Quechua Benefit
Quechua Benefit is an organization dedicated to helping the Quechua people in the highlands of Peru.
The Madre Antonia Community Kitchen was officially inaugurated on March 27th in a joyful community celebration. It will provide a minimum of 108,000 hot meals a year. We are extremely grateful for your efforts to make this possible and bring back a source of stability for this small community in the Colca Valley.
We are happy to report that Ichupampa is rising from the rubble left by an earthquake in August 2016. Thanks to you, the Sister Antonia Memorial Kitchen in Ichupampa is nearing completion. The Quechua Benefit team was onsite last week, and the building will be up and running no later than March 15th.
Golden Spirit Alpaca Ranch is hosting an alpaca seminar and charity gala in support of Quechua Benefit in Odessa, Florida on January 28th! Don’t miss this opportunity to support Peruvian alpaca shepherds and hear from experts Mike Safley and Karl Heinrich on how to improve your herd. Attend the seminar + gala for $100, or just the gala for $85.
I spent two Christmases in Peru’s Colca valley, and I enjoy revisiting those holiday memories, contrasting them with what I experience at home in Montana. In Chivay, Christmas decorations are almost non-existent, at least outwardly. Many homes and businesses, however, maintain a little home-made nativity scene in a corner, with figurines of wise men and animals. The baby Jesus isn’t present, though, until midnight on Christmas Eve, (“la Noche Buena”), when with some fanfare He is added to the scene.
Watch this new video to find out how Casa Chapi received its name, and how the Chapel at Casa Chapi came to be. The beautiful stained glass windows will take your breath away. Many of the local people who enter the chapel for the first time are immediately brought to tears. A production of Voice4Nations.
The children of Casa Chapi have a song to sing for you! Wishing peace, joy, wonder and love to you and yours in this Christmas season.
These limited edition Christmas ornament sets were made by Peruvian artist Gualberto Mamani, who also designed and created the stained glass windows at Casa Chapi’s Maranatha Chapel. Each set comes in a beautiful wooden box and contains eight handmade ornaments. Bring a piece of Casa Chapi into your family’s holiday traditions!
In explaining the holiday, I had translated Thanksgiving literally as “the day to give thanks.” I learned later that it is more traditionally referred to in Spanish as “el día de acción de gracias,” or “the day of putting thanks into action.” That made me hit the “pause” button. “Putting thanks into action?” What might that mean?
A letter from QB Board Secretary, Chuck Gulotta. “The kitchen is often the heart of any home and certainly for me, a kid growing up in a large Italian family, that was the case. The aromas, lively conversations and bustle of activity are all evocative of a thriving, happy home for many of us.”
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to bless something. I cannot stop thinking about how truly blessed the children of Casa Chapi are, and how I wish Quechua Benefit could bestow the same blessings on thousands more children in similar situations.
