enlarge 72KB, 640x426 2 DSC 7744Edit Trip notes: It takes $600 to help a family produce a hectare of organically certified, high-protein beans (frijoles guindos), and help them find the market to sell them. LWR staff help the farmers organize what they have to offer, cooperating together to have the quanity and quality needed for new markets.
Quinoa needs sun, altitude, and heat to grow...perfect for the Andes.
It costs $600 a hectare to build an irrigation system.
A family here may have three or four cows, getting six litres of milk per cow a day. LWR is working to increase this production to eight to 10 litres. "This is the way women make money."
$100,000 over three years funds a project to improve pastures and feed; teach faster and more hygenic milking techniques; improve sanitation; and teach cheesemaking.Edit
enlarge 69KB, 426x640 3 DSC 7745Edit Abbie Kretz (interpreter); Eduardo Contreras Ivarcena, LWR Peru Program Manager; Kathryn Sime, Director, ELCA World Hunger Appeal; Pedro Veliz Marquez, LWR Regional Representative.Edit
enlarge 64KB, 640x426 4 DSC 7746Edit Mmmm. Tail-gate lunch in the mountains of Peru. Doesn't get much better than this.Conversation in the car, cont: The role of the NGO is to ask, "what are your problems, what are your assets" to help the capensinos discover their own capabilities...not "what don't you have?"Edit
enlarge 107KB, 640x426 5 DSC 7791Edit We are HIGH--9,000+ feet above sea level. Even so, the 10 minute walk *down* the mountain paths to get to the reservoir wasn't too difficult. Edgar had my arm the whole way, and we took it slow.Edit
enlarge 80KB, 640x426 6 DSC 7792Edit The irrigation trench goes way down the mountain.Edit
enlarge 103KB, 640x426 7 DSC 7793Edit The 60 families did the amazing physical labor involved in the reservoir/irrigation system...the trench went down the mountain as far as my eye could see.Edit
enlarge 81KB, 640x426 8 DSC 7794Edit The Little-Spring-that-Could will fill this 33,000 gallon reservoir in four days.Edit
enlarge 79KB, 426x640 11 DSC 7797Edit It's all coming together...a capital investment of just $7000 (from gifts to ELCA World Hunger Appeal through partner Lutheran World Relief), expertise of LWR staff and the association of local NGOs, and the hard work and cooperative spirit of 60 families. Wow.Edit
enlarge 81KB, 426x640 12 DSC 7798Edit Edgar (left)Edit
enlarge 93KB, 640x426 13 DSC 7799Edit Staff from the NGOs that cooperated on this project were there to celebrate, too.Edit
enlarge 96KB, 640x426 14 DSC 7800Edit Pieces of hope: turning dirt and rock into productive fields.Edit
enlarge 94KB, 426x640 15 DSC 7801Edit There must be a more noble term than "sprinkler" for this piece of the irrigation system.Edit
enlarge 107KB, 426x640 16 DSC 7802Edit The orange tubes stick up along with way to hold the spraying mechanism.Edit
enlarge 90KB, 640x426 17 DSC 7803Edit The blue tubing/hose is laid in the trench.Edit
enlarge 81KB, 640x426 20 DSC 7806Edit So much work and hope is invested in the project. Three years of drought thwarted the quinoa crops; last year half the crop failed. This year, there will be irrigation.Edit
enlarge 99KB, 640x426 21 DSC 7807Edit Many family members were waiting for us on the side of the mountain.Edit
enlarge 94KB, 426x640 22 DSC 7809Edit Common threads of thankfulness and partnership wove through out the speeches of those chosen to mark the occasion. "We did this together." "Thank you for working with us."Edit
enlarge 86KB, 640x426 23 DSC 7812Edit November is springtime--planting time--and the 60 families left their own land to work on the reservoir and irrigation system that will allow them to grow three crops of quinoa on the shared 30 hectares of land instead of one crop.Edit
enlarge 84KB, 640x426 24 DSC 7813Edit Soon after we arrived, school children and their teacher joined us--quite a walk. Their presence immeasureably added to the "this is a historic moment" feeling. The teacher said he brought the students to the dedication "to see what their parents--and so many others--are doing for their future."Edit
enlarge 52KB, 426x640 27 DSC 7817Edit Elias Fernadez Quispe is the campansino elected to speak for the community. He spoke with pride and thankfulness: "Thank you so much for working with us. Thank you so much for your partnership. We will care for this investment...like a bank."Edit
enlarge 52KB, 640x426 28 DSC 7818Edit Eduardo Contreras (green hat), the LWR Peru Program Manager, is an expert on agricultural development. I regret that I did not capture on video his descriptions of llamas, alpacas, and vicunas ("Vicunas are delicate creatures...they walk like they are on high heels").Edit
enlarge 87KB, 426x640 29 DSC 7819Edit Pedro Veliz, LWR Regional Representative, navigates around the rim of the reservoir.Edit
enlarge 115KB, 640x426 30 DSC 7820Edit Pedro (LWR): "Sue, you must take a picture of the spring that will fill the reservoir." Sue (thinking there was no way she could get to the spring, even at sea level): "Here, take my camera." Pedro: "No, *you* should to take the picture."
