Back from Sanka and off to Arraypallpa

Hi!!

so, the entire team finally made it back to cusco yesterday midmorning. as adam described earlier, the ride out to sanka started with a bit of confusion with the mini sized van. but a larger one finally arrived and we fit in it only with all of our packs and bags strapped to the roof. it took us five hours to drive through the winding highlands roads. when we arrived in sanka it was dark and no one knew we were comming!

we spent the past five days in sanka working on and starting some pilot projects. its the beginning of our relationship with the community, and it comes with its ups and downs. starting relationships and trying to get the community to trust us is our first hurdle, which we will have to continually work on. Adam and Chris led the water assessment. this included sampling and testing water for bacteria and various minerals. Mike, with the help of Ruben and Mary, started working on reparing the grain grinder for the community. Carolyn and Kelli established with the community members a pilot library project. Colleen and Brandon, along with Ricardo, conducted household visits, assessing the health situation for the community.

The community decides how to get organized, and they assigned a committee to each of our projects. For example, the Fathers´ Club and Mothers´Club presidents met with us about the library. We talked out logistics of location, management of books including a registry, and a priority list of books to get first. We also talked to the teachers about books for the school and it´s exciting to think about the kids having more resources to enhance their education. It was a feeling of success to write out an agreement stating the details and responsibilities of each party. It´s exciting to see the community members take ownership of the this project, and ultimately that´s the goal - for them to completely manage for the future the various resources and projects we help start - paso a paso, step by step.

Sanka is set in the Andean highlands, so there´s not much vegetation, a few patches of trees, but mostly shrubs and grasslands. The sky is incredible, the clearest blue, and then at the night the stars are brillant. We were able to go on a couple hikes, one to a high peak above Sanka, and the aerial view provides a different perspective that adds to our understanding of the community. The other hike was to see a nearby river, and this view down the valley provides a regional perspective of the landscape. The mountains never end, there´s always another peak, and this shows how massive the Andes are.

One day we were able to help with wheat harvest. The men bring piles of cut wheat together and use pitch forks made from tree branches that they have widdled into Y shapes. They fork the wheat into a circle. One man stands in the middle with only ropes tied to a team of four horses and then gets then running in a circle to smash and break apart the stalk from the grain. We stand on the outside of the circle and raise our hands and make silly noises as the horses come by to keep them going in the circle. Men continually rake the wheat back into the circle that the horses are stomping. When the wheat is finally broken down enough the horses are left to rest and then men begin the thrashing process, which consists of utilizing the wind. They throw up bunches of wheat into the air so that the light stalks blow to the side and the heavier grains fall directly below - this is how they separate the stalk from the grain. Once a year each man gives a gift back to the earth to say thank you for that year´s harvest. The gifts are a secret, but they did share that they may bury or burn the gift.