Have you had the pleasure of meeting Don Benito at Willka T'ika?

During the past fifteen years, Benito, an authentic Qero Pakko, healer, has brought love and ancient wisdom to our guests through his coca-leaf readings and precious offerings to Pachamama. Always with a smile, Benito has talked about his faraway home, his family, precious alpaca that thrive at high altitude, his beloved Pachamama, and their sacred Apu Wamanlipa.

A year ago Benito told me of his dream to build a school in his Cochamoca community. He said that each day, the older children must walk for five hours, and cross a 5,500 meter high pass to get to the nearest school in the land called Qeros. The education department told Benito that if he builds a school, furnishes it with desks and supplies, they will send a teacher. With money he earned from his work at Willka T'ika, and proceeds saved from selling precious woven ponchos to guests, Benito did everything he could to meet those requests.

Impressed at how much he valued education for those isolated children in his village, I promised Benito that when his school was ready, we would send him desks for each child. He said there were 30 younger children waiting to study. During the year, we sent Benito home with donated clothing, school supplies and books.

In December, after our last group left Willka T'ika, Benito announced that his school was ready. Proudly he assured me that it had floors, doors, a roof and windows. I told him the desks were ready, and he said he was ready to transport them to his community. He had set the date for the school's inauguration. To make sure that the desks arrived safely, I asked my friend Gabriela to accompany Benito and take photographs with my camera. I wanted to take a peek at his life in Cochamoca.

To reach his village requires a day of travel by truck on a new paved road to Ocangate. From there, the truck must continue on a treacherously narrow, winding-road through the mountains to Tinkashi, where it ends.

After Gaby and the desk carriers arrived at Tinkashi, they had a good night's sleep in a family hut. From there, they had to carry the desks while walking all day through valleys, mountains before meeting their biggest challenge, a steep pass at 5,500 meters of altitude.

In the morning, desks and chairs were carefully piled up on the backs of Benito and his Qero friends. Chewing coca-leaves to counteract the effects of the high altitude, Gaby and the men began their long, slow ascent.

During rainy season, heavy storms bring snow to that region. Prone to landslides, the steep and slippery paths become very dangerous. The desk carriers and Gaby offered K'intu's of coca and sent heartfelt prayers to the mountain gods for their safety. Benito's special blessings worked. Miraculously the path and clouds cleared as they approached each valley. 

Even though she did not have to carry her own backpack, Gaby, who has spent her life walking about the Andes, was astounded by the challenging conditions they faced. As she slowly moved up the pass, her body felt like lead. She was exhausted from the effort and gasped to see how much  further they still had to go to arrive at his community.

The shy children were so excited to see desks for the first time. The next day the elders of Cochamoca and nearby villages arrived for the inauguration celebration inside the school in the clouds. For the first time, grown men reveled in the luxury of a solid chair.  On top of the desks they spread out woven cloths filled with their special coca leaves. They blessed the new school and praised Benito for what he had achieved.

Stone by stone the Qero men had built their dream school for their children. Gaby returned with a document, carefully hand-written on school paper. It thanked us all for the help they received, and listed the names of 40 children who had registered with their birthdays and signatures.

Ten days after this grueling expedition, a smiling Benito walked into our Willka T'ika gardens, as if he had never left. Astonished to see him, I asked why he had returned so soon. He just smiled and said he wanted to know if Gaby had arrived back safely. Then he added that he needed to pick up his ceremonial poncho to wear in a dance festival up in Qeros next week.

Amazed, Antonia and I looked at each other and both said, "He walked back for a poncho!" No one would believe the challenging terrain Benito crossed to revisit us. He acted like he had just walked in from down-the-road Urubamba. After he had a hot shower, I invited him to see the photos Gaby had taken. I commented on the beautiful photo of his chicken coup, an artistic mound of rocks. I asked him where the hens laid their eggs, and he pointed to a corner of the thatch roof of his house. Thinking that eggs would make a nice change from potatoes I told him about our new hens at Willka T'ika and invited him to enjoy a breakfast of fried eggs. I was sure that whatever precious eggs were collected in Cochamoca, went to the small children.

I asked Benito about the promise made to him by the Ocangate mayor to provide a teacher for the school. He replied that on his way down, he had stopped to talk to him and was told they had no budget for a teacher in 2010. Sadly, Cochamoca's dream school will not have a teacher when the school year begins in March.

Would you like to help our Willka T'ika Children's Fund?

Or, do you know of anyone who might help?

Cost to sponsor a teacher for ten months during 2010:

 Willka T'ika Children's Fund needs to raise $450 per month, to total $4500 for a ten -month salary for a teacher at Cochamoca.

I am sure you will agree that they desperately need a teacher. With your help, if we can raise this money, the children whose parents worked so hard to build their school, will have a chance to learn to read and write.

During this coming year, I will do what I can to persuade the Education Department to pay the salary of a permanent teacher. I don't want them to have to wait another year. I hope that with your help we can make their dreams come true.

Should you wish to help us in meeting these objectives please follow this link for information on how to make donations to the Willka T'ika Children's Fund, (tax exempt under section (501)(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code)  or pass on this message to any foundation or friends who may be willing to help.