Last Updated on Friday, 10 July 2009 03:09 Written by Aaron Shaver Friday, 10 July 2009 02:55

If I had to put the response of the community to ICDU’s first library in one word, it would be “receptive”...or maybe “excited”...perhaps “promising.” Okay so maybe I can’t put it in one word, but most of my perception on the matter comes from our recent “Martes Feminino,” the first major program event to be held at the library since its inauguration.  Los Martes Femininos, or Ladies’ Tuesdays, are a time for the women of the community to meet together to build relationships and have fun with each other and to discuss possible solutions for the neighborhood.

The turnout far exceeded my expectations. The library space is small, but we still bought ten extra chairs, you know, just to be safe. I’m sure God laughed when almost twice that many showed up. He probably also laughed when, in typical Peruvian fashion, the owners of the house where the library is located weren’t there to open the door, and we had to start the gathering outside on the front sidewalk.

We began with a sort of get-to-know-you game in which slips of paper with well-known sayings were cut in half, mixed up, passed around. When you found the person with the other half of your saying, you took some time to exchange names and interests before presenting your new friend to the rest of the group.
Then we had the ladies draw maps of their community and the places that are important to them. The differences between the maps of the various women was very interesting. Some looked more like pictures than maps, while others were almost architectural in detail. Some even had ICDU’s library. It was awesome to see that at this first gathering the library was already considered important to them.

After the house owners arrived, we moved the party inside. I still can’t believe we fit all those people in there, but once everyone was situated, Larissa and Alfredo extracted several common interests from what was drawn on the maps. Homes, gardens, and churches were frequently found on the maps, and the women agreed that nutrition, gardening, and Bible study were all popular subjects of interest. 

Greg brought everything to a close with a short Bible lesson over Mary and Martha. We had brought twenty Spanish Bibles with us, both to use at this time, and because we knew we might not have enough table space for everyone to draw their maps. Watching them use the Bibles to draw on, I was happy to see a couple of them cracking them open instead of finishing their maps. They seemed timid about it, as if they knew we weren’t having a Bible study, but they were just too curious. Then when Greg finished his talk, and we were about to say goodbye, he mentioned that we would leave he Bibles there in the library. But while we were cleaning up, I noticed what to me was the most promising thing of the night. Only nineteen Bibles were left on the shelf.