sábado, 14 de marzo de 2009

News and Photos 2008

March 1, 2009

Dear Library Friends-

We had a very good 2008 at the Centro de Conocimiento Compartido Library: reading, exploring new ideas, writing, and taking a couple field trips. I´ll tell you all about it but first an adventure.
The official year began with a safety precaution: removing trees that were leaning ominously toward the library! People who have had the opportunity to visit the library will remember that our garden is full of trees, over 30, some avocados, mangos, grapefruit, cedars and hardwoods, plus flowering bushes and shrubs, many planted by the library and the kids. Since the library building provides an open space in the s
ky, the taller trees naturally wind up leaning towards the building. Before opening day we sent notes to the families who regularly participate in our activities to gather for a meeting. After a look at the trees in question to decide which were imminently dangerous and some lively arguments about which way to cut them to accomplish the desired fall trajectory the parents had their plan. We would return the next morning at 6am with ropes, axe, and machetes. And so we did. Here´s how it works. First the ropes are tied together. Then the line is tied to a heavy stick which is hurled over an appropriate branch. That sounds simple but can be quite tricky when one has to avoid all the other intervening branches. In a couple cases it was impossible and someone had to climb the tree to establish the line. In one tree Wilder disturbed a wasp´s nest before reaching the branch. Colorful language from above and laughs from below pursued. (One lovely characteristic of jungle culture is that discomfort is taken with a grain of salt.) Once the line is set chopping begins. At the halfway point everyone lines up, tug-of-war style with people on one side and tree on the other. Imagine twenty people lined up holding the line, those closest to the tree with feet nearly dangling. When the tree starts to give the tugging increases to bring the tree round to the desired direction. As the tree begins to free fall tuggers run for cover. It is always good to plan the escape route beforehand and remember to not put yourself between the rope and an immobile object. In three hours five of the six trees were down. The parents decided that the last tree, which looked very healthy, didn´t need to be cut because even if it fell by itself it wouldn´t hit the library.
With trees safely down we could begin the year. Our daily activities included reading and discussing books, jigsaw and 3-D puzzles, math and word games, Scrabble, drawing, touch typing and computer skills. About 80 people participated in our regular activities throughout the year and our average daily attendance during the school year was 30. At the end of the year we awarded 63 Reading Club certificates to students who read 10 books or more. Of those, twelve read over 100 storybooks, eight more read over 200 books and six students read over 300 books. In November nearly 150 students from a dozen surrounding villages participated in the annual Spelling and Grammar Contest. This event has grown in proportions and excitement similar to local soccer championships. Emotions run high inside the library as the competition warms-up and local people set up refreshments outside in the yard. This year we also organized two essay writing contests, one for recent high school grads and another for local parents. All winners were announced at the Spelling and Grammar contest.




We often give “prizes” for the language games we play at the library or have free raffles just to keep things interesting. One Thursday afternoon we had a raffle for several jigsaw puzzles of 500 pieces. The students love to do jigsaws in group at the library and we often work a week or two to complete them. So they were excited to have the chance to win one to take home. To my surprise the following Monday twins Luz and Richard came in huffing and puffing carrying a large piece of plywood between them. Luz and Richard walk 30 minutes to come to the library and cross a major stream in canoe on the way. They were bringing the jigsaw puzzle that they had won on Thursday afternoon and finished over the weekend. I was truly impressed that not only had they focussed their entire weekend working on it but that they carried it all the way to the library to show us. I took it to Iquitos to put under glass and it is now hanging in their house. They are really proud of their efforts.

Luz and Richard with their finished puzzle




Winners of the Olympics with golden dracmas

The junior and senior high students in the Reading Circle chose four books to read. Their unanimous first choice surprised me, a youth “encyclopedia” on Ancient Greece. Many had seen the movie Troy with Brad Pitt and were thus attracted by the theme. The book was full of information about the evolution of philosophy, art, math, medicine, trade, history, political thought, architecture and sports. We looked at how many developments of ancient Greece are still in our present society. At the end we divided into three teams and held our own Greek Olympics – a Jeapordy style competition including all the aforementioned categories. The students played for golden dracmas (greek/chocolate coins) notebooks and pens. Younger students had their own word and alphabet events. On book lending day at the end of the week I noticed that two students took home similar books about Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt. The Reading Circle also read Julie of the Wolves. This to date is the students´ longest accomplishment – 250 dense pages. The story is about an Inuit girl who has to come to terms with the integration of traditional Inuit culture with “modern” lifestyles. The theme is apropos to the events that are taking place now in the rainforest as traditional society is being influenced more and more by outside economy, ideology, and technology. We used the encyclopedias in the computers to learn more about the tundra, wolves, and other unfamiliar themes.