And so, it came to be that I was hoisted four or five feet straight up, with about six inches of space for the hoisters to get footing before falling into the reservoir. I'm not sure how they did it, but I'm glad they did. There it was...a little oasis. What looked like an aquatic garden in someone's backyard will fill the reservoir that will feed the irrigation system that will grow the crops of quinoa that will feed 60 families in more ways than one. I began to hyperventilate a bit wondering how I would get down again, but I shouldn't have worried. The young men who had accompanied me with patience down to the site, showed me the back way to return to the path as we made our way up the mountain path to our vehicles.Edit
enlarge 93KB, 640x426 31 DSC 7822Edit The spring water is clear and clean...and must be amazingly consistent, for they estimate the spring will fill the 33,000 gallon reservoir in four days.Edit
enlarge 74KB, 426x640 34 DSC 7825Edit Every time I would sit down to catch my breath on the walk back up from the project site, the school children would wait. I finally convinced them it was OK to walk past me.Edit
enlarge 66KB, 640x426 36 DSC 7827Edit Shepherdess with baby and her flock, on a mountain road outside of Huando, Peru.Edit
enlarge 80KB, 640x480 37 P1010225Edit Starting again. After the landslide cut off the fresh, moving water and the trout suffocated, the tanks are filling again with fresh water from a mountain spring. This municipal fish farm is at the bottom of the mountain, near the river. The river is not a source of water for the fish farm because of its pollution.Edit
enlarge 124KB, 640x480 38 P1010229Edit "Living water" for the fish farm.Edit
enlarge 89KB, 640x480 39 P1010233Edit The view from the reservoir. Follow the irrigation trench from the lower left corner to the middle of the image.Edit
enlarge 90KB, 640x480 42 P1010238Edit The District President may have popped a button leading the effort to get our vehicle out of the mud rut or getting me hoisted up to see the mountain spring. What a good guy.Edit
enlarge 70KB, 640x480 44 P1010240eEdit Amazing photo by Kathryn Sime.Edit
enlarge 121KB, 640x480 45 P1010242Edit The District President holds up his hand: "she's stopping again." The end of the 10-minute up-hill walk is in sight, though. I can see Kathryn (and those who left for the vehicles ahead of me) and she can see me.Edit
enlarge 110KB, 640x480 47 P1010246Edit The way back up from the reservoir was a little difficult for me, breathing wise. In the spirit of true accompaniment, the group walked--and rested--at my slooooooooow pace.Edit
enlarge 107KB, 480x640 48 P1010247Edit And, rest. When I would stop those who started out behind me would stop and wait, too.Edit
enlarge 96KB, 640x480 50 P1010250Edit I made it, back to the level spot where our vehicles are part. I think Edgar and the other young man must be very kind to their mothers, as demostrated by their kindness to me.Edit
enlarge 81KB, 640x480 51 P1010252Edit A hit of oxygen and a shot of Coca-Cola helps keep altitude sickness at bay.Edit
enlarge 60KB, 640x480 52 P1010253Edit Elias made two speeches, one at the reservoir, and this one, as we were leaving, at the level spot where our vehicles were parked. See the short video from his second speech at http://imageevent.com/elcahunger/peru/videoEdit
