Clearer Vision at 11,000 Feet Above Sea Level

Sometimes you see more clearly from a different viewpoint. Xochitl (pronounced Sochi) Berns recently interned with Quechua Benefit for three months and gained new perspective on life for the Quechua people.

Xochitl has been breeding suri alpacas since she was 13 years old. She loves alpacas, the outdoors, and children and wanted to use her skills to volunteer for Quechua Benefit. Xochitl studies biology and Latin American studies at Reed College and hopes to pursue a career in wildlife conservation. She also speaks Spanish fluently, so she was well prepared for volunteering with Quechua Benefit.

For three months Xochitl worked at Casa Chapi and with our anemia campaign throughout the Colca Valley. She was also able to use her skill with alpacas to assist in Quechua Benefit’s alpaca health program. Before she went to Peru, she hoped that her presence would make a difference in the lives of children in a community that has touched her heart.

Now that she has experienced Peru firsthand, she says: “Peru is a beautiful country with so many unique sights. Travelers can enjoy these sights for their pleasure, but a woman of the Andes has to endure . . . the hardships these environments bring.

“Quechua Benefit works to ease and relieve those hardships in any way they can, starting at the roots of problem, like anemia or economic limitations. By volunteering for a nonprofit like QB, I get to appreciate the beauty of Peru as well as . . . have the opportunity to step in and help. Quechua Benefit’s efforts to help underserved communities of the Andes spread far and wide and they are appreciated and respected by many in Peru.

“It has been a great experience making such an impact in the lives of so many.”

Xochitl sees the vision: Improving literacy and the health among the Quechua children will break the cycle of poverty.

Thank you, Xochitl, for volunteering to create a brighter future for the people of the Colca Valley.

Your skills and passion can help the Quechua people, too. Just like Xochitl you can volunteer–either at home or in Peru. Check out more about opportunities here.

It takes many people with a variety of skills to make Quechua Benefit’s programs in Peru successful. We greatly appreciate our volunteers who use their skills and expertise to help us fulfill our mission of Breaking the Cycle of Poverty among the Quechua people.

Debra Parcheta, the founder and CEO of Blue Marble Enterprises in Aurora, Colorado, is someone who gives of herself and her skills in a way that makes a lasting impact. She recently volunteered in Peru with our anemia campaign in Picotani.

Debra designed the database that Quechua Benefit uses to collect and store data for our anemia prevention campaigns. In the last two years we have collected 160,000 data points on more than 15,000 people. This information will help us make lasting changes with our preventative medicine campaigns.

In Debra’s words: “I learned a lot about the complexity of the serious anemia problem while in Peru and the database will be modified to assist the Quechua team with recording treatments and also recording the delivery of education to the populations being served.  Education is a critical component for the high country communities. This database . . . could begin to produce some compelling reports about the disease and its treatment in Peru.”

Debra didn’t spend all her time with data on her trip. She enjoyed meeting kids and parents, and they loved getting to know her and see her technology. Debra stands 6’1” tall, and the kids thought she was a giant standing in the room with a 6’5” ceiling!

Thank you, Debra for your efforts to help the Quechua people thrive.

Just like Debra, you can use your skills and expertise to make a lasting impact with Quechua Benefit.

Click here to see opportunities for volunteering.

 

 

 

 

Dale Cantwell’s connection to Quechua Benefit began years ago. Dale and his wife Pamela, along with Richard and Jane Miller, gave generously to build the four-classroom schoolhouse, library and casita at Casa Chapi. Dale’s expertise as an engineer proved invaluable as he drew the plans and supervised the construction for the project which was completed in 2012. Shortly thereafter, Dale joined Quechua Benefit’s Board of Directors. He has served diligently, often traveling to Peru four or five times a year. Recently Dale supervised the reconstruction of the Sister Antonia Community Kitchen in Ichupampa after a devastating earthquake destroyed the original building.

Today, Dale is the Executive Director of Quechua Benefit. He supervises three programs which are made possible by your generosity:

  1. The preventative medicine program that has treated more than 15,000 children for anemia in the highlands since 2017.
  2. The animal welfare program that vaccinates dogs and alpacas for various parasites and viruses.
  3. The economic empowerment program that trains women and gives them a market for handspun yarn in the USA

Quechua Benefit greatly appreciates Dale’s volunteer contributions. “Quechua Benefit would not be where it is today without Dale’s leadership,” founder Mike Safley says. “Dale has spent years learning the culture, meeting government officials and gaining the trust of the people we serve.”

