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A Unique Library in Columbia
Luis Soriano has formed a library service that he has done for almost every weekend for the past 10 years in Columbia. He has pouches strapped to his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, with the word “Biblioburro” painted on it. They are loaded down with books destined for people living in small Columbian villages. Luis Soriano is a 36 year old primary school teacher who has more than 4,800 books piled into his home. He says when he began with 70 books it was a necessity, then it became an obligation, then a custom, and now it’s an institution.
View a slide show about the Biblioburro from the New York Times
Luis Soriano created this institution out of the belief that bringing books to those who do not have them can improve his impoverished region in Columbia. His travels to the town of La Gloria, with his donkeys bearing books, have led to him winning the acclaim from the nation’s literacy specialist and it is a new subject of a documentary in Columbia.
As a teacher, he saw the power of reading to his students, who were born into lives with very intense conflict. He grew up amongst violence but was sent to live with relatives and by the age of 16 he had a high school degree and got a job teaching reading to children.
Luis Soriano ventures out with his donkeys, a few reading textbooks, encyclopedia volumes and novels from his personal library. He stops at groups of children who are waiting to hear him read from the books he brings along before they borrow them.
After requesting a novel that he heard being read on the radio several years ago (The Ballad of Maria Abdala by Juan Gossain), large donations of books from all over Columbia began pouring in to Luis Soriano’s Biblioburro. A local financial institution helped Luis build a small library next to his home, but the project remains half finished due to lack of funds.
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