Read about our chocolatadas!

Watch the video above to see the day we took aid to the families of Sut’uc-Pacchaq! (Blog link below)

August 22nd: Comunidad Campesina de Mayubamba

Donations received: $719.89 USD

Donors: Anna P., Anna and Teddy Rushby, Caroline Balitzer, Clare, Devarati Dasgupta, Diana, Ellen, Ernesto, Jan Batt, Jill, Joe, George, Lauren Barnes, Marilee Fuller, Natalie, Nicholas, Susan West

Purchases: For 76 families, we bought for each: 5kg rice, 2kg sugar, 1 liter of vegetable oil, a bag of salt and 3 bags of oatmeal. The Maytaq Wasin Hotel in Cusco donated 76 packages of small marmalades. We also bought school supplies for the 46 school aged children and presents for the 22 children under 6 years old: 22 boxes of colored pencils, 22 coloring books, 46 notebooks, 46 blue pens, 46 red pens and 46 black pens. All of this cost s/264. For s/90 we also bought an extra 30 cartons of milk for the 22 children plus any pregnant women in the village. We also spent s/42 on maná (sweet puffed rice) for the children and s/5 on disposable gloves for handing out the food. At the end of the day, we gave s/20 to the driver who had been helping us all day.

With a total of $719.89 in donations, we took money out from the atm here in Cusco twice. August 20 we withdrew s/1400, which cost 402.06. On August 22 we withdrew s/1100, which cost $118.88 for a total of $720.86.

Families helped: Arturo Américo Córdoba Farfán at the mayor’s office in Paruro chose the rural community of Mayumbamba because it is the poorest in the Paruro district. The families there are now relying completely on farming and raising livestock. All community members with jobs in Cusco have been unemployed since March. Mayubamba is a very small community and there are only 76 families on the mayor’s list. Mayor Wilberth Villacorta Villacorta came with us to Mayubamba to distribute the food and school supplies on the 22nd.

Read more about our day in Mayubamba here! Watch our interview with community member Nayda Quispe Martinez about how the Covid pandemic is affecting her community here!

August 1st: Comunidad Campesina Chahuay

Donations received: $961.29 USD We withdrew s/700 Peruvian Soles from the ATM in Cusco four times and s/500 once, which cost $960.36

Donors: Connie Schroeder, Frank Reeves, Hazel, Jan Batt, Justine Moorman & Friends, Kelli Van Vleet Pleskac, Kyra Eddy, Linda, Veronika Khariv, Victor

Purchases: With s/3,300 soles we spent s/10 on disposable gloves, s/299.50 on school supplies, s/48 on milk for children under 2 years old, s/37.30 on maná (sweet puffed corn for children) and then had a budget of s/30 per family. For that s/30 we bought 5kg rice, 1 liter of vegetable oil, 2 bags of oatmeal, 3 kilos of sugar and a package of crackers. The wholesaler that we are working with, Jorge Wagner, also gave us 40 cartons of fruit juice as an extra donation from him.

Families helped: We are working with community leader Lucio Quispe to choose the families of Chahuay who need help the most.

Read more about our day in Chahuay here!

July 11th: Comunidades Campesinas Taray and Picol

Donations received: $862.85 USD and s/30 PEN (plus s/350 PEN leftover from last time). Four withdrawals of s/700 cost us $812.66, which leaves us $50.19 for next time.

Donors: Andrea Gough, Catherine Vejrych, Cole Finchen, David Schmill & Sonia Perkins, Devarati Dasgupta, Diane Perlman & Peter Buck, Denise Renno, Ernesto, Gary Ibave, Isaac Sommers, Jan Batt, Jill & Stan Jasper, Jordyn Dargitz, Kelli Van Vleet Pleskac, Kerry Willoughby, Kim McLean, Kyra Eddy, Marie Schleburch, Marilee Fuller, Olivia Bergland, Stephen Wisdom, Susan Remek, Thomas & friends

Purchases: For 100 families, we bought 5kg rice, 1 liter of vegetable oil, 1 carton of milk and 8 small bags of oatmeal. At s/30 per family, we spent s/3,000 on food, plus another s/40 on sweet puffed corn for children. This is called maná and is different from regular popcorn.

Families helped: In one day we managed to help two different villages: Taray and Picol. In Taray community leader Edy Pumamarca Dueñas chose 64 families and in Picol community leader Persi chose another 36 families. In Taray most of the families were working in tourism before the pandemic. Very few community members still have any kind of work. Families in Picol were less dependent on jobs in tourism, but it is also a much poorer community in general. Due to the population of Picol being in general mostly elderly, it is much more dangerous for them to leave their community to look for work or do any kind of shopping. Picol is very isolated and it is essential that the community prevent any cases of Covid in the area, since besides being elderly, they also have no access to a hospital, clinic or pharmacy. We are very careful to not take the virus with us to these communities when we visit.

Read more about our day taking food to Taray and Picol here!

June 27th: Comunidades Campesinas T’astayoc and Perolniyoc

Donations received: $1,035.63 USD (plus s/185 PEN leftover from last time). Five withdrawals of s/700 each cost $1,021.23. We will save the leftover s/350 for our next event.