Under Dale’s leadership with volunteers and donors like you, Quechua Benefit is growing dramatically and becoming increasingly ready to face the future.

Angie Kidd, pastor of Trinity Church United Methodist in Kendallville, Indiana, first encountered Quechua Benefit in 2007, but she did not visit the Colca Canyon until 2010 and 2011. Casa Chapi was under construction during her last visit seven years ago. It has been her dream to return to see it full of children. She tells the exciting story of her Mission in the Andes.

“When my church decided to explore a mission trip, I asked Mike Safley what we could do for Quechua Benefit. He said many Casa Chapi children have never seen the grandeur of the condors flying. Could we take the fifth graders on a field trip to Condor Cross? Would we also take sixth graders to see Arequipa before they go there to live and attend school? There are not enough hands to make these trips possible. They needed a group to dedicate their entire trip to the children and the teachers. We agreed without hesitation. To us, it sounded like a dream mission.  

After spending time in Arequipa, we pulled up to the gates of Casa Chapi. When the children began to wave out the windows of their classrooms, my heart was so full it could have burst. We loved knitting, reading, playing on the playground and soccer fields and being human jungle gyms for the kids who could not get enough hugs! If you visit, ask them about their Frisbees! That was a new and fun game for them.

The beauty of Condor Cross is breathtaking, it was even more breathtaking still to see the faces of the children as they saw their first condor rise just overhead. Later, we loved the kids’ beautiful presentation of their native stories. We all ate cake and celebrated being together, not wanting to let go of the moment. Four or five kids held tightly to every adult, and no one wanted to break away. I was the last one to get to the van, and one of the girls was still holding tightly to my hand. I finally had to pull my hand away. I am fairly certain a little part of my heart stayed in her hand.

Next, we gathered the sixth graders for their first trip to the city. No photo could capture their eyes as they took in the city on the walk to the mall. The malls are just like walking into a mall in the USA . . . except when you are holding the hand of a child who has never been out of the Canyon. The mall took on wonderland status. I heard three little girls exclaim, “Lindo!” (Beautiful!) Then they saw it! It was like nothing else they had ever seen before! People were stepping on it and rising into the air! They were uncertain about trying it at first, but then one by one they took their first steps on to the ESCALATOR!

At the bookstore each student and teacher chose a book of their very own. Back at the school, we all signed all their books, and then they read. Oh, if you could hear the sweet sound of fifteen children all reading aloud at the same time. It was like a little hive of sweet honeybees.

It doesn’t end there. Our team is holding an event to share our trip and the mission of Quechua Benefit. The Quechua Benefit mission and wish list of Casa Chapi will be the focus of our Christmas Transformation during Advent. We are dreaming of how to help other churches take trips  to build relationships with the children and teachers. We want every fifth-grade class to see the condors fly and every sixth-grade class to ride over the mountain into the magical world of Arequipa. Our team is developing suggestions for other groups. I do offer one word of caution. You must commit to living with a little part of your heart thousands of miles away.

Many thanks to Mike Safley, Dale Cantwell, Alejandro Tejeda, Carmen Aguilar Diaz and Leny Cary Choque for helping us arrange the Peru aspects of the trip. We are feeling so blessed.”

 

Ed Cain is a sophomore at Occidental College, majoring in Diplomacy and World Affairs. He volunteered his time teaching English at Casa Chapi this summer. He recalls the children of Casa Chapi as inquisitive, engaged, and mature. Read about his experience in his own words:

My experience at Casa Chapi Arequipa and Casa Chapi Chivay was like no other. For me, being able to combine multiple skills that I learned at school in a real life environment made my experience unforgettable. Being a tourist in Peru is one thing, but living and interacting with these kids gave me a whole new perspective. I felt like an integral part in the development of Quechua Benefit as an organization, and more importantly, in the lives of children at both Casa Chapi Chivay and Arequipa.

