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KALLPA K'OJ

Giving Back Energy

Kallpa K’oj, or “giving back energy” in Quechua, is our student volunteer service program. While students attend post-secondary school and live in Casa Mosqoy, they are required to complete a certain number of volunteer service hours. The goal of this volunteer service is to maintain the link to their cultural identity, and allow them space to practice new ideas and skills that they are learning in their institutes. 

 

Students travel to all of Mosqoy’s weaving communities each month to act as Spanish-Quechua translators. Our students benefit from practicing their native language, which is integral to the Quechua culture, and the weaving associations benefit from greater inclusion, as many of the weavers do not speak Spanish.

 

Mosqoy Youth Program students assist in annual events in the weaving communities, including the Biennual Encuentro (or intercommunity weavers’ reunion), and are encouraged to learn about the folklore and history of each community’s textiles. 

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T'ikary Students Volunteering for a community meal
T'ikary students volunteering with sign reading "Gran Truchada Mosqoy Frutillada"

Mosqoy Youth Program students travel to our partnering weaving communities to identify gaps in their associations that can be filled with the knowledge or strength of our students. Based on the community needs, and what our students are learning in their studies, we are often able to facilitate a series of community workshops. Mosqoy Youth Program students will develop workshops with the assistance of the youth program volunteers, planning and organizing the objectives, outline, and outcomes for each project.

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Workshops and volunteer service in the past have included:

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  • Setting up homes for residential tourism

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  • Cooking for foreigners (with a focus on Food-Safe requirements and hygiene)

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  • Marketing textiles

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  • Spanish language lessons

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  • Natural-dyes workshop

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  • The construction of an artisanal space for weavers in Bombon

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  • The construction of a community library

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  • Renovating an existing artisanal space in Amaru. ​

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Funding for the Kallpa K’oj Program has come from the Mosqoy Peruvian Textiles, and from our partners at Help Every Day and the Calgary Board of Education. 

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