On Friday, I had my first visit to one of the highland communities that Living Heart serves, it is so beautiful up there, it is an Andean community where the people wear traditional dress, grow food and raise animals. They grow many varieties of potatoes, some of which have purple flowers. I was joining Rita, our Quechua speaking nurse, who was visiting a family with a child who has a congenital illness, Rita provides therapy to the child and it is really helping him. The parents of the child have taught themselves to weave, they start with the wool from the llama, use natural dyes and create beautiful weavings. The weavings are displayed and sold in the Living Heart cafe and all the money goes directly to the family.
Chrisologo, the father wants to learn English. I ended up spending two hours with him, he got out a notepad and asked me to write in Spanish and English what he wanted to learn e.g basic conversation, how are you? I really believe he will learn English, he is very determined. He has a dream of inviting tourists to his community and teaching weaving as a way to fund a school to teach weaving to orphans in the community to that they will have a marketable skill. He is very grateful for the help he has received and continues to receive from Living Heart and wants to give back, reciprocity is one of the values of his community.
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