I rarely drive to a community alone. If I am heading somewhere with a road that leads to it, I almost always end up picking up people needing a ride up to their community. Yesterday, when I was driving back from Patacancha, one of those people I picked up happened to be Maria Teresa. Maria Teresa, her sister Alicia, and her classmate Elizabeth were the three Andean weaving teachers from our first project five years ago in the General Ollanta school in Urubamba! Maria Teresa is now in her last year of secondary school and is preparing to take university entrance exams to study law. Alicia recently graduated from a technical institute in the field of Tourism, and Elizabeth is currently studying in the same institute. We are very happy to hear that all three of the girls continued to be strong students and leaders among their classmates long after the closing of our project. The long-term, self-sustaining impact of the project is always our goal and it is great to see that our very first project has had a meaningful outcome.
Ian McGroarty
