Condoray has just celebrated its 35th anniversary and inaugurated "Cuide-Wawa," a child care center for working mothers.

The great adventure began on May 23, 1963. Three women of the Opus Dei Prelature and their faithful dog, Faro, arrived in Cañete. The women were filled with enthusiasm and inspired by a great ideal: promoting the dignity of the women of these mountains and advancing their human, social and spiritual lives. The result was the founding of the Condoray Women's Center for Professional Formation. From a simple rural house on Sepúlveda Street the first pages of its history were written.

They began with nothing. A baker loaned them his oven to make pastry; shopkeepers in the market place donated products; women volunteered to give classes to help get the center going. "To begin this work without human or material means was not easy. We had to seek out the peasant women one by one in their villages. We had to break through their mistrust and the idea that learning new things was a waste of time," says Bibiana Ingar, a family educator who was one of the founders of Condoray. That's how Condoray began to grow. Since then they have come a long way. Condoray is now a major enterprise that has trained almost 30,000 rural women of the valley. Its school trains the young women of Cañete in hospitality services, secretarial work and accounting.

Lucha has a family of nine active little children who help her sell food to support her family. In the dining room that she has set up in her thatched adobe house, she not only sells carapulca (a local Peruvian stew) but also boils over with enthusiasm. Eleven years ago, Lucha recalls, "there was a lot of apathy and I only thought about feeding my kids." One day she found the house of Don Lolo, her father, filled with peasant women who where learning to read and write. Another group was taking classes in hygiene or sewing.

Don Lolo had found them looking for a place to work and offered them his house. There, under a tree, around a single table, Simpronia, Faustina, Casimira and other village women from Abancay and Ayacucho learned their first letters and a new hope for their lives. Lucha's existence also began to fill with meaning. "That first contact with Condoray was decisive. Now I not only dedicate myself to my family, but I also think of my village, above all of the children. I have also discovered the value of work and the joy of giving".

A Silent Revolution
Lucha is one of the 57 rural advocates of Condoray who work in 18 villages in the valley of Cañete. Women like her traditionally did not play any real role in their community. But now, with an integral formation from Condoray, they are a key factor in the development of their villages.

"To be an advocate is synonymous with service: a woman leader who is a motivator and gets others to work as a team, who shares joys and pains. She is a person who counsels and encourages," explains Lucha.

On Wednesday they travel from their villages to Condoray. They learn how to make shoes and clothes. They learn about nutrition, hygiene and cooking.

But the most important thing that they receive for their work is the human and spiritual formation that helps them to become sources of unity and to learn how to deal with different types of persons. The initial group has grown: Now there are 150 women, many of them refugees from areas of violence.

In Santa Cruz, Playa Hermosa, Roma and many other points of the valley, these examples are repeated. The rural advocates have made a reality of the dream of promoting the dignity of the women of Cañete and of giving them and their families better living conditions. The work begun by the three women -- Carmela Aspillaga, Blanca Ramos and Rosalía Valera -- has produced great fruits.

Don Lolo gave his house to the children
Don Lolo did not live to see it, but on the land he donated to Condoray some 80 poor children receive food and educational attention in the Cuide-Wawa of Villa El Carmen. The program is financed by the Spanish non-governmental organization Pro-Peru, the Government of Navarre and the Condoray Women's Educational Center. The program provides a place for children up to the age of six whose mothers, many of them displaced by violence in the countryside, have to work outside the home and have no one to take care of their children.

The project is expected to provide preventive health services, size and weight measurements, medical examinations and consultation, breakfast, lunch and dinner, games and recreation.

Condoray has signed agreements with the Basic Health Services of Cañete Yauyos to carry out periodic environmental sanitation campaigns and to provide medical attention once a week for the children and adults of the area. The child care center has special tables for the children, educational material, cribs, hygienic materials for the children, and places to give classes to the mothers who live in the settlement.

The work was inaugurated by Laura Arribas, the representative of Pro-Peru. She pointed out that this project has become a reality with the support of various entities. She added, however, that "without the support of the women of the area, it would not have been possible to carry it out."

Maria Eugenia Veyrat, the executive director of Condoray, emphasized the importance of education, which is the best insurance against poverty.

Also present at the inaugural ceremony were members of the Peruvian committee for the support of Pro-Peru: Yole de Romero, Eli de Romero, Marisol Checa de Malatesta, Milagros Checa de Mier and Alexandra Trint.