Now that we had secured a place for the dorm, we shifted our focus to community outreach and student selection. During this process we suffered our first missteps and learned some tough lessons. Our plan was to spread the word to three of the most distant and impoverished communities in...
At two in the afternoon yesterday we exited the office of the Ollantaytambo town judge having just signed a two-year contract for the building that will become Yachay Wasi. That’s the name we’ve decided to call the dormitory. It means “Casa de Aprendisaje,” or “House of Learning,” in...
In the summer of 2008, a tall idealistic American sat down with his frail and pensive Andean goddaughter in the rural community of Socma. Shrouded by the dramatic mountains of the Sacred Valley, he questioned her about her educational future. High school is not an option, she retorted. She would...
