November 28, 2013

Giving Thanks

The area around Cajamarca, Peru is heart-stoppingly beautiful: majestic rocky mountains dotted with fertile patches of potato and corn fields and tidy dairy farms. We feel a special bond with ‘Peru’s Dairyland’ being from Wisconsin ourselves. The Queso Fresco is quite tasty, though I promised next time I’d try to smuggle in some of Wisconsin’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve and we’d have a Dairyland Duel.

But in the midst of all this brilliant natural beauty and fertile earth exists unbearable poverty too. With collapsing commodity prices for small farmers in the globalized economy and scant transportation infrastructure to Peru’s more dynamic coastal areas, many of the people in this once prosperous region survive on minuscule incomes and sustenance nutrition.

The children of the area, until recently, had nearly no hope of having things any better than their parents. The nearest school was miles (and hours) away via treacherous mountain roads. So what happens to kids in this situation? They. Don’t. Attend. School. Without education, there is no hope.

In 2000, Ines Fort set out to change that – and plant the seeds of hope. A native of Cajamarca who lived in Peru’s capital Lima for many years, she returned to open a school near her home town, “en el medio de la nada” (“in the middle of nowhere”) and started teaching local children in a makeshift classroom without running water or electricity. Within minutes of meeting Ines, I guarantee your hug instinct will take over. This gentle woman overflows with compassion and warmth and burns with devotion to the families of her home town. She tells her story here.

Later her brother-in-law, Javier, joined Ines in her mission. Javier, another extraordinarily generous soul and self-proclaimed farmer at heart, is also the co-owner, with his wife Elsa, of the business that makes Fair Indigo’s women’s organic knits and The Joobles organic baby line.

Javier was moved to action when he observed the children had a hard time staying awake in the classroom, he surmised because their breakfast consisted of a tea of water and orange peel. Here is Javier (with our magnificently helpful friend and translator Sergio) explaining how and why he started providing breakfast for the children of the school.

In 2010, thanks to your $5 donations at checkout, the Fair Indigo Foundation began funding the teachers for the school, and today we’re back visiting their newly opened kindergarten. The parents of the area are bursting with energy, gratitude, and hope. If their children can learn reading, math, and more, there is hope for them to participate in Peru’s booming economy around Lima or, better still, to bring a more lucrative economy back to their beloved Cajamarca. I know it sounds crazy that a teaching staff could be funded with $5 donations. But you did it! It makes all of us profoundly thankful. You’ve helped put smiles on these faces. You’ve given the best gift of all – hope.

Each child brings water (a heavy lift up and down hills!) To boil for drinking and supply flushing water for their new indoor toilet.

Javier doing what he loves. Handing out treats from the big city.

On this day of Thanksgiving, we at Fair Indigo, and the teachers, parents, and children of Cajamarca, Peru give special thanks to you. Whether you’ve supported our small business through purchases (which by extension keeps The Foundation going) or made a $5 donation at checkout, you’ve instilled hope in the lives of truly grateful people. Thank you.