At Rua Teixeira de Barros, 12 in Cruz da Redenção, between Mané’s butcher shop and the municipal cemetery. If you follow Lázaro Sandes’ directions, you can easily find the headquarters of Ler na Praça (Read in the Square), the NGO he created in Brotas, one of the most populous neighborhoods in Salvador. Even without such precise landmarks, any local would be able to give directions, as the institute, part cultural project and part restaurant, has already become part of the region’s heritage.

When Believe.Earth arrived, Sandes was rushing around, preparing some barbecue on the sidewalk while also following orders from his wife, Rosália Sandes, who seems to run the restaurant from the kitchen. The space reserved for restaurant tables also houses an impressive quantity of books. The Ler na Praça project has distributed free books in public spaces in Bahia’s capital and interior for 20 years, with no help from the government. Everything works properly due to Sandes’ determination and what he calls his ‘axé‘ (sacred power from the Orixás, which is a kind of divinity in numerous religions of the African diaspora). He wants to democratize access to reading, as he explains in the following interview with Believe.Earth.

BE – How was Ler na Praça born?
LS –
I had some books, comic books, crossword puzzles, and I exhibited everything in Cruz da Redenção Square. I began to expand upon the idea, asking for donations of books, and giving them away. A friend lent me two tomato crates to store the books and I started shouting: “Books for free, come and read in the square!” A friend of mine who is a nurse would check the blood pressure of anyone who was there. I also brought that day’s newspaper; I’d highlight the jobs section and pay for the phone cards to be used in public phones so people could call in for a job. These street vendors did not know how to read or write. At the time, a school in Manoel Vitorino had started a literacy course. I donated the books and encouraged the street vendors to take the course. Later, I provided legal advice to the population at our headquarters. Our storefront has also served as a vaccination station. At first, the project had nothing, not even a vehicle to fetch the books. I used to rent a car for that. Nowadays, the people of Bahia donate to Ler na Praça. I went four years in a row to Flica [International Literary Festival of Cachoeira] and donated about 30,000 books every year. I try to help as I can. The community only gets better if you join it, make partnerships.

BE – How is the project sustained?
LS –
What keeps us moving on is the gastronomic center of Ler na Praça, a small restaurant set up at our headquarters with the help of my wife, Rosália. It pays the car fuel for collecting and distributing books. We sell the prato feito [prepared meal, often abbreviated by ‘pf’] for R$ 10,00 (US$ 3.11). Instead of a dessert, a book is offered to the customer shortly after the meal. Last week, I put a warning here: “Drink moderately, read immoderately.”

A balding white man with a serious expression, wearing a white T-shirt, stands in the middle of a crowd, distributing books. He looms over everyone else, probably standing on a stool. He is handing a book to a black man whose back is to the camera.

Lázaro Sandes distributing books on the street in Salvador (Gabriel Teixeira/Believe.Earth)

BE – Why do you speak of the collaborators and beneficiaries of Ler na Praça as family?
LS –
It is a family of donors and of the students who take books home every day. There are university students, historians, journalists, people of all kinds here. One donor died this week at the age of 95 and his son donated his father’s entire library to me. They are people who have graduated because of the books, people who believe in a cultural project like this, a family that can take advantage of this world of information and knowledge.

BE – Where does your desire to broaden access to reading come from?
LS –
My father was a master builder and could not afford books for me. The only one he bought was Delta Encyclopedia, paying for it in ten installments with lots of difficulty. Nowadays, there are more than 100,000 books at Ler na Praça, which I have the pleasure of donating. Information cannot be restricted. I feel people’s recognition when they hug me on the street, saying: “Look, I’m studying medicine, I went to law school, I’m going to court, I’m a judge.” That’s what brings happiness to me!

BE – How was your childhood?
LS –
I was poor. My mom had six children and also raised my father’s five children. It was very difficult, as they all needed to eat, be educated, etc. Despite our struggles, my childhood was nice. Back then, Brotas was a farm where we used to harvest fruits and vegetables and sell them. My mom had a small grocery store and would sell chicken, flour, rice, and dendê oil. For extra money, we used to go to rich people’s houses to wax their floors. Then, I set up a kite factory. We built our house with the money from the kite factory. I read my first book when I joined the Boy Scouts at the age of eight. When you open a book as a child, you open your mind to knowledge and you feel important.

BE – Do you consider yourself an autodidact?
LS – I’m a statistical technician. I never graduated, but any subject you ask me about, I will search my library and answer you. I go to the Economics section and read Marx, I go to the Greece section and I read Socrates. I’ve already read Socrates, Plato, Archimedes, and Confucius. Gandhi was the one who most impressed me, because he succeeded using the power of thinking. No weapon was needed. He had a peaceful mind and was a wise person.

BE – Why are several of Ler na Praça’s initiatives focused on young people?
LS –
The young ones want comic books. Every child, when he or she gets a book, soon starts looking for pictures. When they come to our place looking for a comic book, I offer them a science book instead, because they need to start thinking. It is important to encourage them to read other things to awaken creativity. That is what is missing: Incentive and opportunity for this generation to have a better view of the world. I have partnered with two soccer clubs, Toque de Bola and Redenção Futebol Clube, to encourage boys’ reading. If the child has a bad grade at school, he does not play. You must get their attention – parents are very absent. Nowadays, digital devices are also bringing alienation. Young people are giving up thinking.

A balding white man is looking at the camera with a serious face, his arms are resting on several piles of books on a counter in front of him. The books fill almost the entire picture, leaving only his face and his crossed arms visible.

Lázaro Sandes, at the project’s headquarters: “When a child comes to our place looking for a comic book, I give them a science book instead, because they need to start thinking” (Gabriel Teixeira/Believe.Earth)

BE – What is missing that could improve education?
LS –
In the past, the most important public schools had a soccer field, a basketball court, a good lab, a nice grass field with teachers giving athletics classes. Nowadays, they hardly have a lab. Many schools have already closed down in Brotas, both municipal and state, because dropout rates are so high. Without infrastructure and with underpaid teachers, how could you manage 2,000, 3,000 students in the school? No way. Parents and students need to fight against this in a wise way. Government claims it has no money, but what is lacking is creativity and encouragement.

We live in a moment of cultural rescue. Whether with the Internet, or with projects like ours. Those who have not had access to books and knowledge, because they lack money, now do have access. It’s all there. Once a child starts reading a book, something magical happens. A kind of power starts interacting with him/her.

Books educate as they lead you to question things. You travel, get touched, create, understand respect, the ethical conduct of life. Reading leads you to criticize, learn to listen, have humility and produce wonderful things.

BE – For initiatives like yours to work, what is the secret?
LS –
Act. Being knowledgeable is good, books are good, but if you do not act, you’re not going anywhere. I’ve seen a lot and I’m still here, surviving. We must leave some legacy. I like this challenge. Even if I died today, I’d have done my best.