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I grew up in a world where a school vacation meant I was free to have fun, play, swim and visit the ocean. A vacation from school in the Quechua isolated mountain world, where the children have benefited from our Willka T'ika Children's Fund, is quite different. No school means children have to work hard in the fields during rainy season and tend to their animals over vast distances. Children cry when it is time to leave their teachers, warm class rooms, hot meals, and friends for two months.
In Quechua communities, when sixth-graders graduate and school ends, it is customary for families to send both girls and boys to find work with farming families in distant sub-tropical fruit and coffee farms around Quillabamba, a few hours beyond Machu Picchu.
The fruit and coffee farmers come searching for cheap labor within the mountain communities, offering work to children as young as twelve-years-old. Tempted by the money, in exchange for food and a very basic daily wage, parents agree to send their children to work during their vacation time during the rainy season.
Parents never meet the host families, they are vague about where the child has actually gone, and there is no further communication with the children until they return. There is even more pressure for children continuing their education to earn additional money to enter secondary school, purchase a school uniform and pay for school supplies. Without money, there is no education.
Not all the children are paid well for their efforts and some are treated better than others. The small amounts they receive are handed over to their parents. Some of the girls come back pregnant and in some cases, the parents may send their daughters to live with the family forever. They cannot afford to keep a pregnant daughter. This is how it is in the Andes. It is the only way money comes into their hands.
Jessica, the Chumpepokes lead teacher and organizer of the mountain schools, called me in South Africa for help last December. She said that one of her students, who had graduated into eighth grade, was so small that he looked like an eight-year-old. The boy was devastated because for the second year running, no one would hire him. He was desperate to find work this summer because without any money he would not be able to continue with his eighth grade classes. Jessica asked if we could hire Efrain at Willka T'ika for the summer.
I sent a note to the Willka T'ika staff tellin g them Efrain would be there to help them. They should ask Jessica to ask his father how much money he wanted the son to earn, and agree to pay him that amount. Half wishing I could see their faces when a "little" boy arrived to work, I knew I could count on them to take care of him. Arturo kept me updated and told me how surprised the workers were to have a small boy speaking only pure Quechua, a language their own children no longer speak. I said they should put him in a little room upstairs but was told that he was happily settled in Don Benito's little Qero hut made from rocks and straw where he felt right at home. After a few weeks I received photographs of Efrain happily working alongside the men in the gardens. He had a big smile on his face and a pair of oversize pants rolled up. They arranged for his meals and in the evening he liked to walk about with the night watchmen. The best news was that he played with our dog Chocolate, who was in desperate need of company. Last week I received an email from Antonia saying that little Efrain's joyful spirit made them all happy. I could tell they were enjoying having him for company during very quiet months at Willka T'ika. Antonia said the boy was turning thirteen on the 21st of February and she asked me if I would mind if she baked him a torta (a cake).
 Efrain had never seen or had a piece of cake to eat in his life. Imagine that! How many of us interact with children who have never seen or eaten a slice of cake, birthday candles or a birthday gift. I told her to gift him with a full poncho I had purchased from his community, a luxury for a family to make these days, and a chullo, a woolen hat that covers the ears in winter. From the photographs they just sent me, I see he received a soccer ball as well.   Efrain had never slept on a bed before. His family and siblings all sleep on animal skins on the floor. Antonia asked if they could send him home with his own bed and base. I could imagine him going home with his treasures. For sure this would be the summer that Efrain never forgets. 
WILLKA T'IKA CHILDREN'S FUND 2011 WISH LIST 2011 If you have some cake money to donate this year, we may not spend it on cake, but we will spend it on food. When you see how happy the school children are to have a plate of hot food, you automatically feel happy for them. FOOD Please donate a plate of food. Donate a week of food. Donate a month of food. Please consider donating $25, $40, $50 or whatever is possible. Whatever you donate is greatly appreciated. The teachers carefully divide it up and make the purchases accordingly. It costs $100 per day to provide a nutritious hot lunch for 200 children in one school. SALARIES FOR TEACHERS If you know anyone who is part of a foundation that donates money for education, please share the news that we are searching for funding to pay additional salaries to one, two or three teachers this year. A teaching salary is $500 per month and the school year is ten months. The salary includes $100 needed for transport each month. One qualified and carefully selected secondary teacher will cost $5000 for 2011. COMPUTERS Jessica's deepest desire right now is to acquire 25 computers. With the ten they have, they still have 25 to go. With 35 computers at Chumpepokes, each child in an average-size class will be able to learn how to navigate a computer. All the Quechua children will flourish as the world opens up for them. An electrical cable enters the school and on most days they can plug into electricity. There is no internet of course. A computer can be bought for $1000 and that amount includes technical support and payment toward a teacher. COMPUTER CAMPAIGN: Please help me make this dream come true. I would like to offer my triple gold award-winning Chakra Gardens, Opening the Senses of the Soul book as a gift to anyone who generously donates $150 to the WTCF during March, April and May. It is a magnificent coffee table book beautifully edited by Terranda King and designed by Greg Asbury, who took all the spectacular photographs and published the book. In addition, the cost of shipping the book anywhere in the world is included. All net proceeds from this book go to the Willka T'ika Children's Fund. We still have 1000 Chakra Gardens books available. The children in the high-mountain communities served by the Willka T'ika Children's Fund benefit directly when you send a book to someone in your circle. Knowing that children in the Andes have widened educational opportunities - a school to attend, qualified caring teachers, warm food and electricity - your friends and family may enjoy the book even more. As the 2011 school year begins, please help me make a difference to the schools. Sending Andean Munay and blessings to you all, Carol Willka T'ika Children's Fund Mailing address: Willka T'ika Children's Fund 4110 SE Hawthorne Blvd #237 Portland, Oregon, 97214 The Willka T'ika Children's Fund (WTCF), tax ID number 20-5795997, is classified as a public charity under section 501 (c) (3) of the IRS tax code. Contributions to the WTCF are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the IRS. | 
