Support Quechua Benefit this GivingTuesday

Quechua Benefit celebrates GivingTuesday by helping our students and their families. Join us and millions around the world by participating in the global generosity movement on November 29, 2022. 

GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement, unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and their world.

GivingTuesday will kick off the generosity season this year by inspiring people to give back on November 29, 2022, and throughout the year.

Those who are interested in joining Quechua Benefit’s GivingTuesday initiative can DONATE HERE. Learn more about the GivingTuesday movement here.

Our goal is to raise $50,000 this year. Help us get there!

Corporate Matching

Did you know your company may have a corporate matching program? Quechua Benefit may be on it, if not, recommend us! Contact your company’s HR department to learn more about company matching programs. We would like to take a moment to thank our current corporate matching partners: Intel, Nike, Guidewire, United Health Group, State Farm, BD, R.W. Baird, TQL, and Velosio.

About Quechua Benefit

Quechua Benefit’s mission is to empower the Quechua people in the highlands of Peru through educational programs, medical care, efficient farming practices, and social justice programs. Our three pillars are education, economic empowerment, and preventative medicine.

Share Your Story
Head over to social media (or email us) and share why you support Quechua Benefit. With your permission, we’d like to share these stories as a way to connect supporters and strengthen our community. Be sure to tag us on socials, @QuechuaBenefit and use the hashtags, #GivingTuesday and #WhyIGive!

Ways to Help

Did you know your company may have a corporate matching program? Quechua Benefit may be on it, if not, recommend us! Contact your company’s HR department to learn more about company matching programs. We would like to take a moment to thank our current corporate matching partners: Intel, Guidewire, Nike, State Farm, UnitedHealth Group, BD, R.W. Baird, TQL, and Velosio.

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.

Every year, the last weekend in September is reserved for our fluffy friends (alpacas)! This was Quechua Benefit’s first National Alpaca Farm Days event since Covid hit. We opened up the farm for the weekend and had the opportunity to host guests, feed the alpacas, enjoy photo opportunities, and shop our farm store. All the proceeds went to helping our Quechuan farming families in Peru. Thank you to all of you that attended. We appreciate you!

If you took photos and post on social media, please tag us @QuechuaBenefit. Thanks!

Sara, our Communication Director, got her start in fine art thus she was able to lend a hand in creating a fun, alpaca photo opportunity for guests to enjoy. It’s sitting outside our farm store in Hillsboro, Oregon so come take your photo!

Pictured here: Katie, our Development Director (left) and Sara (right), testing out the photo board before guests arrived.

Quechua Benefit sold stickers of our logo and alpacas, suris in this case, as a calling card.

Shout out to Sticker Mule for helping in their creation. They turned out wonderful!

Did you know, a wasi is a suri that has never been sheared and is considered good luck among alpaca farmers?

We have received updates from some of our students at Casa Chapi. They are doing really well and loving school. Read the letters below written by each of the students, translated from Spanish to English.

Hello, how are you?

Nice to communicate with you! I want to tell you that I am doing well in my studies.

At Casa Chapi there are fun things like workshops. My favorite workshop is the knitting workshop because I can learn how to knit my own scarf!

We have five pets named Chocolate, Ringo, Sashi, and Bichota. We also have other animals like cats, dogs, guinea pigs and pigs. My favorite pet is the little dog, Bichota.

I like to use the sports field. My favorite course is Science and Technology. I like it because it talks about plants and the human body.

I like Casa Chapi because they teach me to be an educated girl. I also like it because there is hot water because it is very cold in Chivay.

Greetings,
Brighith Calachua Quispe (6th Grade)

Hello, how are you?

Pleasure to communicate with you. I have something to tell you.

I really like Casa Chapi because I like teachers and my dreams come true here.

There is hot water in the bathrooms, because Chivay is so cold. I like all the plants at Casa Chapi.

My favorite subject is Social Science because I like to learn about my country: Perú.

At Casa Chapi, there are funny things like weaving workshop, music workshop, and this last workshop I like because I can sing loud and make high singing notes!

We have some pets. We have dogs and a cat. Their names are Chocolate and Chavela, and we have other animals like guinea pigs, pigs and ducks.

I hope you could come here very soon, I would like to eat my favorite dish with you: Pastel de papa.

Greetings.
Edmir Chuquimamani (4th Grade)

Hello. I like to communicate with you.

I like the food and fruits they give us in Casa Chapi.

My favorite subject is Communication because I like to read.

I like Casa Chapi because I can learn more every day. I also like that there is hot water and I can take a bath and be clean.

At Casa Chapi, there are fun things to do such as workshops. My favorite workshops are music workshop because I can learn to sing. I also like the knitting workshop because I learned how to knit my own scarf!

I am also doing well in my studies.

I hope you come soon to eat my favorite dish: Pastel de papa.

Greetings,
Isabel Karina Ccaza Mendoza (6th Grade)

Hello. I am glad to communicate with you!

I tell you that I am doing well in my studies.

I like Casa Chapi because my aunts treat me. There is hot water here and I can clean myself frequently and be healthy. I like having my own bed also.

My favorite subject is Math because with numbers, I can learn a lot of things.

At Casa Chapi we all get along well and I really like it. Music workshop has all my attention because I love to learn to sing.

We have pets and their names are: Chocolate, Shashi, Chavela, Ringo and Bichota and also we have other animals like Guinean pigs and ducks.

I hope you can come here really soon and cook things like Chicharrón de alpaca to eat.

Best regards to you,
Rosalin Chipa Inca (6th Grade)

Simon is a Norwegian student with an interest in Quechua culture. He documents his experiences and findings here.

Simon

I am a Norwegian student from Oslo, currently writing my bachelor thesis in Development Studies at the University of Oslo. My thesis concerns: Exploring and identifying essential factors to Peruvians of Quechua origin and their identity with or resistance to the Quechua culture.

Peruvians of Quechua origin either reject or uphold their Quechua identity. The main findings in this study demonstrate that cultural identity issues continue to persist, and are often inter-woven in complex structures affected by social, cultural and economic factors.

One of the most interesting findings is that gender should not be seen as an isolated factor but in conjunction with social mobility and rural-urban environments where males are less willing to uphold their cultural Quechua identity and females limitations in social mobility.

A female from Maca emphasized how connected she and the Maca community are with the preservation of their cultural identity by addressing the importance of wearing traditional clothes and arranging competitions rewarding young Peruvians who perform in their native Quechua language. In contrast, her male cousin visiting from Arequipa expressed his dislike for the sound of the Quechua language and his lack of association with its culture.

Among the main observations is that tourism may potentially function as a pull factor, helping communities to resist cultural degradation by providing possible economic gains through the preservation of traditions and language.

Religious differences also arose during interviews (Catholicism versus Andean spiritualism). These variances are worth further investigation regarding the manner in which they influence Peruvians of Quechua origin to reject or uphold their Quechua identity.

In short, my findings involved social mobility, gender, rural vs. urban residence, economic empowerment, tourism, hybridization of Quechua, and intellectual bilingual educational policy (IBE).

My Journey in Peru

I reached out to Quechua Benefit for the possibility of volunteering as an English teacher at Casa Chapi.

Dale, Quechua Benefit’s Executive Director, connected me with long time Quechua Benefit supporters Robert Els, Maria Belen Juares Del Carpio, Kathe Torres and Abel Santander. They were a huge help to me while conducting interviews in Arequipa, Canon del Colca, Cusco and The Sacred Valley.

The warm and welcoming people of Quechua origin gave me insight into their way of looking at the world, which left me humbled, and inspired. I believe the world would likely be a better place if their worldview was shared with more people.