regenerative power. For this reason the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca believes in and praises this conception, making its actions with books, reading, conversation and oral tradition of the peasant peoples of Cajamarca be guided by this principle that does not mean to separate, but to gather.

To raise then is to talk and listen to nature, the farm, the land. She is in every community member, in every boy, girl, in the elders who are part of this great Librarian family.

Today there is an expression of gratitude to each of those who make the Network of Rural Libraries a full experience of parenting and kindness, reciprocity and complementarity of everything with everyone.

Walking in Cajabamba

We walked through Cajabamba, visiting the rural libraries of Pingo and Quinuacruz.

There, the teaching teams have organized themselves to encourage reading as a fundamental pillar of their educational work. We would like it to be like that in all schools!

The enriched mood of the children can be felt from afar. And how generous the behavior of the teachers in these places: from the way they have prepared their libraries to the uplifting respect with the whole community.

This learning never ceases!

Permanent Council of Coordination

In the form of organization that sustains our Network, without hierarchies or subordinates, the Permanent Council of Coordination is the intermediate step, the coordinating villagers that - more than their own communities - travel to other areas to accompany the journey, learn to replicate and support the initiatives of the local Coordinators with their presence.

In December we had the meeting of the Council to evaluate the year, review the roads traveled and propose solutions that we will all consider together in the General Assembly of the Network.

How gratifying are the re-encounters and the fruits of this community affection!