Celebrating the rain

The year 2024 was a year with no rain. As a consequence there were many forest fires affecting our flora, wildlife, domestic grazing animals and also the fields of our farming brothers and sisters. 

Normally we were used to the first rains arriving in the month of October, to sow the corn, but the summer continued. The first days of December the first dark grey clouds appeared, signalling the arrival of rain, so longed for by all of us, generating hope for our crops and animals.

In the middle of December the first rains began to fall, which was an immense joy for all of us, since rain means LIFE for us; rain is a time when there is production of all our crops, the pastures for the animals grow and we are no longer carrying water from far away places for the consumption of us and our animals.

In honour and gratitude to the gods for giving us the agüita, community men and women from the various communities, readers of rural libraries, we make our little offering to our mother earth, as the source of life that feeds and shelters us, to our sacred mountains, the apus, for keeping the agüita in their womb for times of drought and in memory of our deceased for their honour, passion, strength, wisdom and their mystical spiritual faith with mother nature. 

Now it is time to sow seeds, words and knowledge by reading our books after a little offering to the Pachamama.

Javier Huaman Lara

General Coordinator

Sandra writes about Libraries

A few days ago, Sandra Rodríguez Castañeda, anthropologist and friend of Bibliotecas Rurales, sent us some copies of the magazine Lectura. In the first edition of this magazine, December 2024, there is an article that Sandra wrote -from her experience and her heart- about the Network. 

The article is entitled Domesticating the Word, Recreating Utopia and refers to Sandra's opinion and vision of our organisation and the lessons she learned in her conversations with Alfredo Mires - such as ‘getting to know oneself’. But Sandra's article is also an attempt to narrate the history of Bibliotecas Rurales: our beginnings, our concepts and our conception, our wanderings and growths, our stumbles and challenges, our dreams and visions, what we are and what we want to continue to be.

In an affectionate way, Sandra reminds us of Alfredo and the things he taught us over the years. She says: ‘Because after so many years, Alfredo continues to be an interlocutor in my head and the work of Rural Libraries a reference for me’. 

It is the same for us, dear Sandra.

Thank you for your clarity, for your reflections and for this tribute.

Learning...

We started 2025 by returning to work in the Exchange Centre of the Network, after a few days off for Christmas and New Year.

As is well known in this area, we always need the support of helping hands to carry out some tasks in the Exchange Centre, the operational area of the Network. One of the tasks is to count, order and place the books produced by the Network into boxes to preserve their good condition, which are ordered and placed on the shelves, according to the themes.

On this occasion we had the valuable support of Don Javier Huamán Lara, General Coordinator of the Network, who very enthusiastically offered to support us in this task that greatly benefits the work of the Network in rural areas.

We are extremely grateful to him for taking the initiative to get involved, learn and support the work of the Exchange Centre.

Idylls

The reflection of the moon

in a wet petal

the first honey of the day

of a hummingbird in love.

A drop of dew

the wing of a beetle

the top of the mountain

looking up at her from below.

That's you and by far

the most beautiful inspiration

the dream of desires

the most precious smile.

The gleam of a tender eye

a ray of sunshine singing

the echo of a faithful sigh

a thread of you shining.

The smell of the earth

after the first downpour

and a cartridge of lily

toasting with a shooting star.

The ledge of a rock

to climb the mountain

a clean space

in the middle of the tangle.

Alfredo Mires Ortiz

in: Resuellos

Idilios

El reflejo de la luna
en un pétalo mojado
la primera miel del día
de un colibrí enamorado.

Una gota de rocío
el ala de un escarabajo
la cima de la montaña
mirándola desde abajo.

Eso eres vos y de lejos
la inspiración más hermosa
el sueño de los deseos
la sonrisa más preciosa.

El brillo de un ojo tierno
un rayo de sol cantando
el eco de un fiel suspiro
un hilo de voz brillando.

El olor de la tierrita
tras el primer aguacero
y un cartucho de azucena
brindando con un lucero.

El saliente de una roca
para trepar la montaña
un espacio limpiecito
en medio de la maraña.

Alfredo Mires Ortiz
en: Resuellos

Our own

At the beginning of the 1980s, Alfredo Mires and his team began to rescue the oral tradition of Cajamarca, a collection of the great wisdom of our grandparents. Since then, the Rural Libraries not only promote reading but also produce their own books which we proudly call 'Los Nuestros' (Our own) - those that speak of our roots, that take us back to past times but that also make us value the present and tell us that we are important, that we know something and that we must continue learning. Most importantly they make us reflect on the care of nature, because everything has life, everything has a reason for being.

So, with the best spirit and learning a little at a time, we continue with this legacy, and now we are reediting our books of the Encyclopaedia Campesina; we already have again Dios Cajacho, Seres del más acá, Tintes y tejidos, Nuestras herramientas, Música maestro, Todos los tiempos, Trenzando sombras, José María and soon the Hombres de Kishuar. Los Nuestros will continue to tell, will continue to teach. We will continue to enliven the memory of our peoples.

Our gratitude to those who supported the rescue, and now to those who are working hard on the editing, revision and printing.

Shaki and her little ones

In the middle of June, we rescued Shakira, one of our dear cats who is now looking after the house, and we named her Shakira in honour of a great friend of Bibliotecas who helped with the rescue and took care of her when she arrived home.

Today Shakira is already a mother, always looking after her children, and her children are very affectionate and grateful to her.

They say that cats protect homes from bad energies, but we also know that they teach us life lessons. And, today Shakira and her little ones confirm it, they are teaching us day by day the importance of protection, of being attentive to any problem or need of the other.

Welcome little ones, great protectors.

The right to hope

At the beginning of this month, all the members of the core team of the Network met to plan the activities we intend to carry out this year.

We have an extensive calendar: team meetings, training meetings, general assemblies, sectoral meetings, coordination trips, publication of books, workshops and tinkus, visits of some volunteers... in short, we have an extensive calendar. And, looking at the dates, we realise that the whole year is full of activities.

Will we be able to do everything we have set out to do? In truth, we haven't asked ourselves the question and we don't have the answer either; but we are excited to know that we are willing to do it, we will join forces and we will ‘lend’ time if necessary.

We sit down to plan with enthusiasm, good spirits and a lot of hope. That is our right.