Vicuña Salvation Premiere in Peru!

October was a big month for Quechua Benefit’s feature length documentary, Vicuña Salvation. We participated in three premieres in Peru, each a little different than the other. But each audience loved it.

Dale with long time Quechua Benefit supporter (and photographer), Maria, at the Vicuña Salvation premiere in Picotani.

The audience at the premiere in Picotani.

This success would not have happened if you had not continued to support our organization during the COVID pandemic, keeping our programs strong during tough times, by virtue of your generous hearts. 

The first premiere took place in Picotani and the community did all of the leg work to make it big! They promoted the film, invited government officials, held a ceremonial chaccu, and gathered the press. To the amazement of the community, Derek Michell of Michell & CIA SA and his entire executive staff were there in support of their efforts, most of whom had never been to Picotani. We were interviewed by a Quechua radio station that broadcasts from Puno. Thank goodness for translators!

Everyone watched in awe and loved the film. Soft murmurs and chuckles were heard in the audience as they recognized various community members on the big screen. They laughed, they cried, they applauded to the very end. A woman from the community thanked Quechua Benefit for visiting every year. “I don’t know how you find us here. The government in Lima does not know where we live.” Another women once told me: “Say we are here, say we exist.” I think this film will not only put our communities on the map, but make their story heard for the first time. It will be available for streaming on National Geographic – South America, beginning March 2023. This is all possible, thanks to you and our wonderful community. 

Dale holding the water pipe that provides water 24 hours a day! From left to right: Dale, José, Felipe, and Guillermo.

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the reveal of the Water Project in Picotani.

In addition to the premiere, the community proudly took us on a tour of the completed first phase of our water project that provides water to vicuña during the dry season. The 14 lagoons and 28 individual drinkers built across 2,500 acres will be able to support an additional 1,250 vicuña. It has the potential to double the size of the existing herd that historically grazes the site and provides the Picotani community an estimated $75,000 of additional annual income in perpetuity.  

Proud is the best way to describe the energy felt during the ribbon cutting ceremony. This project was completed by community members, digging through the dry dirt and hand placing the miles and miles of pipe. This project would not have been possible without your generosity. Our Executive Director, Dale, worked closely with the community leaders to engineer the system. This water increases the pastures available for both vicuña and alpaca, which means more income for our alpaquero families. Thanks to your support, this is just phase one! 

Students and staff at La Molina University pictured with Mike and Dale.

The next premiere was held at La Molina University, the only agricultural university in Peru. We had the opportunity to visit their campus and meet all the department heads. Our guide was Dr. Gustavo Gutierrez, head of the animal science department. He joined us in Picotani to witness the first of its kind water project and wanted to discuss the potential research project to establish the carbon footprint of alpacas. This study could make alpaca fiber more valuable worldwide if we can, together, establish its true sustainability and quantify what we believe is a much lower carbon footprint than competing fibers on the market. 

Everyone at La Molina loved the film, especially the vet students. Many had no idea of the vicuña’s story of salvation from extinction. From the late 60s to present day, the vicuña population has increased from a mere 5,000 animals to approximately 500,000. During our visit, Dr. Gutierrez offered an open scholarship to their veterinary program for a potential Casa Chapi student who may be interested in the field of study.

The audience at the Arequipa premiere was full of alpaca industry movers and shakers.

A warm welcome to the Quechua Benefit team during the Arequipa premiere of Vicuña Salvation, hosted by Michell & CIA SA.

The last event was held in Arequipa, at the home of Michell’s founder, Frank Michell. Michell & CIA SA donated $50,000 to sponsor the making of our documentary. They put on a spectacular affair which coincided with the 90th anniversary of Michell & CIA SA.  

There were over 600 attendees, dressed to the nines, sipping cocktails and noshing on tiny tidbits. What fascinated me was the crowd’s response was similar to that of the audience from Picotani. They were unfamiliar with the story of the vicuña, the animal that is on their country’s coat of arms. This crowd represent Peru’s elite and many of them were alpaca textile executives. I’ll let the photos illustrate the wide gap between the culture of Arequipa and Picotani. 

Join us as we celebrate the graduating class of 2022! Our students faced so many challenges during the COVID pandemic. With their determination, hard work and your support, they are ready for the next step of their education journey!

Pictured above, in their red Casa Chapi uniforms, is our proud graduating class of 13 students. They will graduate Casa Chapi this month and move to our Arequipa campus to begin secondary school in March 2023.

From our Arequipa campus, we want to celebrate the following students on their upcoming graduation from Paola Frasinetti Secondary School this year.

We also heard from our Casa Chapi alumni who are currently at University.

Alex

Age: 16 years old. He has been at Casa Chapi since he started 1st grade in 2013.

Hobbies: Reading about current famous people and painting portraits and landscapes.

Favorite school subject: Language, literature, and history.

Career aspiration: Lawyer to defend poor people.

Abdon

Age: 17 years old. He has been at Casa Chapi since he started 2nd grade in 2013.

Hobbies: Drawing, painting, and playing football (soccer).

Favorite school subject: Math

Career aspiration: Technical career

Scian

Age: 17 years old. He has been at Casa Chapi since he started 5th grade in 2016.

Hobbies: Playing guitar and fixing cell phones.

Favorite school subject: Physics and math

Career aspiration: Systems Engineer

Miguel

Age: 18 years old. He has been at Casa Chapi since he started 4th grade in 2014.

