Peru

Our Wellness Research Foundation is supporting a very small remote community and a school not far from the famous ruins of Machu Picchu.

We’re building new schools, and providing access to hot water and at least one meal a day.

The schoolchildren put together a letter and sent it to me and their gratitude is pretty amazing. They even drew me pictures and made a big “thank you” sign I see every time I visit.

They’re learning English and other studies, and they also have an outdoor class where they learn how to cultivate plants that are more biodiverse than just growing bananas. Plus they learn how to rotate crops, so they don’t deplete the soil.

A picture from a 7-year old student at one of the new schools provided by the Wellness Research Foundation

They’re learning to embrace their Quechua (pronounced kesh-wah) traditions, instead of just doing what the government taught them, which was forcing them to assimilate as “modern” people and growing a single staple crop.

Traditionally, what they grew was absolutely sustainable, without any government assistance, and they’re learning to get back to that.

One of the traditional foods they’re learning how to include into their meals again is quinoa. The Inca called it the “mother grain.”

A group of students welcome Dr. Sears’ return to their high-mountain school in the Andes.