WomenofOneHeart

A second route, arguably the one they presumably traveled, would have taken them southeast across the Jezreel Valley to the Jordan Valley, down to Jericho, then up through the Judean Desert to Jerusalem, and finally, to Bethlehem. Whatever the route they chose, it would have been a very difficult journey for Mary.

On most occasions, the inns of Bethlehem were filled with travelers coming and going from Jerusalem, five miles to the north. With the census, traffic would have been even more congested. When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, due to the influx of travelers, there was no available lodging to be found. Joseph must have been frantic with worry as Mary informed him that the baby was coming. Over the years, we have romanticized the birth, which Luke describes as very beautiful and angelic; however, the reality for them was one of desperation and poverty. They were in a limestone cave used for a stable. There must have been concerns about the sanitary conditions of the environment. For Joseph, as the caretaker of his family, the scene must have given him pause.

Imagine all the fear and anxiety that comes with awaiting the birth of your first-born! Certainly Joseph would have also been nervous and concerned about his business affairs while he was away now that he had a family to support. Again we see a common thread of “support” as key to understanding Joseph.

By this time, Judea had become part of the Roman world and was ruled in the Roman interest by the client-king, Herod the Great. Herod was a paranoid tyrant who viewed the story of the coming messiah as a threat to his power and therefore ordered the immediate massacre of all boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity under the age of two in a horrific act known as the “slaughter of the innocents.” Joseph, having been warned of the coming infanticide by an angel in yet another dream, fled with his young family to Egypt. Here we see another clear example of Joseph as a diligent protector and caretaker of Mary and Jesus.

When Joseph heard of Herod’s death he decided it was time to return home to Israel. In a fourth and final dream, Joseph was warned that Herod’s son still presented a danger to Jesus’ safety.

For that reason, Joseph decided to take his family north into Galilee and settle in Nazareth. After this, Matthew says nothing more of Joseph.

Throughout his gospel, Matthew paints a consistent portrait of Joseph as a man who was, without fail, obedient to God, and a man who would do anything to protect his family. Luke’s story of Jesus in the Temple shows a Joseph who, though he knew that he was not Jesus’ father, knew what many parents know all too well, that we must love and support our children, and when the time comes, we must let them go - so that they may experience their own journey.

It is believed that Joseph died peacefully in Nazareth somewhere around the year 18 A.D. In 1870, Pope Pious IX honored Joseph’s role of caretaker of Mary and Jesus, by declaring him to be, very fittingly, the patron saint and protector of the Catholic Church.

Perhaps it is Joseph’s “supporting” role that is the greatest lesson for us all. Throughout our own journey, we must follow Joseph’s example of protector and caretaker of one another, as well as his examples of integrity, compassion and mercy. In the end, it hardly matters that none of his spoken words were recorded in scripture; after all, what we say is never nearly as important as what we do!

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Women of One Heart Saving the Starving Q’ero Tribes of the High Andes Mountains in Peru WRITTEN BY Melynda Thorpe Burt

There are many types of women.

The phrase “historical heroine” calls up names like Amelia, Eleanor, Jackie and Rosa. And there are modern female leaders too. We see them leading our hometown communities and there are those enacting national and global change right before our news-glued eyes. We admire their aggregate sense of charisma, strength, and noble ideologies, and we find ourselves aspiring to be like them; somehow, someday.

This story is not about the notable women of history, nor the modern chess players of corporate America, government and politics. Rather, it is a simple story; a beautiful one. And if you read through to its very sweet ending, you will find that this story will change you, just as it has changed me.

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I traveled thousands of miles to find it, witness it, and before I even begin unpacking my suitcase, I realize it is important for me to me to tell it.

This is the story of two women, living in two very separate worlds, sharing one common dream and one heart.

Penelope Eicher lives and works in the red-sand desert of southern Utah. She is educated, kind, compassionate and concerned.

She is also strong and wise, and her husband, Tim, is loving and supportive. Together, they built a beautiful home in Dammeron Valley where they have lived for 32 years, raising two happy and successful children. Their daughter, Meghan, is a single mother and research scientist at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia. And Cory, their son, works for The Princeton Review, and is currently remodeling his family home in New York City.

The second central figure of this story is Bertha (pronounced Beardta with a Spanish roll of the tongue). Her full name is Bertha Victoria Ramirez Rozas and she is a proud Peruvian who loves her people.

Far from Penelope, Bertha lives high in the Andes Mountains in the small town of Urubamba, Peru. She too, is kind, compassionate, educated and concerned. With her supportive and endearing husband, Vito, they are parents to two children: Alvaro, age 12, and Majaida, age 5.

