Quechua Benefit
Quechua Benefit is an organization dedicated to helping the Quechua people in the highlands of Peru.
We are often asked questions such as “How long have you been doing missions in Peru?” or “Do you have to be religious to participate?” or “Is there a mission fee?”. This FAQ articles will answer most of those questions and more.
The team arrived in Peru 3 weeks before the Thanksgiving Holiday and left in time to rejoin their families for the traditional rituals of giving thanks and counting blessings. The 32 members some from as far away as Australia and England, formed 4 teams, worked at 9 different locations, saw 1890 patients offering free medical and dental care. Each team member experienced the gift of giving back.
Thirty-one members of the 2013 Quechua Benefit mission traveled to six towns in the Colca Valley on a rotating basis and they inaugurated the Snowmass Health Center with 6 days of continuous operation. They were accompanied by three Peruvian doctors and dentists. Patients were brought to the Snowmass clinic on a daily basis by the mayors from four additional towns.
It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in Indiana. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and there is a smile on my heart. Spring? Yes, but that’s not all. I have seen the face of God today, but not where you might expect. The face of God for me today was clearly one and the same with the face of an eight-year-old young lady named McKayla Adair.
by Nicholas Skinner This November my sister and I had the opportunity to participate in the 2012 Quechua Benefit Mission in Peru. Our family, as Snowmass Alpacas, has sponsored the building of a medical clinic at Casa Chapi. This year the final construction of the clinic was completed, and we were there to attend the grand opening. The first phase of our journey involved long flights, layovers, sleep deprivation, white-knuckle bus rides along cliff-side roads, and a rapid acclimation to 12,000+ feet. […]
Quechua Benefit mission participants often leave for Peru excited about the good they are about to do for some of the poorest people on earth. Invariably, at some point in the mission, they begin to realize, almost feeling guilty, that they are the ones who may well be benefiting most from the experience. Missions are often “Chicken Soup” for the participant’s soul. Serving someone in need is powerful spiritual medicine.
The highlands of Peru are home to the vast majority of all the alpacas in the world. The Quechua Indians, who domesticated the vicuna more than five thousand years ago, are the source of the alpaca which now reside in the outside world. Their world of high plains and harsh environment resists the probability of profit, providing the Quechua only a subsistence level existence. A pair of shoes, an extracted tooth, or a warm blanket is out of reach for […]
Quechua Benefit has returned to Peru every year since 1996 delivering clothes, school supplies and dental assistance. The alpaca breeders of the United States have made this possible with their kind and generous donations. Fund raising has progressed from a few loyal donors to the point today where more than 216 breeders have contributed, many donating thousands of dollars.
Titles are extraordinarily important – always error on the side of being overly polite by referring to everyone by their appropriate professional of social title (e.g. physicians – “Dr.” or Dra.”).
I have been given the privilege of sharing with the entire Quechua benefit family the joy and success our most recent medical outreach to the Colca Valley this past November. The mission was staffed by 17 American and Canadian volunteers; our largest group of volunteers to date. We had four physicians, four nurses, one medical assistant, one occupational therapist and seven wonderful helpers that working together at the Health Posts in Chivay and Callilli.
