The Q'ero Nation is situated at one day on horseback from the road to Paucartambo in Cusco and it is the oldest in the Inca Tradition. They live at 4,300 meters of altitude in the Peruvian Andes. They grow potatoes, olluco, oca (types of Andean potatoes). This is what they eat. They have a school for children between the ages of 7-14. Medical assistance is scarce. They work and live as a community of about 800 people. They marry among them and have kept their customs alive since the Inca times.
The main activity of the Q'ero people, besides agriculture, is weaving. They use natural dyes for their wool. Their techniques and designs are considered to be the closest to those of their ancestors. Recently, their weavings were shown at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.
In May of 2006 the Dalai Lama met six representatives of the Q'ero and expressed his feelings of peace and wellbeing to them. They all received a Tibetan scarf from His Holiness.
Cecilia Montero has initiated a program to help the Q'ero receive food and medical attention in Cusco. The Fellowship also donates medicine for their animals who provide the wool they need for their weavings and transportation for their food. We recently sent to Q'ero a good provision of powdered milk, rice, oil, noodles, salt and sugar. Our goal is to continue to provide food and funds for medicine for them and their animals.
