A project co-sponsored with Tian Gong International Foundation

Donna Runnalls, Exc. Dir. Living Bridges Foundation, traveled to Cuzco Peru in July 2009 funded by Tian Gong international Foundation as part of a teaching team providing training in Energy Medicine and Qi Gong for individuals, hospital and clinic personnel in Cuzco, Puerto Maldonado (within Manu park) and Iberia ( a town close to the Brazilian border). The teaching was enthusiastically received by many individuals and by several doctors and hospital Directors who have invited the group to return in November of 2009 accompanied by Qi Gong, Tian Gong Master Tian Ying of Germany who will provide teacher training for the same staff in an expanded form. This project builds on work begun during a 2007 visit to the Puerto Maldonado region by the Living Bridges Board of Directors and friends.

In addition to these activities was the opportunity to spend time with Richard Aguayo and Camila Alfaro, Director and Co-director of the Qero’s Community Munay Tika School and original project of Living Bridges Foundation (1998-2004). At the five year mark the school continues to function on a very limited budget funded solely by donations from sympathetic individuals and students of Richard Aguayo. Camila, whose occupation is Peruvian Licensed Travel Guide, volunteers her time to manage most functions of the school, including the hiring and support of teachers on site in the community. The school remains of primary importance to the life of the Q’eros community as teaching is provided in both Quechua and Spanish. The National Peruvian schools usually provide only Spanish studies, regardless of the level of fluency and home support for this second language of most Andean children. Living Bridges is primarily an inceptor of projects and seeks for them to become self-sustaining. At this time, however, Living Bridges was able to fund the school $240 for the month of September, 2009, the approximate cost of the teachers salaries. The school welcomes any donation.

Richard Aguayo provided us with a personal evaluation of the Peruvian national situation now affecting the future of the forest of Manu Park and its perimeter zone after our group returned from traveling on the newly constructed road into the Manu region for our visit to Iberia. While the road provides a transportation link into the port of Puerto Maldonado for oil, wood and minerals demanded mostly by first world nations, its existence will most likely provide a sad quickening to the disintegration and destruction of the Manu Forest region. The situation is complex for a people who live in at poverty level and cut the forest to support their families. The families could benefit from training in basic family agriculture as a great support to their subsistence, as Puerto Maldonado, while having rich soil, almost 70% of all fruits and vegetables are flown or trucked in as evaluated by our group during informal discussions with vendors at the local marketplace, resulting in prices higher than in Cuzco City. A Living Bridges friend, Magdalena Ruiz, of Cuzco, Peru provided an informational link of www.ecologiaperumanu.com in which interested individuals can read about the increasing pressures which threaten the future of the people of the region..