Luis Soriano is a primary school teacher in the little town of La Gloria, Colombia. Every weekend, Soriano loads a selection of books from a 4,800-item collection onto his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, and heads into the hills to deliver books to remote villages.
He has broken a leg falling off his mount and been stopped by bandits, but Soriano keeps his voluntary Biblioburro service running despite his woes.
“This began as a necessity, then it became an obligation, and after that a custom,” he explained, squinting at the hills undulating into the horizon. “Now,” he said, “it is an institution.” – International Herald Tribune
The project started small, with 70 books, but his letter to a famous author and radio personality brought a deluge of donated books, which Soriano has stacked floor-to-ceiling in the house he shares with his wife and three daughters. An adjacent library is awaiting additional funding to be completed.
It’s a great story of how one teacher can make a difference. Click the IHT link above for the whole story.
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