In the house of the hummingbird

After many years, I was finally able to come here for a few weeks: to Cajamarca, to the wonderful project of Bibliotecas Rurales. And it feels a bit like always and at the same time completely different. The streets, the sounds, the smells, the blue sky, the Andean sun and the dear friends - a home.

Then the headquarters of Bibliotecas Rurales: the numerous shelves and display cases with books from their own publishing house, the volunteer offices, the creaking wooden staircase leading to the common rooms. Every step tells a story.

One of the most important places in the project is the Hatun Wasi, the main hall, for all the meetings and gatherings. That is where I go first, because I feel the change very strongly: Alfredo is missed a lot and yet he is there. I stand in front of the lovingly designed ‘altar’ that now houses not only Juan's urn, but also Alfredo's. Behind me, on the opposite wall, there is a large photo of him, next to an older photo of Juan. There are the two founders, friends, apus of Rural Libraries, looking at us with a smile. I stand in front of them and greet them. The loss is heavy, heavy and hurts so much. I am crying. But suddenly I hear something familiar and look out: the clicking and buzzing of hummingbirds. They are still there: comforting, soothing, fascinating and uniquely beautiful. They walk between worlds and times. The buzzing of their wings signifies resurgence, confidence, courage, future, and I clearly feel that, after the serious loss, the first steps towards this future in the project have already been taken. The other layers of grief will be taken care of by life, little by little. Together, in community. As it is written in this room: In dark times we are helped by those who have been able to walk in the night.

Thank you for being able to be here with you again!

Kyra Grewe

Dance

Mara Mires was born in the heart of the Network, among books and readings, assemblies, mingas and librarians. From a very young age, she accompanied us on trips to the countryside and, even though she could not speak or walk well, she was with us when we visited the children with projectable capacities. When she was older, Mara learned to play with these children, to do some therapy exercises for them or to look for the homeopathic remedy that we indicated to her. At the library assemblies, she taught us how to make origami and helped to record the testimonies during the oral tradition rescues. Today, Mara is responsible for our social networks.

But Mara is not only that. She started practising ballet at the age of seven, then she learned to tap dance and is currently pursuing a degree in dance at the University of Antioquia in Medellín.

We rarely get to see Mara dance, because of the distance. We were very impressed by her contemporary dance performance at an event of the Ballet Academy ‘Coppèlia’ in the Plazuela San Pedro in Cajamarca in recent days.

Congratulations, dear Mara.

Danza, baila, ronda,
florea, zapatea, gira, menea,
salta, piruetea, juega,
retoza, festeja.

Dance, dance, around,

flower, stamps, spin, twirl,

jump, pirouette, play,

frolic, celebrate.

Alfredo Mires Ortiz

In: La ensoñación del Ñaupa (The daydream of Ñaupa)

In Masintranca

After three days of intense and emotional interactions at the Assembly of Rural Libraries in the city of Cajamarca, we arrived in the village of Masintranca, where Don Sergio and Doña Donatila coordinate and develop library programmes. For another three days, the two of them, together with their daughter Nerly, were the most loving hosts and guides, like older siblings, who teach us to walk, to see and to listen. From their welcoming home, we tried to get closer to what they do, to understand how the community members persevere in ensuring that the rural libraries continue to be a beacon and a place of meeting and thought for the communities, that the word unites them and helps them to grow together.

One of our objectives - Javier and I, through our meeting with the secondary school students of the Cristo Rey de Masintranca Secondary School, was to get to know a little of the world that these boys and girls live and construct; their desires, their way of seeing and participating in their community, in short, that self that each one puts into play by being part of a family, of a village. The understandable silence of the boys and girls, as well as their teachers (with whom we also did a workshop), before this pair of strange characters who suddenly appear to ask questions, became communion in the written word, in the emotions that in one way or another we all experience, but which sometimes we do not name.  From a writing exercise, which basically consists of answering some questions of an existential nature, what is proposed is a sharing of what those answers summon and provoke; to see that, in the end, we are not so different, we are happy and we rejoice and dream in similar ways, even if it is hard to talk about.

