Quechua Benefit
Quechua Benefit is an organization dedicated to helping the Quechua people in the highlands of Peru.
Join Quechua Benefit on Thursday, May 18th to celebrate the successes of our mission in Peru! Don’t miss out on live music from Afro-Peruvian band Inka Jam, photo ops with Napoleon and Jean-Pierre the Alpacas, “Ace of Illusions” Nate Jester, a delicious three-course meal, open bar, PDX Photo Lounge, and more.
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.
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.
Generation interval affects the rate of genetic change simply because the more rapidly one generation of improved alpacas replaces the previous one, the faster the gain. It is determined by the average age of 1) producing males and 2) females in a given herd. Alpacas have a generation interval of four to six years for females and approximately five years for males, although this interval will vary from herd to herd.
Selection intensity means being highly selective of the progeny produced by the high-quality parents you have chosen for foundation stock, and retaining in your herd only the offspring that exhibit a superior expression of the heritable qualities for which you are selecting. This ensures that breeding values will remain high and that each generation of offspring should improve.
Selection accuracy is important if any improvement or gain is to be made. This means the traits you select for must be heritable, and the animals you choose for parents must have high breeding value for the traits under selection.
Today, the reconstruction effort is in full swing, the money has been raised, the contracts with the municipality are signed, the site is being cleared, and Dale is in Peru again to begin construction. Quechua Benefit’s wish is that the new construction, the town’s first since the earthquake, will provide people with the understanding that they are not alone. That someone sees their struggle and wants to do something about it.
Julio Barreda worked with ancient Peruvian alpaca stock, always striving to improve it. In North America, many breeders are fortunate to be working with animals that have already been improved. However, there is much more work to do. How shall we go about advancing to create the alpacas of our dreams?