Hobbies: Sports

Favorite school subject: Math

Career aspiration: Aviation Pilot

Florina

Age: 17 years old. She has been at Casa Chapi since she started 3rd grade in 2015.

Hobbies: Dancing

Favorite school subject: Language and literature.

Career aspiration: Psychologist (desire to help children and poor families).

Current University Students / Casa Chapi Alumni

Jairol entered National University of Saint Augustine (UNSA) in Arequipa City this year. He is studying Geological Engineering.

Maria Fernanda is studying Business Administration at SENATI, a technical institute in Arequipa City.

Ronald has been studying Business Administration at SENATI since 2021.

Vidal will be studying to be a chef this year at Institute.

Isaac is studying at SENATI and should finish in 2023.

We thank our donors for the opportunity to make higher education possible for these students, and others like them. For those who have not donated and are interested, please click the button below.

Don’t forget! Our students are in need of encouragement as they transition into different grades, change schools, and graduate. Read all the details here.

Our students are in need of encouragement as they transition into different grades, change schools, and graduate. We are inviting our community to send some positive thoughts to help our students (kindergarten thru college) continue to thrive. The pandemic has caused some insecurities for some our students and they just need an extra boost and some positive vibes. This could be in the form of a letter, a drawing, a video, etc.

Feel free to address a single student or a class.

We look forward to hearing from you!
Please send your messages to info@quechuabenefit.org or mail it to: 11785 SW River Rd., Hillsboro, OR 97123.

After a year apart, your girls are happy to be back together.


Since March of 2020 your Casa Chapi students have been studying at home. They are grateful for your donations that delivered monthly food boxes, schoolbooks, clothes, internet and cellphone connections for virtual school, but they missed their teachers and friends. Now some high school girls have returned to Casa Chapi’s campus in Arequipa! They are very happy to return to the stable environment where they have access to learning resources!

COVID restrictions in Peru continue, so not all Casa Chapi students can go back to in-person learning. Most of your students are still learning at home.

Your support of Casa Chapi families is still needed! 

Please help us deliver monthly food boxes for families and supplies for kids to continue their virtual learning. For just $100 you can provide a month’s supply of food to a family.

Thank you for making a better and brighter 2021 for all of Casa Chapi’s students and families!

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.

In many homes, Christmas Eve is the focus of the celebration – the extended family gathered together for a big dinner, then drinking hot chocolate and eating panetón until midnight, when the Nativity scene is completed. No elaborate gift exchange, nothing fancy – although a few kids do go out at midnight to shoot off fireworks!

We shared hot cocoa and paneton with our English students

We shared hot cocoa and paneton with our English students

A big, Christmas Eve turkey dinner is still a tradition for many families. Our Peruvian family procured a turkey from the local market, and Amanda expertly prepared it, seasoning it and steaming it in a big pot to pre-cook, before sending it to the oven. In Chivay, few homes had their own ovens, so you sent items to one of the bakeries in town. Amanda favored El Choclito, as he was known. Like the other bakers, he had a large brick oven, in which he would build a blazing fire to heat the bricks. When it burned down and the bricks were radiating intense heat, he raked the embers out, and started shoving turkeys in. He’d bake turkeys until the bricks cooled, and then either hang up the “closed” sign, or build another fire, depending on his temperament.

Waiting for the turkey to come back from El Choclito

Waiting for the turkey to come back from El Choclito

Amanda’s eldest son, Aarón, came running back breathlessly at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, to announce that we’d missed the first baking, but that turkeys were lined up for a second round at el Choclito’s, ours among them. It finally arrived at 9:30 p.m., done to perfection, and our feast began.

In Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city, the scene is very different. There, the commercialization of the season is evident, as you find businesses decorated for Christmas, with oddly out-of-place northern European symbols. Finding red-suited Santas, sitting amid snow, reindeer, ­and mistletoe, is culturally jarring, in a semi-tropical city entering its “summer” season. The palm tree-shaded Plaza de Armas once sported a tall, elaborate wrought-iron armature, more or less in the shape of a Christmas tree, bedecked with potted geraniums. At the foot of the “tree” sat a very Andean-looking Santa, ho-ho-ho-ing to the kids on his lap. It was a fascinating cultural mash-up for us modestly-homesick North Americans to contemplate.

Most days, Jean and I didn’t even notice how different our lives had become, but the Christmas season, with its deeply-embedded traditions and rituals, always heightened our sense of having been uprooted and transplanted. We felt a mixture of wistfulness and joy, experiencing something new and wonderful, but missing the familiar.

That was our state of mind on the 23rd of December, when Miriam, a former nun and one of our business contacts in Chivay, invited us to a “meeting” we somehow had not noted. After a perfunctory bit of business, out came a guitar, and mugs of hot chocolate, and we spent the rest of the evening learning traditional carols in Spanish. It was perfect.

Jean holds her audience rapt with another Christmas carol.

Jean holds her audience rapt with another Christmas carol.

Jean often responded with a selection of seasonal music she played on her flute, delighting those around us with impromptu concerts. Our English students would attempt the lyrics in English, we’d echo them in Spanish.

That’s the spirit of Christmas, wherever you celebrate it. The simple things – family, friends, a meal on the table, a song on your lips or music in your heart – are what lasting memories are made of.

May you share that spirit, wherever Christmas finds you!