Quechua Benefit
Quechua Benefit is an organization dedicated to helping the Quechua people in the highlands of Peru.
Through the generosity of longtime supporters of Quechua Benefit, Don and Julie Skinner, the Snowmass Community Health Center in Chivay will expand its operations to provide year-round dental care and eye exams for Colca Valley children, as well as prenatal care and ultrasounds for expectant mothers.
We began implementing our Healthy Communities program in September 2016. We are proud to report that we recently re-tested the children who received anemia treatment in eight towns of the Colca Valley, the cure rate was 70%.
Quechua Benefit learned this in January as we conducted our first listening tour in our service areas to understand issues and concerns directly from the people we work with.
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.
We are thrilled to release our newest video, “Searching for Siomera.” This short film tells the story of how one little girl became the inspiration for the Quechua Benefit Healthy Communities campaign. Watch to find out how this initiative promises to positively impact the lives of thousands of children in the Colca Valley and beyond.
Construction has been progressing extremely well on the Sister Antonia Community Kitchen in Ichupampa. The crews got the foundations in, the first floor walls up, and the second floor poured in record time. We are currently ahead of schedule.
For the Corani EPD project to succeed in the dual goal of 1) increasing the price of the co-op’s fleece and 2) simultaneously improving the genetics of the member’s alpacas, it needed a micron measurement device. I consulted with Angus McColl of Yocom-McColl Testing Laboratories in Denver, Colorado, who recommended an OFDA 2000, manufactured by BSC Electronics of Australia.
The young veterinarian was flanked by three Quechua alpaca breeders, each with their felted cowboy hats firmly in place and nary a smile on their stoic, weather creased faces. They were from an important alpaca-growing region in district of Corani, near Macusani.
Construction started last week with the demolition and removal of the existing building. This week the foundations are being dug. Over the next 16 weeks, you will see the construction rise up. We are targeting a mid-March completion.
