Arriving in Mayubamba

We left Cusco at about 8am on Saturday to drive to Mayubamba with all of the food donations and school supplies. Today’s team was the usual Henry, Auqui and I, plus Sonia Perkins, David Schmill and Steve Hirst. All six of us have been very careful to stay healthy and minimize any risk of taking Covid with us in any way. Mayubamba is very isolated and there are no cases of Covid in the area.

Communities all give us some short of welcome, but this time Mayor Villanota from Paruro had organized a real reception. There were the usual speeches, plus music, dancing and gifts. We certainly have never received gifts from any of these communities before. People are just too poor. Having the mayor there to organize such a big event was strange. It is not at all how we usually distribute food.

However, it has probably been months since the people of Mayubamba have had an excuse to get together for a happy event. Even in rural areas, people are very aware of the global pandemic, the numbers of people infected and dead in Peru, and how important it is for them to stay isolated from anybody outside of the community. I am acutely aware of the risk that we pose to them, coming from Cusco. We always keep our masks on, try to keep some distance, and wear gloves when we are giving food to people.

At Mayubamba, we also wore the traditional Andean hats that they gave us, along with the handwoven scarves and bags. With six of us, the scarves alone are worth about a fourth of what we spent on food for the village. If I had thought that the gifts came from the villagers themselves, I would have tried to pay them something. Knowing that they came from the mayor made me less uncomfortable. Still, they were expensive gifts that we definitely did not expect.

In every village they give us something. Usually it’s either boiled potatoes or boiled corn. We don’t expect people to be able to give us something, but we do appreciate being able to take the time to share with these communities. It’s the Andean version of breaking bread, and it builds a connection between those of us coming from Cusco and those who live in such isolated communities, hours from Cusco.

After the speeches and gifts, the mayor kept the music going as we first called up the 22 children under six years old to get their coloring book, colored pencils and carton of milk. All of the villagers were sitting on the soccer field where we had gathered, spread out a good six feet or more from each other. It’s hard to keep little kids from bunching up together, especially when they are approaching a group of strange adults. Still, the mayor did his best to keep the kids spread out a bit and there was also a community member there to spray alcohol on the hands of each kid after they received their gifts.

Next, we called up the 46 children over six for whom we had bought notebooks and three pens each. We also had bags of maná for all 68 children, with some extra. Maná is a sweet puffed corn, which is different from popcorn but a very popular treat here with kids. It is not made in the region of Mayubamba, so it was almost an exotic treat from the city for them.

After all the kids had something to do and something to eat, the mayor helped us call up a representative from each of the 76 families to receive the food donations. Each family received 5kg of rice, 2kg of sugar, 1 bag of salt, 1 liter of vegetable oil and four bags of oatmeal. They also received a package of ten small marmalades, donated by the MayTaq Wasin Hotel, in Cusco.

After all of the school supplies and food had been distributed, we were invited to try some roast potatoes. This is called huatia and they are roasted underground, below a huge fire. It is a very traditional way to roast potatoes, unchanged since before the Spanish arrived 500 years ago. All of the villagers who stayed were invited to share the huatia with us. There was a spicy ají sauce and fresh cheese to accompany the huatia. The mayor had also arranged for soup to be made for us and we sat down to share lunch together.

Finally, we had to go. We piled back in the van for the beautifully scenic drive back to Cusco. This is the sixth time that the Covid Relief Project has gone to take food to isolated communities since the pandemic started. It is always a humbling experience. The need is so great and we can only bring so much, but as they say here “cariño es cariño,” caring is caring.

Fundraising nitty-gritty

We raised $719.89 through PayPal, Venmo and GoFundMe. We also raised s/110 in cash. (s/ is the sign for Peruvian Soles). We withdrew s/1400 on August 20th, which cost $402.06. We withdrew s/1100 on August 22nd, which cost $318.80. That gave us s/2500 for $720.86, plus the extra s/110.

Purchasing and expenses

With 76 families, we had a budget of s/30 per family. For that s/30, we bought 5kg of rice, 2kg of sugar, 4 bags of oatmeal, 1 liter of vegetable oil and a bag of salt. That came to s/2,280 for food. We also spent s/264 on school supplies for 68 children. For the 22 children under six years old, we bought 22 boxes of colored pencils, 22 coloring books and 22 cartons of milk. For the 46 children over six years old, we bought 46 notebooks, 46 red pens, 46 blue pens and 46 black pens. We bought an extra 8 cartons of milk for pregnant women or new babies not on the list. The 30 cartons of milk cost s/90. We also spent s/42 on maná, which is a sweet puffed corn snack that is very popular with children here. We spent s/5 on disposable gloves to hand out the food and gave s/20 to the driver that helped us all day long.

All of that came to s/2,701. We only raised s/2610 for Mayubamba, but we had some money left over from last time, which covered the difference.

We also received 76 packages of 10 small marmalades from the Maytaq Wasin Hotel as a donation to take to the families. We are so thankful to the MayTaq Wasin for that sweet treat! Everything else was bought at Wagner’s, which is the wholesaler we have been working with since June.

Transportation Logistics

Auqui worked with Arturo Américo Córdoba Farfán at the mayor’s office in Paruro to arrange all of the transportation and to get information about Mayubamba. The mayor, Wilberth Villacorta Villacorta told us that Mayubamba is the poorest town in the district of Paruro and that 76 families there are in great need.

Mayor Villacorta sent a cargo truck and a van to Cusco on Saturday morning, to meet us at Wagner’s. We drove to Paruro, where the mayor and his entourage joined us, then on to Mayubamba together. The mayor brought several assistants with him, including Arturo and several municipal police.

At the end of the day, the cargo truck went back to Paruro and the van took the six of us back to Cusco.