Late but here it is, Ethos Proceedings, January 2010 .

Here it is May. Where have we been? Distracted, working, deep into life here and not in Peru, trying to move forward with our newly formed non-profit...there are times I seriously question my ability to keep all this going. :-( I want to be there and cannot.

The intermittent news I have received from Peru has been spotty at best. Our friends, Carlos, his non-profit Hogar de los Hijos del Sol and Washi continue to work with families who lost farmland or crops due to the flooding. A dental clinic was held high in the mountains, and they, as always provide meals for children walking to school in Ollanta. Jorge, our friend in Cusco with the organization Hampy has said tourism is down, thereby affecting his program in a village in Choco, where we have a few stoves. He relies heavily on tourist volunteers.

We/Las Vidas Mejoradas are having meetings and laying the foundation for what will be our work. I hope. (From here all of that good work seems so far away!) First though, follow-up needs to be re-established in some way. My main concern has been having and maintaining contact with the folks in Mandorani, the site of our most recent project. What we planned on hasn't happened. The phone does not always work, when I do reach someone they don't speak Spanish very well and they cannot find the people I need to speak with. Our calendars we made to reinforce the stove project and remind them we are still involved, sat in the post office in Cusco for three months and were sent back to us. aargh. (Honestly, I have never seen a postman in the villages and have no idea of what notice Victoria at the store was even given. She gave me the address I used. And as I recall people usually have to pay something to receive a package at the post office. Who knows what happened...)

I miss having Pave down there to help with this. ;-(

So to that end, I am in touch with Jorge and Carlos and batting around ideas of how we can work together...with their help locate where we need to go or help; whether it be a stove project, health related, community kitchens, or clean water ; bringing our resources there, and then again relying on them to help with the followup which is so very important and now lacking in Mandorani.

It seems simple enough.

Meanwhile, we have been told anytime we can file papers so to gain our tax deferred status. (If we had the lawyer do it, it would cost us a couple thousand dollars. Yikes.) So we'll try to do that ourselves. ;-) We need a computer or laptop. Used is OK. And we will need money once we establish our relationship with El Hogar de los Hijos del Sol and Hampy to get someone regularly to Mandorani. A fundraiser will be held. And the plan remains to be physically there in April of 2011.

So please keep us on your radar.