AYOKA: Raising a voice in Colombia

Every week-end, as he has done for the past 10 years, Luis Soriano, of La Gloria, Colombia, gathers his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, and loads them with an eclectic cargo of books destined to people living in small village beyond. He created the "Biblioburro" in the belief that the act of taking books to people who do not have them can somehow improve this impoverished region.

    Mr. Soriano said the idea came to him as a young teacher after he witnessed the transformative power of reading among his pupils, who were born into conflict even more intense than when he was a child. Into that violence, Mr. Soriano ventured with his donkeys, taking with him a few reading textbooks, encyclopedia volumes and novels from his small personal library. At stops along the way, children still await him in groups, to hear him read from the books he brings before they can borrow them.

AYOKA, in collaboration with Silas Hagerty from Smooth Feather Productions, will be going to Colombia next week to produce a short film on Mr Soriano's extraordinary work. We look forward to this new project and will keep you updated!