Washington

While I was in Illinois, I was amazed to read this story about what happened to a kid who took my college group on a tour of the Urubamba Valley when I was 19. (He was 13 at the time).

“On one of Ms. Lopez’s trips, she met a young boy named Washington who would work his way into her groups, offering to show them the city sights, temples, and to sing songs…Vera learned that this boy was gathering whatever money he could to help feed his family…When Washington was in his early teens, one of Vera’s groups decided to sponsor this boy and send him to a Peruvian Tour Guide school…As Washington grew, it became clear that this was a young man with vision. At eighteen, he was asked to speak at a millionaires convention in Los Angeles…He was then schooled in the United States and offered many jobs. He chose to go back to his hometown…Washington then opened The Foundation of the Universal Heart…a “restaurant” that feeds the children of the mountains…Many of these children have to walk to and from school with no food…Keeping with Washington’s idea of empowerment, this was not a “handout” for the poor. The mothers in the community were enlisted to come and cook for the children, and the children were expected to help out with the cleaning…”

“In the summer of 2005, Cynthia Von Orthal accompanied Vera to Peru. She created a 2 day workshop…focused on storytelling and puppet building based on myths of the area and each child built a simple rod puppet…Today Cynthia, Vera, and Washington continue to talk about creating an artistic program with the children of The Foundation of the Heart…The program would use the language of the people, their myths, stories and legends to create street theater using puppets, mask, dance, song and story. These performances would be taken to the temples, town centers and hotels…It is their hope that with grants and other public and private funds, this program will be a sustainable and successful community enriching opportunity.”

From The Monthly Aspectarian, February 2007

The Urubamba Valley is one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited on this planet.
I have to go back someday. Me encanta, me encanta, me encanta, tengo que regresar...