Communication tools at the library came in several forms this year. On June 24, John the Baptist Day, I received the gift of a juane the traditional food for the celebrations, from Julio our library maintenance man. As I was not present at the moment he came by he had to leave a note. But since he had no pen or paper he found the leaf bud case from a cecropia tree and scratched the message onto its pure white interior using a twig. A natural chemical reaction makes the scratched part turn dark brown. So I had a perfectly legible message in a very beautiful form. It read “A juane for Nancy Dunn from Julio Ramirez” We also had the opportunity to expand our technology with a gift of solar panels and two PCs from engineers at Colorado University. So we now have four computers for library use – two laptops and two PC. In 2009 we would like to add one more computer so that we have four for student use and one designated solely for administrative use. The students are enjoying learning the additional skills. These skills will help them join and express themselves in the global community. I do hope, however, that they will never lose the lovely local knowledge that Julio demonstrates.
For several weeks at the beginning of the year Cindy Smith, a volunteer from Michigan, helped enter data for our new electronic card catalogue. Thank you Cindy. We are using a Microsoft Excel program that can be manipulated to show the collection according to author, title, subject etc. Throughout the rest of the year I entered the registration info, shelf list info, and Dewey info. Future book searches and inventories will be much easier. One nice plus with the electronic catalogue – no scurrying cockroaches when you open the catalogue drawers!

Over the years we´ve shown many films at the library-some adventure, some classics and some documentaries. Films are a good compliment to books and books to film. In 2007 we showed two versions of Prokoviev´s ballet Peter and the Wolf. Motives in the orchestra are assigned to each character and so kids can learn to recognize instrumental sounds and hear how the story is intertwined with music. The first version was a cartoon version with Lloyd Bridges as narrator telling the story to his grandson. It was very appealing to the library kids. The second version was a ballet presented by the London Childrens Ballet company. I was expecting lots of laughs when the boys in tights came prancing out but instead the students were absorbed. In 2008 we added a book version of the Peter and the Wolf to the library. When we read it together we hum a couple of tunes from the ballet too. Another film we enjoyed this year was Moby Dick. The Reading Circle had read a very abridged version of this work (ie 45 pages) and when offered a handful of films from which to choose – including their favorite karate films- they chose Moby Dick. That was a pleasant surprise.

Fran Pinedo, our scholarship student, finished his three year course in tourism. He now has to do a 3 month internship and write a thesis. His mentor for the thesis will be Fernando Saavedra our administrator. We hope Fran finishes. The library provided a scholarship to Angel Paz, our music workshop teacher, for one month´s study at the National Conservatory of Music in Lima. Angel also leads a childrens choir in Iquitos and is an invaluable resource for the culture. Katerin Perez Bardales, a 2008 high school graduate and a regular library attender for the past eight years, has a scholarship from the library to study computation in Iquitos for 2009. Katerin on the first day of classes

We took the small kids to Iquitos to visit Pilpintuhuasi the butterfly farm, a naval ship museum, and the zoo. We have done a similar trip every year since the library opened. The trip was going fine until late in the afternoon at the zoo when I was mugged while walking with a group of the littlest kids. The assailants threw me to the ground and grabbed the contents of my bag which spilled on the ground. They stole the library´s cell phone and camera and a few personal articles. But they didn´t get the cash or bank debit cards. I grabbed one guy´s foot and he fell down. The zoo security got him later in the woods. He did have my clock in his pocket but none of the valuables. The other thief took the rest of the stuff. Unfortunately the police were not
interested in recovering the items. Our next field trip to Iquitos will include some fathers!

Sandra and Jim Achenbach visited this year and worked with the students to draw comic strip characters and write stories. They presented a little theater at the end of the week. Thank you Jim and Sandra.

