We began working in Huathua Laguna in 2017, and in 2018 a former community member was elected the new mayor of Quiquijana District. Usi sits near the top of a mountain range running between Usi and Huathua Laguna, and when the new mayor mentioned that we were looking for some new project communities in 2019, the parents in Usi asked that we visit.
The community members showed their commitment to the project by quickly fulfilling the responsibilities we asked of them, and now in Usi we run an afterschool project with primary school students that reinforces state mandated academic content and promotes critical/creative thinking through dynamic projects based 100% on the students’ indigenous culture and values.