The Village of Huaca Quemada

Huaca Quemada is a small village located two miles west of the city of Mochumi. The closest we can come to an English translation is 'burnt-out mountain or hill'. Like the village of Carrizo Bajo that we visited on the same morning, the village homes are scattered over a wide area. We were there to see the pronoei Pequeños Exploradores...'Little Explorers'. We like that name.

This is without a doubt the best physical facility we've seen for a pronoei. The brick school was intentionally built 12 years ago as a pronoei, which is very unusual. When local authorities build a pronoei it is usually modular. The building is sturdy and reasonably well maintained. The concrete column with four holes held a plaque probably placed there during the building's inauguration. It was probably metal so suffered the same fate of nearly all metal plaques in Peru; it was stolen and sold. Most commemorative plaques these days are made of plastic. They don't normally get stolen.

It's a relatively large building with lots of interior space and includes a restroom, also very uncommon. The classroom was not used for the last two years. The reason for that was simply because there were no kids in the 3 to 5 age range. This school term 6 kids registered, and first-year teacher Esther Castro knew there were more so she went knocking on doors to find them. She now has 16 students enrolled.

Esther is the sort of teacher we like to see. She's vibrant; a natural leader and very good with the kids. She has already earned the respect of the parents association. She has asked for 2 storage shelves, 4 tables and 16 chairs. We were told that the plastic chairs and two wood tables that were in the school prior to its closing last year had been returned to the owners. She doesn't want a whiteboard, saying that the old plaster chalkboard is perfectly serviceable.

The carpenter we use in Tucume has increased the price of tables to $27.75 from $24.69 last year, but has held the cost of chairs to $15.42. His prices are still the least expensive of other carpenters we've checked.

The tables, chairs and storage shelves will cost $407.03. We'd like to add some teaching aids...puzzles, books etc for another $50. Transport will bring the total to $500. After the Carrizo Bajo expenses have been paid Promesa Peru will be broke so we have no money for this project. If you can help us please visit the Promesa Peru webpage. Thank you.

### Update on other projects ###

The furniture has been delivered to Los Bances. We will be there Tuesday to deliver teaching aids and take photos.

We received the money to finance the Carrizo Bajo project. Thank you. The furniture order has been placed. We still need to buy the storage shelves. Hopefully we can return to the village with everything in place the first week of May.