Juan AYP: Christmas at Mosqoy – New Year, New Projects

Christmas at Mosqoy – New Year, New Projects

Christmas at Mosqoy

Christmas was very special this year at Mosqoy! The students and volunteers enjoyed a lovely meal in company of Mosqoy alumni, and other Mosqoy friends. However, what made it indeed a special time was the community service project that Mosqoy 5 students chose to carry out to give back to a community in need. Specifically, we organised a chocolatada and gifts for the children of Kancha Kancha, a remote community where both Mosqoy and Q’ente work, located 10 kilometers and 1200 meters in elevation from the nearest highway. A chocolatada is a traditional community gathering during which hot chocolate is prepared and consumed in unity. Due to the community’s remote location, and the expected 200 participants that would receive hot chocolate, this activity required significant logistical planning. Thus, we began fundraising and planning in November, and ultimately succeeded in fulfilling our objectives.

Kancha Kancha Chocolatada

In the end, the students traveled to Kancha Kancha on December 21^st alongside eleven foreign volunteers from other NGOs in Cusco, including Peru for Less, San Blas Spanish School, and Cooperar Peru. The students fundraised for this event by contacting various organizations to find the necessary resources to purchase food, gifts, and pay for the transportation to the community. Ultimately, the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity chapter at the University of Washington in Seattle kindly agreed to fund the service project, making it possible for us to feed the entire community, and give out Christmas gifts to 150 children. This chocolatada project was part of Mosqoy’s Kallpa K’oj program, which aims to connect Mosqoy students with community service projects in rural communities in order to maintain their ties to their culture and traditions, and to instill in them a sense of community service and social responsibility. Kallpa K’oj’s role in maintaining these cultural ties is essential for Mosqoy’s ultimate goal of fostering community development by helping local youth leaders in their personal, professional and intellectual development. Mosqoy students will continue participating in Kallpa K’oj service projects throughout the year, and we look forward to future projects and partnerships in benefit of local communities.

New Year, New Projects, New Students

This new year brings a plethora of new and exciting projects to Mosqoy, and a new class of promising students from a variety of indigenous communities. This year, Mosqoy will begin implementing community service projects through the Kallpa K’oj program, after the pilot program implemented in 2011. Mosqoy has secured funding for Kallpa K’oj through a partnership with Help Every Day, and has started selecting service projects to implement between March and September. Some of these projects will include an annual river clean-up in Ollantaytambo, and a variety of capacity building workshops in cooking, tourism, administration and management, and sexual and reproductive health.

In addition, Casa Mosqoy will change locations in March, to a new and improved house that will better suit the students’ needs. Casa Mosqoy will also implement a set of new capacity building programs for Mosqoy students, including continuous sexual and reproductive health, English, resume writing and interviewing, and general health workshops.

Finally, Casa Mosqoy will welcome a new class of Mosqoy students this year. The Andean Youth Program staff is currently evaluating Mosqoy applicants, and after a 6 month evaluation process, will select the eight most promising students to enter Casa Mosqoy in August. This is an extremely exciting time for Mosqoy Staff, as we begin to discover promising individuals and their dreams of becoming agents of positive change within their communities.