Every evening at dinner, the kids in Arequipa would bombard me with questions about all aspects of life back in the US – everything from cars to celebrities, sports, travel, school, and even the architecture. They were particularly interested with the architecture in the U.S. Houses in the Peruvian highlands are one or two levels and made out of concrete or stone. The concept of high-rises and skyscrapers were totally foreign to the children. They looked on their iPads to discover what were the tallest buildings on earth and how they were made. To me, this encapsulates the attitudes of the kids in Arequipa. They are adventurous learners who are eager to expand their horizons and learn about the world outside Peru.

The kids at Casa Chapi were much the same way, but rather than take a deeper dive into the cultural aspects of the world around them, they wanted to learn English. Thus began my role as the walking Spanish to English dictionary. The kids would come up to me during their recess and ask me “Tio Ed, como se dice _____” which translates to “Mr. Ed how do you say_____.” It wasn’t just one brave kid who would come up to me during these breaks, it would be a cluster of about 5-15 of them all with questions about how do you stay certain words in English. They would ask about everything… birds, names, colors, shapes, animals, and common objects in their day-to-day life.

On top of that, I was teaching basic English, which entailed learning numbers, shapes, colors, animals, common phrases, etc. After I was done with a lesson, there would always be two or three kids who would stay behind and give me a list of words that they wanted to know. What stuck with me about these kids was that they were actually invested in learning English; they weren’t going through the motions because they had to. They truly wanted to better themselves and their skill set.

Some of the children come into Casa Chapi only speaking Quechua. Not only do they have to learn Spanish, but for those same kids to express interest in also learning English demonstrates their inquisitive nature. To me, the eagerness they showed at the daunting task of learning a third language was extraordinary.

The maturity that the kids showed at all times impressed me, because they understand the opportunity they have being in a place where they don’t have to worry about things beyond just being kids. The children at Casa Chapi were constantly engaged in learning, and even more engaged in enjoying every opportunity that came their way.

By Chloe Green

Peru makes you feel strong. It also humbles you. The terrain around you is beautiful but unforgiving. You can see in the faces of the people that you meet, that life is not easy here. The effects of altitude are ever-present in the lives of the locals. Casa Chapi is located at 12,000’ in the Colca Valley and a mile outside of the town Chivay. Chivay is a small town, with a population just around five-thousand, that’s just upstream from the dramatic Colca Canyon.

We were here to see the sights, of course, but also to visit Casa Chapi, a small school located near Chivay and built by Quechua Benefit – an American NGO working in the highlands of Peru.

img_0395Chivay was the second stop on my family’s trip. The first being in the large city of Arequipa. Travel between the two required a three-hour bus ride over a 16,000’ mountain pass before a descent into the Colca Valley. Chivay is rural, the roads are dirt, and many homes have rocks placed strategically atop the roofs of the houses to keep the roofs on.

Our hotel didn’t have heat so my mom and I ended up piling all the blankets on one of the twin sized beds to stay as warm as we could. And I felt tough for what, to me, was “roughing it”. But within my first few days of traveling in the valley, I would find that my “roughing it” could easily pass as luxury for many people living in this area.

We visited a home of one of the girls who attends Casa Chapi. She shared it with her whole family, including aunts and cousins and sometimes others. They had pigs that lived in their space, their rooms were dark and cold, they cooked outside and it was quite obvious that life was hard. But the broad smiles on the kid’s faces made you believe that it wasn’t. The kindness of her parents, the way they had drawn on of their walls, all their children’s homework schedules, the math posters taped up beside them, all made you understand that they loved their children as much as any other parent, and they only wanted the very best for them. Seeing this made me realize how important Casa Chapi is to these families.

Casa Chapi wants to build an English language program as another avenue to bettering their lives of these students. They need English speaking teachers – teachers who care and are invested. It is not hard to be invested once you meet all the kids. However, it certainly takes a certain type of young person to live here for an extended period of time, because 1) it is clear you need to be passionate about people, and your investment in their cause needs to outweigh the thoughts of warm beds and Wi-Fi access, and 2) you have to be able to find the positive, the funny, and the endearing in the daily challenges you would face.

These children and this community will be grateful, and in the end you will be equally grateful. The value of seeing past your personal challenges and desire for modern amenities and embracing these children and their cause will undoubtedly leave an impression on them and on you. Peru will humble you. Peru will make you feel strong.