End of December, 2006

During this special season at the end of the year, we at Q’ewar wanted to share with all our Friends a letter received from Ms. Kerry McCabe. Kerry is a 17 year veteran teacher working at Cuba City High School in Wisconsin, USA. She has degrees in psychology and special education. Her work includes the responsibility for the academic process of students with emotional and behavioral disorders as well as students who are at risk of failing their academic studies.

I met Kerry in 2006 on an Amtrak Train! We met in the observation car and talked for only about ½ hour but what a connection we made! When Kerry said goodbye she told me she would be in touch via email with her ideas to help the Q’ewar Project. Over the years, I had met many people who had lots of words, lots of seeming enthusiasm, but in the end, I never heard from them again.

But how different Kerry was! She followed through and wrote me after school had started and her students had settled in to the routine. Her idea was to have an ice-cream sale, run and operated by her students, and all profits would go to the Q’ewar Project. Kerry had the backing of her Principle, Mr. Tim Hazen, and her students were enthusiastic about helping Q’ewar. And so it began.

About a month ago, Kerry wrote me to tell me of the progress she and her students were having in the ice cream sale. Below is her letter. I felt that during this changing of the year, the end of the darkening day and the coming of the Light shining brighter now as the months progress towards a new time of planting - her letter would be a symbol of how the Light can shine in our deeds and be such a Force for good.

The Q’ewar Project has touched many people, from those who have been able to come to Peru to give of their time, to those who actively help the Project from where they live, to those who just own a beautiful Q’ewar doll, feeling and appreciating the care and love with which it is made. We hope that the Light and promise that Q’ewar is giving to the ladies at the Project, as well as all who are associated with it, will continue to grow and flourish, continuing to touch the lives of ever more Friends in the coming new year.

And here is what Kerry wrote me:

My dear friend Carmen,
I want to update you with news of the ice cream project at Cuba City High School. Due to a shortened schedule because of parent teacher conferences and then Thanksgiving holiday, we were not able to consistently sell ice cream. However, both times we did not- students would knock on my door asking if there was ice cream available! That was amazing. They keep me going.

To date we have earned $220 for the Q’ewar Project. That is amazing. What I have found is that my students, those disenfranchised from the daily routine of life at Cuba City High School are now taking on leadership roles, that of handling the money, making change, running for more ice cream and answering questions about the project. It is amazing and the good that this is doing cannot be measured in the money that it is bringing in.

My fondest wish would be that I could bring all of my students to Peru to witness first hand life for the women that work in this project. I so enjoy reading about their lives and all that they endure. They sound like such a remarkable group. Know that I think of you and those you work with on a daily basis. Every time I light a candle in this season of light, I think of the women of the Q’ewar Project.
Peace,
Kerry McCabe