This fund has been set up in memory of Sarah Heery. Sarah was a librarian and during her time working for Christian Aid she visited the Rural Libraries Project in Cajamarca. She was very impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm shown by all the volunteers that she met.

Following her trip in 2002, she wrote:

“Begun nearly 30 years ago, the Rural Libraries project was started by a Catholic priest, Fr John Medcalf. A young boy came to see him one evening, banging on the door asking for something 'shaped like a brick and made from trees'. Fr John decided the boy wanted a book and lent him one. The boy took it eagerly and left.

He returned a matter of hours later; he had read the whole book by candlelight in the local church and wanted to discuss it and get something else to read. Fr John realised that books were something the local people would love to have, but they were desperately out of their reach. To bring books to the people would open up a whole new world to them. The Rural Libraries was born."

Sarah’s family and friends have been raising money for the Rural Libraries since she died in 2008. We send an average of £12,000 per year to Peru which funds the expenses of the volunteers and the upkeep of the main building in Cajamarca.

Thank you to all our sponsors who have supported us so far:

The Funding Network - www.thefundingnetwork.org.uk
The Grail Society
Liverpool Italian Opera Company
French Huguenot Church of London Charitable Trust
The Big Christmas Wind Orchestra
Upton Hall School, Wirral
Yerbury Primary School, London
Tufnell Park Primary School, London
Alexandra Primary School, London
Oxford University Press

For more information about what we do, please contact Helen Heery on info@sarahsrurallibraries.com