Like Penelope and Tim (a professor at Dixie State College), Bertha and Vito work together and support one another. They feel lucky to have jobs, though the requirements are demanding. Bertha sees her children only on weekends. With a degree in education from University of Cusco, she says she feels blessed to have a good job, but it requires her to work five hours from home by bus. Vito, who spent 12 years studying agriculture and education at University of Cusco, works in civil defense. He too, is required to work away from home; so during the week, Alvaro and Majaida are looked after by a cousin with the help of their grandmother who lives and works nearby.

“It is not easy to be away,” Bertha tells me. “They watch for me, and when they see me walking home from the bus station on Friday evenings, they run to me calling out, ‘Mommy! Mommy!” She touches her hand to her heart and smiles a mother’s proud smile.

When we land at Cusco Airport, I am told Bertha will be there waiting for us, but I don’t know what to expect. I have heard stories about her tenacious ability to get things done, have read her email reports to the Heart Walk Board and know that she makes high demands of the teachers and students at her school while deeply caring for their welfare and happiness.

I see hundreds of people waving, shouting, fighting for taxicab customers. “Welcome to Peru” the signs read softly juxtaposed against the chaos I find at baggage claim.

Then I hear her. In an impassioned voice that can only be Bertha’s, she shouts from the other side of the bay, “Penelopay!”

Then the gentle woman standing next to me – we have been traveling together now for 30 hours – turns in joyful response, “Bear-dta! Bear-dta!”

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Utah. These women are hard workers and delight in discussing ways they will serve the Q’ero families while Penelope is here.

There are many things that intrigue me about Penelope and Bertha, but this is the very thing that impresses me the most: both women are people-centric, echoing peace and gravity in a world filled with calculated chaos and clutter. And together, and personable, they contemplate matters of discord and disarray that stand in the way of helping the high-mountain, once-forgotten, government neglected plight of the two Q’ero tribes they have grown to love and serve.

Having fled to harsh, remote mountain conditions for safety during the Spanish invasion five hundred years ago, the Q’ero remained isolated for centuries.

In 2003, while traveling in Peru, Tim and Penelope learned of the plight of the Q’ero people whose sole source of nutrition, their potato crops, were failing. They had given up anonymity and location to plead to the government for help; their people were starving and children were dying. The Eichers learned that the government denied assistance to the Q’ero tribes, and that is when they stepped in.

“We made immediate connections and found ways to start giving service to these neglected people,” Penelope said. “We had to do something to help these beautiful descendants of the Incas, who had no place to go. How could we possibly return home without making a commitment to help them?”

The next few moments describe a memory I will never forget as this 5’1” embodiment of Peruvian love, kindness and a vigorous attentiveness to getting things done in a sweet yet spitfire way runs toward Penelope. Their embrace is long and tearful and joyful.

Their bodies are separated barely by a waist-high metal security fence, and without words, I learn in a matter of moments that their hearts speak louder than words.

This was the beginning of Heart Walk Foundation, a St. Georgebased non-profit organization that has grown to include more than 700 supporters internationally. Each year, Heart Walk utilizes donations to fund sustainable projects to help the Q’ero remain living in their native homeland and to gain the nutrition and education that are allowing them to survive and prosper. Heart Walk donations have already funded five schools, four trout farms, and six large greenhouses in villages throughout the rugged mountains.

They have work to do, and before I know it, our luggage is tied to the roof of an 11-passenger tourist van and we are running check marks down Bertha’s list.

While in Peru we meet with leaders of the high-mountain Q’ero tribes who travel down the mountain through snow and rain to meet with Heart Walk leaders: Bertha, Penelope and David Jamieson of Seattle, Washington. David is a corporate accountant and member of the Foundation’s board of directors. The Heart Walk delegation will also oversee a group of volunteers, distribute suitcases filled with donations to the Q’ero communities, and sign legal documents to establish a sister NGO to allow Heart Walk to ship supplies into the country duty-free.

Watching Penelope and Bertha work, it strikes me how ordinary, how unassuming they appear to be: Bertha, a school administrator in Peru, and Penelope, a mental health therapist from St. George,

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At the Hueccouno School I meet 80 enthusiastic students between ages 3 and 14, many of whom had never held a pencil until Heart Walk built a school here.

“Our goal is to provide basic reading, writing and math skills, sustainable gardens and fish projects to allow the Q’ero tribes to supplement their simple diet of potatoes,” Penelope said.

After meeting with tribal leaders, Penelope announced that “Our new goal is to gather funding for at least 30 more greenhouses in the next three years; build two more classrooms; fund four more trout farms, and continue to fund existing schools.”

