The House of Peruvian Literature (Casa de Literatura Peruana) has awarded its 2021 prize—given each year to outstanding writers and researchers of Peruvian letters—to Alfredo Mires, director of the Rural Libraries Network of Cajamarca. The network is one of Heart-Links’ oldest partner. Previous prize recipients include Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Germán Belli, and Carmen Ollé.

“Throughout its 50 years, the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca has given new impetus to the creation and circulation of books, also contributing to the recovery and revaluation of community memory and oral traditions through the Enciclopedia Campesina,” the awards jury wrote. “This project questions and reinvents the dynamics of compiling community knowledge, proposing new ways of valuing the poetic word and publications made by and for the community.”

The Enciclopedia Campesina is a collection of 20 volumes that gathers stories and knowledge from across the mountainous region surrounding the town of Cajamarca. Heart-Links financed its first printing 20 years ago and is now supporting publication of a new edition that includes stories and knowledge from other communities that have joined the network.

The network now boasts more than 200 titles that are distributed among 500 remote communities and 50 schools in Cajamarca, Lambayeque, La Libertad and Amazonas. Volunteer librarians keep the books in their homes, making them available to the neighbours. They also lead reading circles. Volunteer coordinators deliver the books to the librarians.

“Each coordinator is in charge of 10 to 15 libraries, and it is an intense job,” Alfredo Mires told El País, which published an article about the decision to honour him. “Because they are not just book distributors: they have to leave the work of the chacra (land) and sometimes walk for many hours or days and stay in the community—to meet with the children, see what population there is of children with disabilities, teach them how to make a reading circle.”

Javier Huamán, one of the networks’ longest-serving coordinators, must travel three hours by bus from Cajamarca to Bambamarca and then continue on foot another four hours to reach his home in Luychocolpa. “Before the pandemic, I would go out for three days to coordinate in my area: to bring them new books and pick up the others, the books rotate like people, like food,” he told El País.

The award ceremony is to be streamed live (in Spanish) on Friday, February 11, at 7 p.m. EST. If you’d like to join, tune in to the Casa de Literatura Peruana’s Facebook page or YouTube channel.

Want to learn more about the Rural Libraries Network?

Join us on February 10, at 7 p.m. EST for Share the Love @ Home, where Lola Paredes, part of the Rural Libraries’ leadership team, will speak live from Peru about their work. Free registration here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GhQVJaILQWCUvnaj-PDKNQ

When: March 31 at 11:00 a.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. in Peru)

Where: Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89381373646?pwd=MzFmQ2pSakY2N0JES0lkWHh0YlBNZz09

Rural Libraries invites you to make your own offering, in whatever part of the world you live in, “to the earth, to our deceased, and our sacred mountains.” They explain:

“The All’pata paguikun is a very ancient ceremony to render our affection to the earth, to the apus or sacred mountains and to our deceased. And it comes from always, when there were no churches or doctrines here. So your Celebration does not mean renouncing the creed that each person has but, on the contrary, it enriches it. It is foolish to qualify this ceremony as idolatry. And furthermore, as an elder named Gandhi said, ‘By practicing tolerance for other beliefs, we acquire a more real understanding of our own.’”

Learn more about All’pata paguikun here (English) or here (Spanish).

Founded in 1971 by Father John Medcalf, today the Rural Libraries Network comprises a web of more than 500 tiny libraries housed in the homes of dedicated volunteer librarians throughout the mountains surrounding Cajamarca and neighbouring provinces in northern Peru. Librarians both house the reading materials and take leadership in establishing reading circles for young and old to promote literacy, education and pride in the Indigenous campesino culture. More than 50,000 rural readers have enjoyed the books Rural Libraries has published.

Heart-Links has partnered with the network since our own founding 26 years ago. In 2006, our donors funded publication of the first Enciclopedia Campesina, and we are currently funding a new revised edition. The Enciclopedia Campesina is a collection of 20 volumes that gathers stories and knowledge from across the region of Cajamarca. It is the cornerstone of the Rural Library Network’s literacy program. The revised edition will add stories and knowledge from communities who have joined the Network in the intervening years.

nada nos separa si la tierra nos junta
nothing can separate us if the earth unites us

In Peru, the arrival of COVID-19 coincided with the beginning of the school year, and during the first months of the pandemic, children were not allowed to leave their homes.

Today, more than six months since the pandemic hit, children are still at home. Schooling is available through the government program “I learn at home,” accessed via a government website or over television or radio. For many families, however, this kind of programming is not enough.

The pandemic is widening the gap in education between families with access to resources and those without. It is placing an even greater strain on parents who already face many obstacles.

That’s why Heart-Links partner Latidos is helping fill the gap with activities that run from wellness workshops with parents and children to arts and crafts to reading and storytelling. The program is part of the project Live and Travel with Words—financed by Heart-Links donors and readapted for COVID-19.

Latidos’ monthly storytelling contests have been a big hit. Contestants read and then reenact fables distributed by Latidos. The entries are uploaded to Facebook and voted on and, yes, there are prizes. But it looks likes these kids are having a great time whatever the outcome.

You can help Latidos and other Heart-Links partners continue to build literacy, develop leadership, care for our planet, empower women and girls and more—pandemic or no pandemic. Consider making a donation to Heart-Links today.

Heart-Links’ donors have contributed to this growth. Every year, your dollars fund projects that build literacy and math skills in children, youth and adults and offer quality educational supports that draw on and respect local knowledge.

More than one quarter of our project financing this year supports programs in Peru that strengthen literacy. These 2020 programs are

• Expression in Drawing, Words & Weaving
• Live and Travel with Words
• New Edition of the Enciclopedia Campesino

Education is a major component of many other Heart-Links’ projects as well.

The events of the last year have underscored the importance of universal literacy. People’s health and safety depended on being able to access life-saving information.

However, as the United Nations observes, “During COVID-19, in many countries, adult literacy programs were absent in the initial education response plans, so most adult literacy programs that did exist were suspended, with just a few courses continuing virtually, through TV and radio, or in open air spaces.”

To bridge these gaps, Heart-Links’ partners were quick to add door-to-door delivery of educational materials, virtual workshops and support groups, psychological counselling and check-ins by telephone to their programs to ensure their work to improve literacy and education continued.

“On this International Day, I thus invite all those involved in education to redouble their investments and mobilize all their resources to unleash the potential of each individual in the service of a shared world.”

— Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director General

Heart-Links invites you to celebrate this day and to continue to invest in literacy in Peru. With your help, we are building a more just world.