© 2017 Andrés Ramirez
© 2017 Urantia Foundation
By Andrés Ramirez, Bogotá, Colombia
The International Book Fair in Bogotá, Colombia, was held from April 25 to May 8, 2017, with a booth hosted by the Bogotá Urantia Association and with financial support from Urantia Foundation. More than forty volunteers participated. Guest volunteers from some Latin American countries were invited to learn from this experienced group how to host a successful book fair booth. Volunteers from Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Cali, Colombia, accepted the invitation and gained valuable hands-on experience. The Bogotá Urantia Association helped in part with the airplane tickets for the visiting volunteers. Lodging was provided by a volunteer from Bogotá.
The booth was 17 square meters (183 square feet) in size and was decorated with various posters that helped volunteers to explain The Urantia Book. There were also two tables with chairs and some souvenirs. About 550,000 visitors attended the book fair. Some 23,000 flyers introducing The Urantia Book were distributed to visitors at the booth, eighty-five e-mail addresses were obtained, and sixty soft-cover books provided by Urantia Foundation were sold. The Bogotá team also made contact with thirty-three schools, where they plan to hold conferences for students and teachers.
As a result of this experience, Efrain Vivanco hosted a booth at a book fair in Ecuador, on May 29 through June 2, and two volunteers from Colombia were there helping. The unique opportunity to volunteer in other countries and at the same time provide the chance to meet with other readers and volunteers, creating strong bonds and friendship among leaders and members of Urantia Associations. The Bogotá Urantia Association is planning to continue having guests from other countries who are willing to learn from the experience of president of the new Urantia Association in Costa Rica returned home from this bookfair experience, mobilized his team, and will host a booth at a book fair later this year. The two volunteers from Cali, Colombia, are making plans to host a booth at their local book fair in October.
Readers of The Urantia Book will have booths at book fairs in Bolivia in May-June, Guatemala in June, and Perú in July. Book fairs may be a this kind of service project. Last month, the Latin American leaders held a twohour virtual meeting to discuss how to organize a book fair.
As a follow-up to this event, the Bogotá Urantia Association hosted an online talk titled “Introduction to The Urantia Book,” broadcast via Zoom to Latin America.