Bertha, who began working with Heart Walk Foundation as a teacher at Hueccouno school in 2006, is now working as an education administrator for Heart Walk, monitoring all five schools and overseeing greenhouses and trout farm projects. With her husband Vito, the two hike high into the mountains to visit each of the Q’ero tribes to monitor their progress and assess their needs.

“I am delighted to tell you how hard the people are working to make sure the projects succeed,” Bertha tells me. “They are so grateful and so happy for the help.”

Then Bertha tearfully tells me how she grew up in extreme poverty and hunger, how she loves her people, and how she will do everything she can to make sure they do not go hungry or thirsty again.

Penelope explains the process behind self-sustainability: “Every project is developed as a collaborative effort between Heart Walk and the Q’ero communities,” she says. “These cooperative teams prepare simple, written proposals listing materials and construction costs. Keep in mind that we are dealing with carefully managed funds,” she says.

“Through this proposal process we’ve developed, the people are learning to plan ahead and to make realistic estimates of materials and costs,” she describes. “The process itself is educational for them and many young people are initiating projects, ensuring that the next generation will be capable of sustaining the successes.”

With concurrence from Bertha, Penelope continues, “We are most thrilled about our progress in education. When Heart Walk first visited the villages in 2004, the literacy rate was zero. Today, children are reading, writing, excelling in mathematics and art.”

Penelope explains, “The survival of the Q’ero people depends on the capacity of the children to become leaders. The children are thrilled and honored to attend these basic schools, and they are proud to do homework. They realize that the work they are doing carries the hope for the Q’ero people.”

Bertha delights in Penelope’s statement about education, and I can see that she is proud of every student in the Q’ero schools.

As I follow along with Bertha and Penelope, the delegation of volunteers and Heart Walk board members on this early October trip, I am touched by the relationship I see between these two women and the students, parents and teachers at the Hueccouno School. They celebrate with individual students like Jon who has

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when he speaks of his father and says, “I wish he could live here with me, but this is necessary.”

Bertha seems to have a heart for all of this, and a determination and tenacity equal to that of Romario’s. “It is my duty to pass on to the poor people of this mountain what they need,” she says. “As a child, I was hungry and poor. If these children will come to school, they will learn and they will receive two good meals each day. I cannot stop until I know I have done everything I can do to help them.”

Bertha puts her hand to her heart and bows her head. Penelope puts her arm around Bertha’s shoulder and they share an emotional moment of deep concern for the Q’ero people Heart Walk serves.

been playing the zampona (Peruvian flute) for two years. He is the oldest of the Hueccouno students and proudly tells us that he has decided to become a lawyer so he can help and protect his people.

And there is Romario , who at 11 years old lives alone in a one room shack with a loft made of random-sized boards. He has a tiny area for cooking, a section to hang his drying clothes, and among piles of boards on a dirt floor, he is gathering parts to hopefully repair his broken bicycle someday. In the loft he sleeps on a cot and reads mathematics books by candlelight to fall asleep. Bertha worries and keeps an eye on Romario. In fact, while we are there, she delivers three extra wool blankets to his doorstep to help keep him warm at night.

When I ask Romario what it is like to live alone, he says, “It is not good for a boy to live alone, but it is necessary.” He tells me he reads his math book at night to help his brain grow tired. “Then I can fall fast asleep and not think about being alone or cold or afraid.”

Romario’s Q’ero parents and his siblings live high in the Andes, and they are making great sacrifices for him to live in Hueccouno and to attend school. He tells me he sees his father once a month when he comes to work with Romario in the potato fields. Romario smiles

This is kindness. This is commitment. It is not boastful, it is beautiful.

These women work tirelessly – I have barely been able to keep up – and they lobby and labor to gain opportunities for a people once abandoned by their own government. And the happy ending to this story is that their efforts are working.

Families are growing full vegetable gardens in greenhouses in the high, cold mountains of Peru. They are fishing and replenishing trout farms that provide their people with protein. They are learning, reading, writing and training to become leaders to help their homeland continue to prosper and their children to grow in health and happiness. What was once the plight of the Q’ero people is now a legacy of learning, working and developing selfsustainable projects.

Penelope and Bertha – silently joining efforts, love, concern and dedication to leading a people away from starvation and into a future of hope in their beloved mountain home.

This is the story of two heroines.

Interested in More Information?

“Heart of the Andes,” a documentary filmed in its entirety in Peru by Melynda Thorpe Burt, will premier February 9, 2013, at the Heart Walk Foundation Annual Gala. The film features the story of how Heart Walk is helping the Q’ero people of the high Andes Mountains return from the brink of starvation to reestablishing a self-sustaining civilization.

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