The land recounts: memories of a people

On 29th April, our brother Alfredo was invited to participate in a discussion organized by the Family Compensation Fund of Antioquia (Comfama) of our sister country Colombia.

He offered deep reflections on the relationship between words and the earth; he explained how words transcend the human dimension, since all nature speaks. He stressed that the peasants are bearers of the immense wisdom contained in the full conversation with nature. He also mentioned the legacies of the Cajamarca Rural Libraries Network. Here are some sections of what Alfredo said:

- “Here, in our land, the stories and testimonies of the elders teach us that the word is not only subject to the human dimension or to the narrow definitions of dictionaries, but to all living nature: because everything speaks, everything say, everyone participates with their voice and their expression in community life. Dreams herald and animate, plants declare, clouds reflect, hills foretell, stones warn, coca pronounces whether bitter or sweet. The fin-fin bird announces death, the hummingbird proclaims life ... "

- "This land gave birth to a culture brimming with practices and wisdoms capable of conversing with nature to solve the challenges of human survival."

- “For centuries, the indigenous and peasant populations were vetoed from the very nation that they themselves had forged from the roots; all they got from the dominant side was disdain for their culture and mocking prices for their products. But this life-giving culture was also nurturing and taming adverse words, in the same way as it cultivated wheat and tamed bulls and everything that the usurpers of their destiny brought.”

- “Perhaps the greatest legacy is courage: advocating at every step the dignity of our peoples; the gift of celebrating and being thankful for being together; having redeemed the book from its invasive condition to turn it into an allied tool; having built our house in Minga; being and loving each other as a family, in this wonderful land that gives us the blessing of being her children.”

Tribute to courage and drive -

The recognition of two rural librarians in the province of Cajabamba: Mrs. Laura Palacios Roldán, coordinator of the Condorcucho sector, who animates several rural libraries all run by women in the area.

And to Jacinto Aguilar Neira, veteran librarian, coordinator of the Araqueda sector.

Our infinite thanks to them for their loyalty and commitment to the great family of the Network.

Bea reading

Many years ago Beatriz Blanco, a Spaniard from Miranda de Ebro, was here and joined our Network as a volunteer. But despite the years the bond does not stop: it grows!

Bea shares her readings with her two girls and with all the children at the school where she works, in Madrid.

Recently, she participated in a virtual conversation in which our brother Alfredo told how one time, when he went to visit the school in Pingo, in the province of Cajabamba, he found that in Professor Miguel's classroom the children had built a “cave” with the tables and they had gotten under it to read, with even more emotion, his tales of enchantments.

Bea told her children about it. And recently they also built their own "cave", to keep reading.

Libraries in Fa

We welcome and congratulate two new families that now join our library community: the Julca Fernández family, from Sócota, and the Julón Pérez family, in San Luis de Lucma, Cutervo province.

We are grateful for the encouragement and enthusiasm of Abel Vásquez, librarian coordinator of the area, who accompanied the impulse of these two initiatives.

Now there are more Rural Libraries in Family (BR in FA) and we are very happy that the ayllu of the Network is growing.

Threads of light

Like threads of light, hugs, offerings, blessings, good wishes, petitions for life and a cease-fire, solidarity, and accompaniment reached Colombia.

In the unfortunate days that we have lived and continue to live, it is you - brother and sister librarians of the Network - who once again haven shown us that the Network of Rural Libraries extends throughout the world, the planet, from and to all hemispheres, to the constellations.

Infinite thanks for the presence and the voice, for the strength and the hope.

Nathalia, Colombian Volunteer

Be positive

Several weeks ago, due to the luck of fate, I tested "positive" for Covid19. Because of the situation we live in, I felt a lot of fear, but I was also sure that I would have enough support and help because the people closest to me are good people.

The same day I received encouraging messages from Alfredo, Karina, Rumi, Mara, Zelma, Helen, Nathalia, Gaby, Sara, Abel, Nancy, Angela, Jorge… just to mention a few names from this extensive family of Rural Libraries. I also received oils and other necessary ingredients, from Rita and Karin, to get out of the situation soon.

It is incredible, really, the speed with which friends, brothers and sisters of so many years and places run to help. Instantly I knew that market baskets, healing herbs, recipes for infusions and other medicines learned through experience were arriving at my house. In times of so much uncertainty and fear, it was very nice to know that so many people care about you. I cannot complain about the care I received from the medical staff, but it is very gratifying to receive so much attention from those who are not.

And then I thought of all the people who go through this alone, or are so far away that we can't even run to get them something, like many of our brothers and sisters from communities far from the towns. How will they spend their days of quarantine without having the necessary food, disinfectants or medicines, without a pulse oximeter to control their saturation or a simple thermometer, without adequate environments to isolate themselves and avoid infecting the rest of the family, without help caring for children. So, I appreciate my fortune much more, but the positive is passing me by. I am thinking: how long will we continue to live in this unfair situation?

Lola Paredes

Sensory Integration Workshop

At the beginning of May, through the Basic Special Education Resource Center (CREBE), our sister Rita Mocker offered a virtual workshop to teachers, therapists and parents. The topic was Sensory integration: evidence, difficulties, physiology, diagnosis and therapeutic process.

Sensory integration is an innate and complex process that allows our brain to organize and interpret the information we receive from our senses and the external world.

A child with sensory integration dysfunction has difficulty “filtering” this information, consequently, she cannot decide which stimuli to respond to and which stimuli to ignore and appears disorganized and out of sync with her environment.

At the beginning of the last century, Dr. Jean Ayres researched and developed different exercises and therapy techniques that help overcome these difficulties. Although it is true that the professional application of sensory integration therapies requires a lot of professional experience, a daily and familiar routine of small exercises significantly alleviates the symptoms. Learning these strategies was the intention of this workshop.