PROJECTS THROUGH 2011

The Restaurant of the Universal Heart is the primary project of Path of the Heart. Hot lunches are served daily during the school week to 80-100 children all year long. Many of these children walk hours from their villages to attend school and without the restaurant this may be the only meal of the day for many.

Although the "Restaurant" is so named, there is no charge. Rather than calling it a soup kitchen, it is named Restaurant of the Universal Heart to preserve the dignity of those eating there. Located in Ollantaytambo, the restaurant began in 2003 in a dark, windowless room where children lined up outside in cold weather to wait their turn to receive a meal. After the children finished eating, they walked outside to wash their dish and hand it to the next child in line. The restaurant was initially funded by Path of the Heart and a few concerned residents of Ollantaytambo. The next year, the restaurant moved to another facility, but it was still so small that the children had to line up to wait for meals. The present facility has a large bright dining room with windows and a separate kitchen where nutritious meals with fresh local foods are prepared for the children. The Rotary Club of Geneva, Switzerland made improvements to that building, bought equipment, and paid for three years to lease the present location. That support ended in 2008. The restaurant is now funded through Path of the Heart and the generosity of individual donors.

The monthly cost of this project is $1,600. Funds are greatly needed to continue to this project. Due to a severe shortage of donations and an increase in the number of children needing food, the Board of Directors is undertaking major fundraising activities for the restaurant.

The devastating flood of the Sacred River in January 2010 took a toll on residents of the Sacred Valley and slowed efforts to develop a new restaurant. In early 2010, funds and efforts were directed to pay for emergency needs of flood victims in the Sacred Valley as well as ongoing costs of the restaurant. Path of the Heart provided food for many people in the Sacred Valley who were affected by the floods.

In addition to many local service projects, Washi also operates a guiding service for visitors to Peru. He takes his visitors into the mountains surrounding his native Ollantaytambo where they can interact with local people in the villages and see firsthand the hunger and need of those living in the Andes as well as the strengths of local traditions and communities. Recently, visitors on one of Washi’s tours to Peru’s Sacred Valley brought chickens, sandals, school supplies, dental hygiene supplies, hot chocolate and bread to villagers in the high mountain valley of Tastayoc. They worked on completing clay stoves with metal pipes for venting smoke through roofs. Previously, most of the villagers cooked over open fires in unvented, windowless houses.

Path of the Heart also completed other projects in 2009:

• Public bathrooms and a shower facility were built for residents in the mountain village of Tastayoc. Water is heated through a solar panel. Path of the Heart raised $5,000 to construct this project.
• Path of the Heart also funded a greenhouse and kitchen in Tastayoc. Plants raised in the greenhouse include vegetables used in the kitchen where children are fed hot meals daily. In 2009, funds from Path of the Heart provided the water system and supplies for the greenhouse; equipment and supplies for the kitchen; and the salary for the agronomist who directs the selection of plants raised in the greenhouse to optimize healthy vegetables used in the kitchen.1.
• Blankets were provided to villagers in Socma, Pachar, and Qero Nation in the high Andes who were suffering from intense cold. Path of the Heart raised over $1,000.
• Approximately $4,500 was raised for the annual Chocolatada in December to send hot chocolate, bread, and small gifts to approximately 5,000 children in 25 villages over a four-day period.

In 2010 and 2011, Path of the Heart provided money for blankets that were taken to a community high in the Andes, at 14,800 feet altitude, outside of Ollantaytambo and beyond the village of Willoc to provide protection from the intense cold temperatures. Through the generous donation of Suzanne Stroh to Path of the Heart in memory of the inspirational Mama Santuza, chickens were supplied to the families of the village of Willoc. These families will raise the chickens to be sold to restaurants in Ollantaytambo, bringing income which is greatly needed to improve the families’ standard of living. From December 21 through December 24, 2011, as donations permit, plans are to provide a Christmas celebration of hot chocolate, holiday bread and small gifts to 3000 children in remote villages in the Andes and Sacred Valley, including Cuenca de Pachar, Cuenca de Piso Valle, and Cuenca de Patacancha, as well as children in Ollantaytambo.

LETTER FROM WASHI, DECEMBER 2011

Good day my dear Brothers and Sisters,

The reason that I am writing to all of you is to ask for your help to make Christmas a beautiful time for all the children in the Andes and the sacred valley of Peru. With your support we can bring hot chocolate, special bread and gifts to these villages that without this celebration would have no Christmas at all.

To visit some of the communities which are not connected by roads, we will walk for 3 to 4 hours each way with supplies and gifts. It will take us many days to reach all the villages to share these gifts with them. We expect to reach about 3,000 children. The mothers of the children will help by organizing and waiting for us with boiled water ready to make the hot chocolate. Our work is to put the chocolate, milk, sugar, and cinnamon, together and share the special bread and gifts with every child.

All the children in the mountains love Christmas and they are expecting us there with them. Please help us to be there for them, to make a difference in their lives at this special time of the year, to let them experience the happiness, joy, peace, unity, goodness, light, truth, love, and harmony which comes from sharing.

My dear brothers and sisters, please help us with your donation to Path Of The Heart which is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization by contributing at the website: www.pathoftheheart.org or by mail to: Path of the Heart; 91 Vantrease Rd., Brush Creek, TN 38547 USA. We thank all of you for helping to bring to our beautiful children happiness and joy this Christmas. Please check this video of last year’s Hot Chocolate: http://youtube/29BUCZAJllg or http://www.facebook.com/magicaltourperu.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012, Washi

PROJECTS FOR 2012 AND BEYOND:

Long term goals of Path of the Heart include constructing a new restaurant on donated land that will include bathrooms, a larger dining room and kitchen, a library and study area. The current restaurant facility is too small and cramped for all the children it serves. In order to provide for all those in need, they must be served in shifts. Plans have been drawn up, and the estimated cost of the new restaurant is only $15,000. Once ongoing operational costs for the existing restaurant are in place, fundraising efforts in 2012 will be directed toward the construction of the new restaurant.

Path of the Heart is also exploring an education program that will pay school tuition and expenses for destitute children on an individual basis. We are interested in hearing from people who would like to sponsor a child.

Due to the tenuous living conditions of those we serve, we may take on projects of an emergency nature as needed such as funding for the flood victims earlier in 2010 and providing blankets due to subzero conditions in the high Andes in 2009.