The basin and the voice

On Friday, 19^th April, 2018, we started off with 4 teachers and 66 students from the Higher Pedagogical Institute Víctor Andrés Belaunde, from Jaén, towards the upper basin of our river Amojú, La Rinconada hamlet.

The fresh air, the chirping of the birds, the sound of the river and the whistling of the wind were set in a scenario that connected us with our mother nature.

It was beautiful the reunion with Mrs. Armandina Cerdán Acuña, a wise woman that I had the privilege of knowing in 2005, when the group of environmental promoters was formed with all the stakeholders of the basin and the Vima; expert weaver of colorful saddlebags, quilts and ponchos in loom of stick and crochet, healer with medicinal plants, generous in sharing her knowledge and very clear in her speeches, virtues that have allowed her to participate and lead participation processes. She is 62 years old, has had 13 children, arrived at La Rinconada with her husband at age 17, her origin is Bambamarca. She proudly signals that 5 of her daughters and 2 of her granddaughters are "labourers" (textile art).

She had an entertaining talk with all the students and there was no question that she did not answer:

"Before, we grew chancaca which we sold in Jaén to buy salt. Before, I produced food like beans, chiuche, sweet potato, squash, vituca ...

Now they don't grow, the food of before has disappeared, there is a lot of plague that attacks the vituca, its stem turns black, it rots and it falls down; only the yellow corn grows. When the weather changed, some engineers came, took the temperature and trained us to plant coffee. Coffee gives us money, but it makes the land poorer because they put herbicide on it, they spray it with herbicide and the earth is weak, when the coffee plants fall, the land remains poor, it does not produce anything anymore, that's why the food is scarce.

Before it was nice, there was enough water, we passed in our beasts, now it has dulled; People cut the forest, they did not think the water was going to run out. For 10 years now there is little water.

The natural forest was a mountain of cedars, romerillos, avocado trees, balsa, higuerón, cascarilla, lanche. The forest has its fodder, where we tread, is the one that brings the strength of the water: that fodder rots and leaves the water. In the forest there were wild animals such as the paujil, the sachavaca, the spectacled bear, cocks of the rock, turkeys, foxes, foxes, mangujos, armadillos. Now there are only monkeys; days ago my grandchildren spotted monkeys in my little mountain ... "

Thank you Mrs. Armandina for your testimony, for the memory of our land.

"We all teach together, we all learn together" (Network of Rural Libraries).

Sara Moreno Pool

Growing and building

A few years ago we started to minguear (to work voluntarily in a collective) to build new rooms in our big house: the family of the Rural Library Network is growing and it is necessary to have more spaces to welcome everyone in the different events.

This dream is becoming reality thanks to the support of friends of the Network, together with the fellow volunteers of the communities, who with dedication and effort are advancing with the construction of two rooms in the style of the Cajamarcan countryside.

They will be humble, but pleasant rooms, shows the learning shared by the volunteers who built them and witness the sharing of those who inhabit them.

Our gratitude to this hand of so many hands.

Oscar Garay: presence and mourning

We lack the words to give this news of mourning.

Last Sunday, the 6^th, in the afternoon, while helping in a communal task, our dear brother Oscar Raúl Garay Tongo suffered an accident that caused his death.

Oscar, a community member from Jerez, joined our Network in the mid-80s. And in the early 2000s, he was approved by the Community Assembly as our General Coordinator, a position he held with frank devotion for two years.

When we are a community, joy is a blessing that is cultivated and thrives ... but how the absence of a brother or sister hurts us. Even more if he is like Oscar, a 'human man' who will never stop being one.

The biggest tribute is to keep walking. We are on this path that you helped to clear and make more pleasant, Oscar, brother.

Launch of "The right to essence"

This Friday, 4^th May, at 7 pm, we will be launching our most recent publication: 

"The right to essence: children, rights, community and the twisted." 

The ceremony will be held at the headquarters of our Network: Avenida Perú Nº 416.

We are all invited: we welcome your punctual presence!

Consuelo and Luza

During our Assembly in April, we received the pleasant visit of Consuelo Gaitán, Director of the National Library of Colombia, and Luz Adriana Martínez, Leader of the Technical Assistance area of ​​the National Network of Public Libraries of Colombia.

