Prepping for Peru: Mosqoy Workshop

On a cold dark Sunday evening, a group of students and staff members huddled into the Lecture Theatre for a glimpse of where they’ll be adventuring on a service trip to in a few short months: Peru. Twenty three members of the Brentwood community, headed by Mr. and Mrs. Beatty, will be travelling in March to Cusco, Peru, where there they will be participating in service learning through the organization, Mosqoy. Mosqoy is a charity that sponsors Andean youth to university, as well as help weaving communities preserve culture through a free trade weaving program. Ashli Akins, the founder of Mosqoy, ran the workshop to help students prepare for what they’re going to encounter on the trip. Students learned what service they are going to be participating in, which mostly includes improving Casa Mosqoy, the student dormitory where Andean youth stay while going to university in Cusco. They also learned about the impact of carbon emissions while travelling, and what to do every day to reduce that carbon footprint in preparation for travel.  Foremost, the students are very excited after finding out the itinerary of the trip which includes going to Machu Picchu, the service, spending time with Mosqoy students, visiting isolated weaving communities, and going on a three day hike through the Andean mountains.  These travellers will also be busily fundraising over the next four months in order to complete service projects to improve the quality of living and learning for Mosqoy students in Cusco. The Brentonians going on the service trip are extremely excited for the prospect of travelling and volunteering in a foreign country, and can’t wait until Spring Break 2016! Gina B, Mack ‘17