If you like what you see here – please consider buying the book to help me support the children of Peru. To read more about the book please go to the “Visions of Peru” Book page.

Click on the image about to purchase the book.

This is Washington – affectionately, Washi

He was our guide on the trip but he is so much more than that. We all grew to love him, and to admire his tenacity and passion in helping his people, whom we also came to love. With money we raised prior to leaving for Peru, and his help – we were able to directly affect the people most in need, sometimes in remote areas. I saw first hand the poverty and suffering this people live with, yet they smile and offer us food when we enter their home. You can read and see his story and theirs in “Visions of Peru”.

I met Mama Sentuza, 84, who can barely see and who lives in the dirt and rock house she’s lived in her whole life. She has no running water except the stream beside her home, no electricity, no health care, and no help – except for Washi! You will meet her and see inside her home in “Visions of Peru”.

We met two children that tagged along with us during an afternoon visit to some Inca ruins. We learned how their story so very closely mirrored Washi’s own story, and how his has turned out with a happy ending thanks to the generosity of a lady name Mama Sharon and how hopefully with Washi’s help and guidance theirs will too. Without help, their story is sad and bleak. Four children being supported by their mother. The dad is gone and they live in a small one room house with only the clothes on their backs, no beds to sleep in, no money for school supplies, no money for food. This is the story of literally 100s of children and women in small towns everywhere in Peru. They are forced to beg for food, or sing for tourists – as they did for us, as Washi did some 20 years ago – just to survive.

We took 500 pairs of shoes to a mountain village and put them on the children’s feet ourselves. I saw first hand how bad the need is, and for such little money (to us) we can do so much good. For $1 a pair, they simply cannot afford the luxury of new shoes when they’ve outgrown them. The support and sharing I witnessed amount those children was awe inspiring. The older ones cared for their younger siblings and did without if there was none for them. I watched them help each other find a new pair to fit and give their old pair to a younger child that didn’t get any. Much can be learned from these people!

PURCHASE THE BOOK NOW

Traditional publishing is very expensive and you have to make 100′s or 1000′s of copies and deal with sales, distribution, delivery and shipping. So I was not able to go that route at this time, but Blurb.com has provided me a means to make this dream a reality. It comes with a higher price tag, but I can assure you that 100% of the profit I make from all sales of this book will go directly to Washington to help the children.

Think of your book purchase in this way. You get:

• A gorgeous coffee table book full of over 200 of images the scenes and people of Peru, taken by an award winning photographer
• To feel good about helping the very people you see on its pages
• A tool for gratitude to remind yourself daily, how much you have when so many in the world have so little – and yet they are happy
• To make my dream come true, and help Washi with his dream of a better Peru for his people. One at a time!

How can you NOT fall in love with these faces?! I did

You CAN make a difference – please help! Buy one or more copies of the book. Give it as a gift for that hard to buy for friend who also likes helping people. Give it as corporate gifts or rewards for staff or clients. Buy it for anyone you know that’s ever been to Peru and has been touched by it as I have. Buy as many as you can – and then spread the word to others please.

If you cannot get a book, you can also help by passing along this story and link to this page. Put it on your Facebook wall. Twitter about it. Email it to all your friends and colleagues. In order to make this happen we need to reach as many people as possible. I can only do that with your help.

Thanks for listening.

PURCHASE THE BOOK NOW

Visions of Peru

By Darlene Hildebrandt

Book Preview

My journey to Peru began in January 2007 when I met a lady at a seminar in Vancouver. Diana and I connected immediately because we both had similar visions – to take people on tours around the world. I want to teach people about photography and art, she wants to guide women on spiritual journeys. Peru actually wasn’t on my list of “must visit” places, but when an opportunity to go as her assistant and official photographer arose, it was too good to pass up. I was about to learn how different this trip would be from your regular tourist vacations, and for that I’m SO glad.

Prior to even leaving Canada, we were told about a charity we would be working with and how badly they needed funds and school supplies for kids. I began soliciting all my family and friends for money and donations, and I was able to raise about $900. With some of that money I bought as many scribblers and note pads as I could fit into a duffle bag to drag along with me.

This quote was displayed onscreen on my plane to Lima: “The world is a book. Those that do not travel read only one page” – Saint Augustine. I think I read a whole chapter just in Peru and it makes me want to read more.

We started the trip off in Lima, a rag tag group of 8 “gringo” women and our guide Washington. Washi, as we called him is a local Peruvian, and was a constant source of information about the culture of his people, how they live, and their beliefs. He is also very personable and charming and he loved to hug all of us ladies and called us “Pacha Mama’s children” meaning “mother earth’s children”. We fell in love with him immediately.

Next we flew to Cusco, set in the mountains at about 12,000 feet above sea level. It is a gorgeous city rich in culture, crafts, music, dance and Inca heritage. Many of the walls of the city are built on top of original Inca walls built over 500 years ago and more. It is there we started our spiritual journey by bonding with each other through exercises. We each wrote one intention we’d like to achieve during this trip. I wanted to open my heart wider to love more deeply and to connect with and have my “inner goddess” flourish and grow. We also wrote and then burned one thing we wanted to release and leave there. It was a great way to get to know each other.

While in Cusco we visited 2 Inca ruin sites with our own personal Shaman Jesus. He took us to a newly discovered site, not even open to tourists yet and we participated in a circle ceremony inside a cave. He channelled an ancient spirit that spoke to him and said that he was an old man and was sad because many people come here and don’t understand that place, but that he was happy because we had come and we were respectful and understanding of his people. I personally had a feeling that I’d been there before – but not any old déjà vu feeling – one that I might have actually lived there in Inca times. It was a bit of a freaky experience, but totally connected me to the place even more.

One of our highlights in Cusco was having a picnic lunch, brought to us by Washi, in the forest outside one of the ruin sites. He then surprised us with an Andean pipe band, comprised of four brothers ages 12-19, which played in the Eucalyptus forest just for us. We built a fire, danced and were amazed by the talents and the passion of these young men.

Taking Spanish lessons and learning salsa dancing were also part of our immersion into Peru. The local people were so happy when I spoke to them in their language, I wanted to learn more and connect with them more deeply. I was so taken by the language that I’ve started taking Spanish lessons upon my return to Canada. Several nights of salsa dancing at local hangouts, not tourist bars, were exhausting but oh so much fun. We met a lady that is a competitive dancer who was fabulous, a national champion. But she’s having trouble getting a Visa to travel to the world competition. Travel is very hard for Peruvians outside their country, as many of them leave and don’t go back. Washi’s brother is also trying to get to the US to study English and the tour leaders are trying to sponsor him, with much difficulty. We learned about some political issues and boundaries that are not pleasant, not all the world is about love unfortunately. But I still believe in trying to help those that we can.

From Cusco we journeyed by van into the Sacred Valley and once again Washi did not disappoint. Lunch along side the road, overlooking an amazing vista – a large lake in front of us, Andes Mountains in the distance. We had more food than we could eat and soon we started attracting dogs and children hoping for a few scraps. Seeing the joy on their little faces as Washi lined them up and gave them each a granola bar and an orange was a pleasure I will not soon forget. I had noticed a sheepherder and her baby coming down the road and her dress was so colourful, her face so shy, I had to come closer for a photograph. She willingly obliged me, and I gave her a few soles (maybe a dollar) and my banana and half of my tangerine. She was so grateful and held my hand tightly for a long moment.

You cannot buy this kind of experience!