Thus came their reflections, typical of thirteen to seventeen year olds, thanks to writing, but especially thanks to their willingness to listen to themselves and to ask things they may not ask themselves in everyday life. And thanks also to their trust in us (and in our being respectful guardians of their affairs), as we also trust them with part of our own stories. There remains a precious little pile of leaves where they are what they are and also what they dream, where they mourn losses and loneliness, mistrust and inequalities, but also where they celebrate and rejoice in the grandeur of the small. We believe, as one of the girls said, that even if we don't want to remember and talk about certain things, doing so ‘will help us to build a better future’. Hence another of the girls said: {I feel} ‘in a cool way, because it allowed us to talk about a little bit of our life, how we were living’.

We were given invaluable gifts: the young students, the possibility of looking out, from their eyes, at the present in this beautiful territory; our kind hosts, including the tiny and beautiful Salomé, the infinite generosity of the hospitality that brings hearts together. To all, our gratitude and sincere desire to meet again.

Orlanda Agudelo Mejía

El Carmen del Viboral, Colombia

A day like today...

On a day like today, on 8th July more than twenty years ago, Juan Medcalf, founder of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, died.

Juan came to Peru to join the path of the many who followed the calls of Liberation Theology, volunteers willing to live - in flesh and blood - the option for the poor. Juan, a committed and authentic man, came to live in Bellavista, a small community in Llaucán, Bambamarca, in a humble little house in the countryside. It was there that he began to lend his first books to his neighbours and to understand the magnitude of life in the countryside. It was there that the Network was born in the heart of a priest.

It has been many years since Juan is no longer with us. I imagine him now, there, together with Alfredo, talking, laughing, remembering us, dreaming and longing for a glass of rum. May God continue to enjoy them.

Rita Mocker

Because together we are stronger

Filled with joy and full of illusions, on Thursday 27 June, we waited for our brothers and sisters who were arriving, one by one, from the different library communities; some had travelled for two or three days, and many of them had made the journey on foot. We gathered to celebrate our General Assembly, the first of the year 2024.

The Assembly, for us, has many meanings, starting with the meeting to strengthen our ties as a librarian family: a time to share, to continue learning and unlearning, to reflect on what we have done and to set ourselves new challenges, an opportunity to recharge our batteries and keep moving forward.

And in this Assembly, apart from showing our gratitude with the all'pata paguikun, rescuing the wisdom of our elders, celebrating the feast of the exchange for the implementation of our libraries with new books; we paused to review the conception of the Rural Libraries Network. With the support of our compas Javier Naranjo, Orlanda Agudelo, Nathalia Quintero, Sara Moreno and the valuable contributions of each of the coordinators, who spoke to us about the content of some of our books, enriching the presentations and discussions. 

And, to receive the energy of our dear land, we closed the Assembly by visiting Apu Qayaqpuma, a sacred mountain, from which our brother Alfredo Mires left us four great books in which he recorded the rock art of our ancestors.

Because together we are stronger; we are sure that dear mother earth, our apus and our deceased will do everything possible for us to continue meeting again, to continue coming together in the next assembly.

Questions from Orlanda and Javier

A few weeks ago our friends Javier Naranjo and Orlanda Agudelo came from Colombia to accompany us, to visit some libraries in the communities and to participate in our General Assembly.

During this time of their visit we also took the opportunity and asked them to share with us their emotive strategies to read ourselves, each one of us, and to answer the many questions that arise in our lives. It is great when Orlanda and Javier ask a question because no one has to worry about finding the right answer. That's how it feels for the adults who participate in their workshops and also for the children. They simply ask questions to help us discover our affections, remember our dreams and express our sorrows and frustrations. Their questions help us to remember how we learned to live and to be ourselves.

This year, it was a pleasure to welcome them back to the classrooms of EI "Cristo Rey", where the children really enjoyed "The question, a journey inside". This workshop was also replicated for teachers and educational promoters from various organisations.

Thank you, Javier and Orlanda, for your pleasant presence! We look forward to seeing you back again, until your next visit.

Minga at the headquarters

We were approaching our First General Assembly scheduled for this year, where we shared experiences and knowledge with our fellow coordinators of the Network.

Part of the Assembly is dedicated to the Book Exchange, which is the exchange of books read for new titles, which are taken by the coordinators to the different libraries in the rural areas. For this reason a minga was organised at the Central Office to prepare the new books and in this way continue to encourage reading.

Our deepest thanks to the volunteers who helped us in this wonderful work, their support is very valuable to us.

We continue to journey, we continue to live, we continue to strengthen ourselves in favour of reading and our culture.