The National Library of Colombia, besides preserving and cataloging the bibliographic and documentary collection of the country, is an information centre in which you can find diverse and abundant historical, cultural, artistic, religious, political and social documents of Colombia. Currently, the National Library is carrying out an inventory of its documents in different media for its digitalization process that guarantees its permanence, conservation and greater diffusion.

The National Network of Public Libraries is responsible for coordinating the enormous processes of training, articulation and strengthening of public libraries in Colombia.

This visit of Consuelo and Luz Adriana had been gestating for so long, encouraged as they were to share the effort to build, with the reading of the world and of books, a more honourable life, with full rights to the dreams of peace and community joy.

Back in Colombia, Consuelo sent us some of her impressions:

"I still hear the voices of the peasants speaking with tenderness of their farms ... evoking their elders with the devotion of those who know themselves protected by them or laughing mischievously of the tricks and mysteries that permeate their daily life. What a great wealth there is behind that almost mystical relationship with nature! I would like to express my deep gratitude for having had the fortune to live this wonderful commotion."

We also send our sincere and affectionate greetings, from Cajamarca to Bogotá, for this precious time shared.

The Rural Library of ISP of Jaén

On 12^th April of this year, the Social Sciences Department - V Semester of the ISP "Víctor A. Belaunde" of Jaén, with initiative and enthusiasm, prepared with new copies and posters the Rural Library that has been operating since the last quarter of the past year.

It is known to all that our Library is part of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, which has made it possible for us to avail of its bibliographic collection, such as the copies of the Peasant Encyclopedia and various publications. This access to the books of the network has multiplied because of the book exchange system, and from the recent Encounter and Assembly. Books included literary works, dictionaries and other texts.

The aim is to encourage the critical and voluntary reading of students and teachers to inform themselves and to train as people, as well as to disseminate stories of rural culture in order to recognize, rescue, value and put into practice the knowledge, values ​​and positive identities.

The students who frequent the library are entering Social Sciences – First Semester, who arrive with much desire, choose their book and register. For their part, the 7 students of Fifth Semester started the first Reading Circle, on 17^th April, to discuss the book "Esa luz de más adentro" by maestro Alfredo Mires Ortiz.

Prof. Sara Moreno Alberca

Rejuvenating

The first weekend of April more than fifty community members of the Network of Rural Libraries met to celebrate the first Assembly of this year. Many of them have attended these meetings continuously for more than twenty years. They come from far away, carrying their books and their contribution to the common pot. The re-encounter each time is a joy.

In this assembly there were also many new faces. The youngest librarian, Maicol Burga, arrived after two days of travel; walking from the community of Yunchaco, in the province of Cutervo. Maicol participated with great emphasis and conviction, transmitting to everyone the importance of reading and learning from our elders.

We also welcomed Laura Quiliche, student and head of the Open Library of the Superior Pedagogical Institute "Víctor Andrés Belaunde", Jaén. In this library one can read there, in the open air or take the books home, but the contact with the book is real and experiential, not restricted to the physical space of the library. Laura is an animated young woman who convinces with her effort and fresh and innovative spirit: we are very grateful for her presence among us.

From the Superior Pedagogical Institute of Jaén was also teacher Sara Moreno. We really appreciates your presence and your important and precise interventions.

From the I.E. "Sacred Heart" of Jaén were also our dear friends Cleofé Guzmán, Elizabeth Olano and Polinéstor Huamán, who have been carrying out intense rescue work with the Peasant Encyclopedia Project.

From Colombia we counted with the presence of Nathalia Quintero Castro who is in charge of the Technical Secretariat of the Network and took great pains in this assembly to satisfy the concerns and needs of each librarian and coordinator.

Also there were Consuelo Gaitán, Director of the National Library of Colombia, and Luz Adriana Martínez, Leader of the Technical Assistance area of ​​the National Network of Public Libraries of Colombia. Their integration, openness and willingness to share were transcendental for this assembly.

The presence of some children of librarians and veteran coordinators seems to us very important because in most cases it is the family members who, from a young age, attend to the readers in the libraries during the absence of the librarians. Welcome Lennon, Magaly and Jorge to this assembly!

Manuela Vásquez and Ricardo Delgado are two teachers who, since last year, have been members of the Network family, from their centers in Bambamarca and Chota. Their presence, interest and work renew the spirit.

Thank you all for joining us on this journey.