My name is Selene Loayza, reading mediator for the Organization for Ibero-American States (OEI) for the “Tambo de Lectura” Galapagos reading project. I live in a place of enchanted nature, where there are not only unique animals, but also a diversity of people from different cultures from Ecuador and around the world.
In 2015 I began working in the world of reading mediation. I had the opportunity to coordinate and execute a literary creation project based on the narrative adaptation of Galapagos legends for children. With these stories I wanted to reach all the children of Galapagos, that was my first conscious approach to reading mediation, given I was able to travel through the different populated islands and reach rural parts where they did not have access to books. Thus, through reading aloud and art, I was able to sow the seed of curiosity for reading in remote areas.
At the end of 2020, life took me back into the wonderful world of reading and books. The Ecuador headquarters of the Organization of Ibero-American States invited me to be part of the group of mediators of the “Tambo de Lectura” project of the “José de la Cuadra National Book and Reading Plan”. This experience has totally committed me to the transformative power of reading. As I already mentioned, the cultural diversity in Galapagos is immense because these islands are practically made up of migrants. This has made my reading mediation activities diverse and culturally rich as well.
From the start of the global pandemic, many collectives were formed. As a reading mediator, I approached these different groups to reach the communities through reading. That is why I created ´Libro andante´, which is part of the Galápagos Reading Tambo and which aims to reach all vulnerable cultural groups in urban and rural areas through books, reading, writing and art.
One difficulty that I encountered in my reading mediation process is that in Galapagos we do not have easy access to children’s books therefore, in 2021, with the children who were participating in the Tambo, we produced two copies of the Children’s Magazine ´Explorando´, where after reading their natural environment the children created visual and written content for this mini project, allowing a wider children´s audience to read these magazines.
Currently, I have the honor of participating in the Workshop ´Reading with migrants in the middle of the world´, conducted by Mildred Nájera and Natalia Lalangui. This workshop was a revelation for me. It allowed me to understand in a sensitive way the potential of picturebooks and illustrated books to mediate reading with vulnerable population of migrants, since these books can help us immensely to enter their worlds and also give them the opportunity to make reading a refuge given that for this population, books can be “mirrors, windows or doors” to different worlds (Bishop 1990). It is necessary to acknowledge a social reality that exists in Galapagos, which includes the discrimination suffered by certain groups due to their cultural condition, and the indigenous population that resides in the archipelago is one of them. For this reason, this training program has given me very important resources to work in the Galapagueña community from different perspectives, once again reinforcing my belief in the transforming power of reading in a society.
I will continue with this beautiful work of reading mediation, embracing and valuing human diversity, just as we do with the natural diversity of this magical place.
