Submitted by Catherine Gehringer on the 2017 summer session program in Peru sponsored by the School of Nursing…
We just got back from four wonderful days living among the people of Q’eros without electricity, running water or cell service. Below is an update from the past few days:
On June 26th, we woke up in a hotel in Cusco, had breakfast and met our tour guide Julian for a 2 hour bus ride up into the mountains. On the way up, he talked about taking it slow and channeling the feelings of altitude sickness to deep breathing since we reached our highest elevation yet of over 16,000 feet. The bus ride there was thrilling to say the least, as we looked out our windows at a straight shot off the edge of the mountain as the bus twisted around the winding roads. Once the bus couldn’t go on the road any further, a few people from Q’eros met us in the mountains with lunch and horses to take us the rest of the way. Riding a horse through the mountains made me feel as though I were in a scene from a movie. The panoramic mountainous views were breathtaking as we passed a lagoon hidden above the clouds.
Eventually, we dismounted our horses and our guides helped us to walk the rest of the way to the Q’eros community center. 
The weather was cold and it amazed me that most of the people of Q’eros continued to wear open toed sandals despite the frigid temperatures. A six year old boy name Yubell skipped and pranced down the mountain with ease and gave me faith that I could make it!
At the community center, night time was upon us. We met Hannah, the organizer of Willka Yachay, which is a nonprofit that helps indigenous people thrive in the modern world. You can find out more about her organization using this link: willkayachay.org. A group of Quechua fathers prepared dinner for us consisting of soup, pasta with meat and veggie sauce, veggies and bread. It was delicious! We were all pretty tired from a long day of traveling so we laid out our mats and sleeping bags and fell asleep on the floor of the community center.
June 27th: We woke up with the sun and the sound of a rooster crowing in the distance and had another wonderful breakfast consisting of eggs, potatoes, avocados and fresh fruit. One of our biggest obstacles was going to the bathroom in a hole covered by a tent behind the community center, but we all managed! After breakfast, we moved tables outside in the sunshine and started making reusable, antibacterial feminine pads which was a product started by a previous UD Nursing student in Rwanda. In the beginning, a few young girls ages 12 and 14 came and ended up being way faster and better sewers than most of us! It was great because a few men came to make pads for their wives and daughters and they were really great sewers as well. It was awesome because you wouldn’t see many men stepping up to make pads for women in the United States. We took a break for lunch and moved the tables back inside. After lunch, women of all ages began stopping by to make pads. They were excited when we also offered a pair of underwear with each pad made. While some of us sewed, others played with the local children and kept them entertained with parachute games while their moms were hard at work. We worked all the way up until dinner time and nightfall.
After dinner, we were invited to take part in a baptismal ceremony for an 8 month old baby named Alfredo who was one of six children who recently lost his father two months prior. It was an honor to be a part of such a special moment, as we each whispered a prayer into the baby’s ear and blessed him with a flower in water. The people of Q’eros saw us as intelligent, young people with bright futures and hoped that their baby would develop some of the same traits. That evening, Hailey, Roanne, Meredith and I were invited to spend the night in the home of Milton, a Quechua man, with his family. Milton and his wife welcomed us with open arms and offered us beds among their alpaca furs. To our surprise, several guinea pigs ran around freely, squeaking away, on the dirt floor of their home throughout the night. It was much warmer in the home-stay since the families lit fires during the day and we managed to get a good night’s rest. It was nice to be among people who were so happy with so little. Our first two days in Q’eros are ones that I will cherish forever.