Building a Library

I grew up loving art, drawing, coloring, but especially painting. Something about it, creating something beautiful and unique and bringing it into the world has always brought about a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment. I love teaching art just as much, it’s almost as if I get to make art by proxy, and I can help foster a love of creativity. The first mural I did with the children was immensely fun, and with a full class of students, I felt it truly brought us together in a small way. However, building the library together was an absolutely unforgettable experience.

I came in late Sunday night, and we started bright and early Monday, surveying the room and figuring out what to create. The Hacienda, worn with time, had one room designated for APRENAT, and another hall behind that would become the new library. On Monday, it was still covered in plants that had grown through the floorboards, a layer of dust, and exposed brick and a plaster wall that would crumble when touched in the wrong place. Together with Sandra and Nancy, two amazing women who are pillars of the community in Quinini, we created a plan.

The back was old but with some dusting, some fresh paint and a few extra shelves it would be good as new. For something extra, we decided to create a small mural in the front of the Hacienda as well, a map of Quinini, of some of the major sights, a few of the farms and a rendition of the landscape. While I would’ve loved to have the entire class come back together, I’m not entirely sure if fifteen children would have made an entirely productive library creating team, but I gathered a few of my former students and we got to work. The left wall already had shelves built in, so we cleaned them up and painted them Colombian colors. Although the wall would not allow us to attach any shelves, we figured out how to create a shelf with some rope and painted wooden boards.

What I still can’t get over is how much people appreciate the importance of beauty here. In the past, I have only done a couple of mural; for one reason or another, people are apprehensive about making changes to the place they live. But while they knew a room in the back would suffice for the kids to read in, it could be improved to be somewhere they could feel comfortable in, enjoy and be something to be proud of. In the back, we fixed the wall with some cement and some of us painted the APRENAT logo, as well as a bouquet of flowers currently in bloom. To cover up the exposed brick, on a Wednesday afternoon, a group of members from the community came together to put up a white tarp, and create the bookshelves. While the tarp helped, we decided it needed a little more, and proceeded to paint coffee, not just in a cup or as a bean, but as a fruit and a flower as well.

Ultimately, I can’t express the amount of joy and satisfaction I felt at the end of the process. Seeing what we started with, I still can’t entirely believe a small group of us managed to completely change the room into a kids space/library. There’s something truly magical about being able to see something grow, and hopefully be able to serve some purpose, and I hope that the children will enjoy using the library as much as I enjoyed being a part of creating it with them.