Donors: Ali H, Amanda L, Anisa & James, Anna A, Bénédicte & David Tracol, Caroline Balitzer, Christine M, Dorit, Dorothy & Gary Shue, Jerry & Carol Cantor, Jessica Hanson, Kara, Kelli Van Vleet Peskac, Laura & David Sommers, Linda, Merel Cosijn, Mike, Miranda Rondeau, Pamela Paladino, Rachael Tabor, Rebecca Moore, Reka Hagymasi, Sarah Mansour, Susan West, Veronica Khariv, Xiao Feng

Purchases: For 100 families, we bought 5 kilos of rice, 2 kilos of sugar, 1 liter of vegetable oil and 2 cans of condensed milk. This cost s/3,112. We also spent s/50 on small bags of sweet popcorn for children.

None of the wholesalers that I contacted have been able to get any oatmeal, which is why we switched to milk. Oatmeal is an imported product and quite a treat. We were so fortunate to be able to give each family 5 kilos of oatmeal on June 6th. Until international supply chains stabilize, we may not be able to buy oatmeal again for a while.

Families helped: The mayor of Ollantaytambo asked us to help two different villages: T’astayoc and Perolniyoc. Community president Mario Santos in T’astayoc chose 35 families who were in need of immediate assistance. Community president Delfina Achata in Perolniyoc chose another 65 families in need of immediate assistance.

Read more about June 27th and see photos here. See the video about T’astayoc here. Watch interviews with Perolniyoc leaders here. Watch our interview of a representative of the Ollantaytambo mayor’s office here.

June 6th: Comunidad Campesina de Sut’uc-Pacchaq

Donations received: $1,211 USD and s/378.10 PEN (this includes the s/228.10 left from May 16th). The maximum we can take out of an ATM here is s/700. Six withdrawals of s/700 cost $1,250. This came to a fabulous s/87.86 per family!

Donors: Ali H., Amanda Beane. Andrea McCandlish, Anonymous, Caroline Balitzer, Denise and Kent Renno, Danielle Troy, Diane Perlman & Peter Buck, Dorothy & Gary Shue, Ernesto, Kelli Van Vleet Pleskač, Laura & Dave Sommers, Linda, Mike, Marion (Cusco), Marion (Boise), Rebecca Moore, Sam Yeager, Sarah Hagestedt, Sarah and Dany Mansour, Stephanie Belières, Steve Hirst, Susan West

Purchases: Per family, we bought 5 kilos of rice, 5 kilos of fortified oatmeal (for children), 1 tin of 800g. of powdered milk, 1 liter bottle of vegetable oil, 5 kilos of sugar and 1 panettone per family. Rice, sugar and oil are basics for food aid in Peru, but the powdered milk, oatmeal and panettone were a very welcome surprise!

Per family: 5kg. rice cost s/14. 5kg, oats cost s/21.20, 5 kg. sugar cost 13.50, 1 tin powdered milk cost s/23.80, 1 liter vegetable oil cost s/5.36 and the panettone were s/10. We spent s/87.86 per family, for a total of s/4,393 spent on food. Transportation costs were covered by the mayor of Urubamba, so there were no other expenses, besides the food. We have s/185 leftover, for next time.

Families helped: Community leaders chose 50 families who were in the greatest need. The community is a two hour walk from the nearest road, so we were not able to go all the way to the community. We could only drive as far as the Inca archeological site of Chupani, about an hour up a narrow dirt road from Urubamba. One representative from each family walked down to meet us at the road. We offered to bring all of the food up on horses to the village, but the community president said that they would prefer anybody coming from Cusco stay down at the road. There are no cases of Covid in the Urubamba area and the last thing we want is to risk taking the virus up there, when we are just trying to help.

Read more about June 6th and see photos here. See the video about Sut’uc-Pacchaq here.

May 16th: La Comunidad Campesina de Huancarqui-Ranraccasa

 Donations received: $1,000 USD and s/150 PEN. With a very favorable exchange rate, that all translated to s/3550 PEN.

Donors: ‘becca Flora, Hannah Jenkinson, Jennifer Bailey, Jill & Stan Jasper, Kerry Willoughby, Marion, Patty Howerton, Sarah Groth, Veronica Khariv

Purchases: 210 5 kilo bags of rice for s/2853.90 and 180 bottles of vegetable oil for cooking for s/468 = s/3,321.90 spent on food. The mayor provided transportation, so that was not an expense. We had s/228.10 left after buying the food, which we saved in case of emergency. Since transportation without police permission is illegal, had Henry and I been unable to get back to Cusco with the mayor that Saturday, we would have been stuck there at least until Monday, since nobody is allowed out of their homes on Sunday. Thankfully, there were no emergencies and we will use this s/228.10 to kick off the fundraising for our second delivery of food aid.

Families helped: Mayor Genaro Quispe Gutiérrez provided a list of 186 families in need. Of those, only 160 sent a family member to one of the five places we went to distribute the donations. All 160 families received 5kg of rice and one bottle of vegetable oil. An additional 20 families who were not on the list received the same. Another 30 families received 5kg of rice.

Read more about May 16th and see photos here