Biblioburros

October 20, 2008 8:27 AM

Luis Soriano, with his donkeys Alfa and Beto, brings books to small villages in Colombia.
posted by The corpse in the library (15 comments total)

There are similar efforts in Venezuela and Ethiopia (an Ethiopian coffee shop in my neighborhood has a donation jar). Looks like it's catching on....
posted by Challahtronix at 8:39 AM on October 20, 2008

Inspiring story corpse. Thanks.

Here's another burro story.
posted by netbros at 8:43 AM on October 20, 2008

Oh, man. I want to find a way to donate books to this guy now -- I actually have a couple Spanish-language texts that my roommate left behind when she moved.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:50 AM on October 20, 2008

Interesting. Colombia's literacy rate c. 2004 was right around 93 percent. Surely it's lower in rural areas, but that's pretty impressive.
posted by IvoShandor at 8:52 AM on October 20, 2008

Somehow the idea of getting up early and taking my biblio-burros across hills and through leafy fields to remote villages sounds like something I could spend the rest of my life doing. Of course, being in Colombia, one of the burros would also be carrying a little thermos of coffee made from beans I ground that morning...
posted by vacapinta at 8:53 AM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

one of the burros would also be carrying a little thermos of coffee made from beans I ground that morning...

More money in coke burros mules.
posted by IvoShandor at 8:58 AM on October 20, 2008

I think 4800 books is larger than what my tiny town had when I was a kid (although it was a rotating selection).

Pretty awesome idea. Too bad the infrastructure and training isn't there to put an internet kiosk in all these villages. (By "infrastructure" I mean both connectivity and power for the hardware, but also licensing and availability of books online.)
posted by DU at 9:00 AM on October 20, 2008

Oh, man. I want to find a way to donate books to this guy now

Actually, I am certain that cold hard cash would work even better.

Is there a way to offer some financial support to Mr Soriano so that he may better pursue this noble cause? Because this is the greatest thing I have heard of.

[signs into PayPal, awaits studied reply]
posted by humannaire at 9:17 AM on October 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

What a great, totally inspiring, heart-warming story. I love this Luis Soriano guy. Thank you for this post.
posted by nickyskye at 9:48 AM on October 20, 2008

We used to have a similar program in the US. Of course, having eliminated poverty and illiteracy, we no longer need this.
posted by QIbHom at 10:10 AM on October 20, 2008

I've just emailed the link to some Colombian friends who live in Baranquilla to see if they know anything about this guy. What an inspiration. If I find out anything useful I will post it here.
posted by adamvasco at 10:27 AM on October 20, 2008

Here's a video of him reading to some kids.
posted by LVdB at 11:53 AM on October 20, 2008

Wonderful story, thanks!
posted by amyms at 12:07 PM on October 20, 2008

sorta related: I just found out that the spanish slang for dictionary (in mexico ) is 'tumbaburros' , suggesting the book is large enough to knock a donkey over.
posted by dhruva at 2:00 PM on October 20, 2008 [4 favorites]

Also in Colombia: The Internet boat down the Magdalena River. The vessel is called Florentino Ariza after the main chacter in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the time of Cholera". With 14 computers onboard all with a Satellite internet connection the vessel will traverse the Magdalena River from the foothills to the Caribbean stopping in all the provinces to teach and encourage internet use along the way.
posted by adamvasco at 1:04 AM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]