The Q’ero people of Cusco Perú has been declared as a Cultural Heritage of the Nation  and they have been called “The last Inkas” since they still preserve very ancient traditions, art and a way of living that resembles the andean culture of the past, they follow the old agro-spititual calendars and they worship Mother Earth and the Spirits of the Mountains as their ancestors did. They are also the Guardians of a very special territory which contains some of the most important head water basin heads of the Amazon rainforest. This sacred land it is right now very much threatened by illegal mining activities as well as the intromission of big Mining Companies that have been wanting to start the exploitation of the mountains where there are the glaciers, lakes and head basins that feed the most important rivers of the amazon jungle.
For this reason I am trying to do all I can to share with the Q’eros people many projects that can help to protect these sacred lands including the Hampi Wasi (Communitarian Natural Medicine project), the investigation of stingless wild bees of the land as an amazing resource for nutritional and medicinal purposes, the production of organic vegetables and medicinal plants in 2 greenhouses that are already functioning one for the school and one for the community and finally the Eco-Cultural tourism project that we are working with a group of Q’ero young guys.

This is the Communitarian Natural Medicine project which works on the investigation and classification of medicinal plants at the Q’ero river basin for the production of plant remedies to treat all kinds of illnesses within the community and also to provide products such as essential oils, tinctures and salves to the different natural products markets.
This Hampi Wasi (Medicine House) in Huayoccari needs the equipment for distillations (U$ 1.200 aprox) and other laboratory tools, materials and containers ( U$ 800 aprox) for the production and bottling of essential oils, tinctures, salves etc) and it is also needed a budget for the edition of Q’eros medicinal plants guide book and for the labeling of different products with well designed labels  for Natural Medicine Q’ero products. And it will be necessary to have a budget to cover the work as a director and teacher of the project for Alejandro Trevisan who will teach the Q’eros how to distill and how to prepare all kinds of medicinal products.
The Hampi Wasi will also serve as a house of knowledge where the locals will share capacitation workshops and different communitarian activities in the production of medicinal plants, wild harvesting and preparation of remedies.
This project can give a way of healthy income to the Q’eros while it will be giving a very important reason to protect their sacred lands by using and preserving their huge diversity of medicinal plants.

Permaculturist, Herbalist and producer of organic seeds with more than 20 years of experience working and developing projects with native communities of Mexico and Perú and teaching permaculture and natural medicine in schools and workshops. Founder of the HAMPI AYLLU (Medicine family project) and MUHU Semillas orgánicas del Valle Sagrado de los Incas.