There's a party at the house

When we are having a party we get the house ready nicely, the food, the music, we put some nice clothes on, and we anxiously await the arrival of the guests to whom sometimes we might even give a little gift....

This is how it seems to have been for the committee charged with preparing the tribute to our organisation: they got the Council Hall ready with nice chairs, put flowers and candles in the fountain, prepared snacks, some wine for the toast..... And even the Council Band played for us a little!

The programme was very simple and enjoyable; beginning with the Cajamarcan Anthem, a tune which will forever remind us of the tireless battles in defence of our sacred mountain Quilish.  Our General Coordinator, Javier Huamán Lara then presented a brief summary of the history, objectives and projects of the Network of Rural Libraries.  This was followed by a wonderful reading by José Isabel Ayay Valdez, from the community of Chilimpampa, of a story full of grace and wisdom, which brought great applause from the public.

At the heart of the ceremony the resolutions and diplomas were read, expressing the Special Recognition of the Provincial Municipality of Cajamarca to the Network of Rural Libraries – for its 40^th anniversary in service of the Promotion of Reading in the Communities – and to the Peruvian anthropologist and writer Alfredo Mires Ortiz, cofounder and Executive Advisor of our Network, dedicated to the recovery and revaluation of the identity of Cajamarca.

The table was presided over by the Deputy Mayor, Mr. Segundo Rojas Fernández representing the mayor Ramiro Bardales Vigo, joined by councillor Ginés Cabanillas, Prof. Carlos Cabrera Miranda, the Reverend Father Miguel Garnett and, of course, our colleagues Alfredo Mires y Javier Huamán, representing the Network.

At the culmination of this important ceremony, our colleague Alfredo Mires Ortiz made his awaited intervention, thanking the Municipality for its gesture and - with a solemn speech - made a point of highlighting the work of the colleagues in the countryside who drive this cultural movement from and for the communities.

Forty years with the books on the ground represent, as Machado says, “a path made through walking”.  We are sure that there are more years to come.