Colombia’s “Biblioburro” enlightens rural kids

Some stories speak for themselves:

In a ritual repeated nearly every weekend for the past decade here in Colombia's war-weary Caribbean hinterlands, Luis Soriano gathered his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, in front of his home on a recent Saturday afternoon.

Sweating already under the unforgiving sun, he strapped pouches with the word "Biblioburro" painted in blue letters to the donkeys' backs and loaded them with an eclectic cargo of books destined for people living in the small villages beyond.

His choices included "Anaconda," the animal fable by the Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga that evokes Kipling's "Jungle Book"; some Time-Life picture books (on Scandinavia, Japan and the Antilles); and the "Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language."

Colombia’s literacy rate is about 93% according to a 2004 CIA World Factbook estimate. Yet the “Biblioburro” represents a marvelous tool to the outside world to the children of the country town of La Gloria.

(Hat tip: MetaFilter.)
Image- New York Times
Sources- CIA World Factbook, MetaFilter, IHT