In 2008 we ran two pilot branches of the library at two villages outside our daily visitors range. In each village an adult volunteered to be in charge. The program started with a two day training session at the main library to familiarize the volunteer librarians with ways to read with kids, to animate their desire to read, and to increase their comprehension. The volunteers also participated in two reading days at the library. We gave each branch library a module of books and book display case as well as some word games and other logic games. The book modules were changed once a month via a local peque-peque boat. We had many journeys through rain and lightening. We discovered early on that the villages did not have adequate or appropriate space to use as a reading room (although on their application form to the program and in interviews they assured us that they did) and that librarians were not opening the branches as promised. We began to visit twice a month and on several occasions opened the library ourselves. In one village a young father was running the library. While his intentions and efforts were pretty good he didn´t have enough reading skills himself to animate the kids. In the second village the local school teacher volunteered to run the library but rarely opened up. There were 12-15 kids in each village which participated. That is alittle more than we started with at the main library 10 years ago. The kids in both villages were like our own library kids, open to participating and enjoying the experience. The teachers also took advantage of the books and magazines. This was a very good trial for us. It was clear that our library kids read much better than kids who haven´t had access to the library. It is also clear that the interest among the kids in other villages is definitely there but we will need a paid professional to run branches. We hope to bring the plan to fruition in 2010.


CCC Pilot Branch in Sapo Playa (Frog Beach)

In the coming years we would like to bring more long-term volunteers to teach at the library and hope to build a teacher/volunteer house attached to the library this year. Rotary Clubs in Canada and the States are organizing the effort. With volunteers we will be able to do more personal teaching on a daily basis and gain many new perspectives.


In 2009 we have two exciting new projects planned. One is to publish a monthly newspaper with the library kids to be distributed to a dozen nearby communities. We will learn about editting and managing texts and publishing. The other project is to help local high school graduates to start their own business. We will host an information fair where local youth can explore the possibilities of creating their own business.

I only had one snake in the roof of my house in 2008. Having two dogs may have intimidated others. Mother nature did however make her presence known sending a variety from her carpet bag. During February, March, and April I had army ants in my house several times every week while the water level rose. On one occasion they caught me in the outhouse and rained down on my head from above. I made the quickest exit possible but had to strip as I ran out. They had gotten into my shirt. The same morning a sloth fell out of a capirona tree in the front yard. The branch it was hanging on broke. The dogs went crazy circling it. When I finally got close enough to pick it up it hugged my forearm so tight that its sharp claws made a good cut. Locals told me later that I should have offered it a branch to hold! I hosted a few botfly larvae. The way I understand it is a botfly catches a mosquito, lays its eggs on the mosquito´s proboscis and when the mosquito bites it injects the eggs into the host. The eggs hatch and develop into worms. Locals say they fly away when they are mature but I´ve never seen one get that far. I squeeze them out of my dogs who get many from spending time in dense brush in swampy areas. One larva in my forearm got badly infected. I realized it when I saw the red lines growing up my arm. Antibiotics from the Yanamono clinic saved the day! In November I had my first case ever of jungle fever – dengue. Really, it is city fever. I was infected by a mosquito while in Iquitos. Finally, a thank you to my father for his advice to always check my shoes before putting them on. I remembered it well one day as I dumped a scorpion out of my rubber boot. Those are the exciting stories. There are plenty of beautiful awesome goosebump moments too like the sparkling illunination of the forest during a sun shower or the intense fragrances of trees in bloom. There is always a surprise from nature just around the corner. The forest is ever creating but never permanent.

The library´s programs and personal have grown over the years. Besides myself the staff now includes Lara a local woman who is a teaching assistant, Julio the maintenance man, and Fernando who does purchasing and communications for us in the city. We also have individual teachers for special workshops. Besides the daily reading and teaching that we provide, we take several field trips a year, provide scholarships, and organize special workshops and inter-community events. To continue offering all these programs we need to broaden our donor base and hope that you, our friends, will spread the word about the CCC Library Project.
We appreciate all that you have done in the past and will do in the future.

Many, many thanks for all your support.


Nancy Dunn

PS – Late in the year the sixth tree, the one that the parents decided to leave standing, fell. Apparently it was top heavy from a prolonged downpour. The parents were proved correct. It indeed missed the library . . . by about six INCHES! Going home after a day´s work. It´s a nice commute.

1 comentario:

Unknown dijo...

Nancy, you are truly remarkable! I enjoy hearing from you every year, and my contribution is on its way. I will also give my husband's Rotary Club information about the CCC Library in hopes of interesting them in making a donation as well. Keep up the good work. I would love to come volunteer some time ... perhaps when I retire and learn Spanish!