海角大神

鈥淭he day I fill Colombia with books, I鈥檒l feel like Odysseus when he rescued Penelope and saved聽Ithaca from the war,鈥� Jos茅 Alberto Gutierrez says with an air of stoicism. He has聽dedicated the last two decades of his life to filling more than 450 libraries, schools, and reading centers in聽Colombia with books recovered from the garbage.

By rescuing books from the trash, the 鈥渓ord of the books,鈥� as locals call Mr. Gutierrez in Bogot谩鈥檚聽popular neighborhood La Nueva Gloria, has helped more than 22,000 Colombians in vulnerable,聽mainly rural areas across the country to imagine a better future.

To enter Gutierrez鈥檚 house is to go through a labyrinth of thousands of stacked books, covering聽approximately 160 square feet. Among them are universal classics such as 鈥淕one with the Wind,鈥澛燽y聽Margaret Mitchell; an English edition of 鈥淭he Little Prince,鈥澛燽y Antoine de Saint-Exup茅ry; and a聽collection of Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra鈥檚 works 鈥� all rescued from the garbage.

The books started showing up here at the end of 1997, when Gutierrez began his job as a garbage聽truck driver for Bogot谩鈥檚 waste management company. While working his nightly route on the west聽side of the city, he was struck by the potential of so many discarded books. With help from his wife,聽Gutierrez decided to build a community library in his own home. Ten years later it became the聽Fundaci贸n La Fuerza de las Palabras (Power of Words Foundation). Since then, Gutierrez has rescued and distributed more than 50,000 books 鈥� spanning subjects such as science,聽literature, business, and medicine 鈥� to hundreds of community centers and rural schools across the聽country.

La Fuerza de las Palabras鈥檚 process is simple yet effective. First, the foundation receives a call from聽someone, in any area of the country, who wishes to donate or receive books. Then, Gutierrez and聽his wife select the texts according to their destination 鈥� children's books, literary, or scientific.聽Depending on the distance, the organization will either deliver the books in its own vehicle, or look聽for the best way to make the delivery. To date, their efforts have allowed them to聽reach more than 450 territories in the country.

According to figures from the Colombian Ministry of Education, each year only 4 out of every聽10 students who complete high school in Colombia will graduate from university. The聽number is even lower in disadvantaged neighborhoods, such as La Nueva Gloria.

鈥淭he most valuable inheritance we can leave our children is education,鈥� Gutierrez says, adding that聽dozens of students in Colombia have been able to pursue higher education thanks to the foundation.

At the end of 2017, the foundation sent five crates of books by plane to the indigenous community聽of Huitotacueiman铆, in southern Colombia, an area characterized by its jungles and rivers. Days聽later, one of the leaders of the community replied with a video message saying that all the indigenous communities of the region were waiting for the 鈥渓ord of the books鈥澛犫�撀燼nd for more books 鈥撀爓ith open arms.

Gutierrez has also delivered the works of dozens of Nobel Prize-winning authors, such as fellow Colombian Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez, and Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, to a聽group of ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the guerrilla organization that scourged the region for 50聽years and recently signed a peace agreement with the Colombian government.

鈥淩eading symbolizes peace and hope in our country. If a book changed my life, imagine the impact聽it could have in one of these places that has fallen victim to armed conflict and abandonment by the聽state,鈥� Gutierrez says.

Since he was let go in February by the recycling center where he worked, Gutierrez and his family聽have been dreaming of building a library museum in Bogot谩, which would include a recycling聽workshop, a book bank, and a collection of literary classics, all with the aim of continuing to bring聽the world of reading to the most vulnerable sectors of the country. The foundation聽estimates that the construction of the library museum will require 800 million Colombian pesos聽($275,000), which they hope to secure soon.

鈥淭he world needs more initiatives like this, because in an area that lacks access to many resources,聽a book becomes a symbol of hope,鈥� Gutierrez says. 鈥淟isten, if humans treated each other as they do聽in many of the books that I've read, this planet would be governed only by love.鈥�

This story was reported by聽El Tiempo, a news outlet in Colombia. The Monitor is publishing it as part of an international effort by more than 50 news organizations worldwide to promote solutions journalism. To read other stories in this joint project, please click聽here.聽