Willka T'ika Children's Fund
May 11, 2010 |
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Dear
Friends,
When
Benito's school was completed in December 2009, I sent letters to the
education department in Ocangate reminding them that this little Qero
community
in the clouds had done everything possible to build and furnish a school
and it
was time for them to provide a teacher. The reply was that they had no
money.
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I
sent out a newsletter with photos of Benito carrying desks across a nearly
5000 meter pass to his village. Gaby Meneses accompanied the  desks and reported
back on her challenging hike to the highest Andean school imaginable.
My
personal plea for help to sponsor a teacher's salary for the 38 registered
school children brought wonderful responses from many Willka T'ika friends who
offered to contribute both small and larger donations of money. We are grateful
to you all. Soon after, I heard from Kate Majzoub, a student at Harvard Kennedy
School of Government. She had met Fredy, a cousin to Benito, worked with
him, and acquired a donation to support two teachers. This was wonderful news.
She had received money to pay two salaries for this year and Fredy would take
care of finding the second  teacher. Benito confirmed that the school had begun
in April with two teachers.
Last
week when all the Willka T'ika Quechua-speaking staff were off work for
the weekend, Benito called me from Acongate. He chatted away in
Quechua. When face to face, we can understand each other. However on the phone,
all I could manage to tell him was it was fine for him to come to his
"vacation cabin" here at Willka T'ika. The next sunny afternoon, in
walked Benito wearing all the layers of clothing donated to him by the Winnipeg
group two weeks before, plus his two hats. His tired-looking face had its usual
big smile and he told me he had just walked through snow and ultra freezing
rain. Since the usual kitchen staff were not there to offer him a hot
meal, I offered him a bowl of my own quinoa, mushroom and asparagus
concoction. I knew he would gratefully eat  anything he was given. To make
further conversation I asked him if he knew what mushrooms and asparagus were.
I understood Benito telling me that at certain times of the year, mushrooms
grow on Qero land. Neither Benito nor any of the Quechua staff knew anything
about the strange looking asparagus growing in my gardens. Secretly I was quite
pleased that I could continue to harvest them directly from the gardens and
enjoy them as my personal treat.
After
Benito rested a night, the Quechua staff returned. Now I could ask Benito what
brought him down from Cochomocca a month ahead of schedule. He said he had to
escort the new profesora down to her nearby home to enjoy a week with her family. My
mouth opened as I heard "profesora". I could not imagine any young female
teacher surviving alone up at that school. Benito explained that it was really,
really challenging for her, but she was "getting-used-to-it." I
immediately asked where she was sleeping and he said, "Oh with my family
in our house." Having recently seen the photographs taken by Gaby, who
managed to get in and out of there before the freezing snow and rains caused
great flood damage in the high mountains, I could not imagine any female
teacher adapting to those living conditions.
I
asked Benito to please bring the teacher to meet me. I needed to know what
might make her life easier in Cochamocca. When Benito returned with 26 year-old
Veronica I smiled and said to him, "Apu Veronica?" and he laughed and
said "Warmi Veronica."
Oozing personality,
Veronica laughed and said she had no idea it would be so challenging up there.
She barely managed to get up the pass, and  she nearly froze to death. She spoke
respectfully of Benito's warm hospitality and said that he and his wife and
family were very kind and helpful to her. They offered her thick clothing we
recently sent up there, and welcomed her into their one-roomed home. Veronica
said she was having problems with the food. She could not eat potatoes all the
time and the "three-month-old meat" they ate occasionally did not
appeal to her.
I
asked Veronica how she liked teaching there and whether she planned to stay.
Her vibrant face and upbeat laughter delighted me as she enthusiastically
related how wonderful it was to work with the little Qero children who were
filled with warmth, love and a sincere desire to learn. Veronica was ready to
return and planned to return with her own food supplies, canned milk,
chocolate, pasta and basic staples.
I
had anticipated that any teacher working up there would need more than a
salary. Having worked closely with many isolated communities over the years, I
knew that teachers need basic comforts; a furnished room to stay in, food they
could relate to and a few survival items. She said that the community planned
for her to return home for a week, every three weeks. Benito and three other
men would take turns to escort her safely home. I met her husband and two and
half year old toddler who she would leave behind for three weeks every month.
Veronica
was ecstatic when I told her that thanks to the donations received by our WTC F,
there was money available to help her soften some of her hardships at
Cochamocco. I gave her the good news that she could return right away with a
new bed, mattress, blankets, pillow, furniture, lantern, candles and food, and
move into a small hut made from stones and straw that Benito had built for
her. In addition we would send fresh fruit and vegetables and Benito would
make sure it was delivered to her new doorstep!
 What impressed me most about Veronica was her understanding of the needs and value
of education for the children. With great enthusiasm she told me about the
twenty younger children in her classroom and how quickly she was able to teach
them to read and write. Fredy would focus on teaching the older children
computer skills and other talents he might have. She said that without having
enough materials like clay, which was important for children to develop finger
muscles, she had been taking them onto the grass to twirl the strands around.
Then she laughed again and said even though she did not have clay, in the
endless supply of mud around the school, the children could make mud figures
instead! I promised to send her more supplies.
Mary
Kate, a recent guest at Willka T'Ika, had read our website and arrived with a
bag filled with a selection of books and items from her second grade school in
the USA. It was simply perfect timing to be able to hand the books directly to
Veronica to take back with her for the children.
The
WTCF is supporting four schools in isolated Andean communities. Early this
year, crops of subsistent farmers were washed away by the excessive rains.
Potato crops got the rancha, a disease brought on by too much rain. Numerous
animals important for food or wool production died.
Many
areas o f help are needed. One of the greatest needs we face this year is to
find money for food to supplement a meager potato diet. During the winter
months beginning in the Andes in May, we are hoping to send high protein foods
such as legumes and quinoa and tarwi, to all four schools, plus fresh
vegetables and fruits at least a few times a week. If the 600 children are well
fed, they will stay healthy. They will have energy to walk to school and will
be able to sit in the classrooms and focus on their studies.
To
read more about how you can help, please go to http://www.chakragardens.com/childrens-fund
Sincerely,
Carol Cumes
Willka T'ika Children's Fund
 
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