The Mirasol Project was set up in 2006 as a fairtrade venture to benefit the local children who, with their parents, tend the 3,000 alpaca based at the Mallkini ranch high in the Peruvian Andes near Lake Titicaca. One of these children, after whom the project is named, is a little girl called Mirasol. Like all the Quechua-speaking people who live high in the Andes, her life is meagre. She lives with her family in a mud hut with no windows or internal doors and only an open fireplace for warmth and, in order to cope with the icy temperatures at night, she sleeps fully clothed. The walk to the nearest school is ten miles, so she rarely goes. In the Puno region where the ranch is situated, the illiteracy rate stands at 95% and, because of malnutrition, health problems such as anaemia are endemic.

Michell y Cia., the company that runs the Mallkini ranch, have always had the interests of their employees at heart but wanted to go one step further in securing their future so they decided to set up the Mirasol Project. This fairtrade venture would enable funds raised from the production and sale of yarn to be set aside for the building of a boarding-centre which would focus on an integrated health and education programme so that the shepherds’ families would have a secure place where the children could develop their potential. Many of the children live far away from the centre and will need to stay there in the week and return home for the week-ends. So the centre will provide boarding accommodation and support for the children in their school studies. Already sufficient funds have been forthcoming to ensure that work on the building has been underway now for over a year. As always, lots of rain and bad weather have slowed progress but the walls are completed, the roofs are on and even the beds, made by a local carpenter, are in place. Initial provision will be for six boys and six girls, rising to 30 boarders, who will be the children of the shepherds at the Mallkini ranch, and 100 day-pupils from the nearest village.

On March 11th 2008, the opening of the Mirasol boarding-house officially took place. The opening ceremony was a very emotional event attended by 40 children, parents, friends and education authority officials and everyone at the Mallkini ranch made every effort to ensure that the event was particularly memorable. The whole building was decorated with coloured balloons and classrooms were festooned with ‘welcome’ banners and drawings made by the children who also prepared a presentation featuring songs and dancing and even devised and acted in a play, written especially for the occasion. One  of the most poignant moments was the reading of a poem describing what the centre means to the children written by Alex Urrutia, Mirasol’s young brother.

“Today I have new pencils
and little pencils of colour
What shall I draw with them?
a butterfly and a flower

Cheers for the morning sun!
Cheers for the Mirasol doves!

Playing and studying
I will spend every day
with my school friends
and my dear teachers

Long live the friends who help us
Long live the Mirasol School at Mallkini!”

Speeches were made and, after an inspection of the facilities, ribbons across every door of the building were ceremonially cut. Afterwards, the children had a party with food and cakes, sweets and little surprise presents. On the patio of the centre is a mosaic Mirasol logo, reminding everyone of how this all came about.

Much still remains to be done to complete and furnish the building and is dependent on funds being raised from continued sales of the yarn.  A reliable water supply has to be secured and a generator to provide electricity. Desks, book shelves, cabinets, kitchen furniture and dining-room tables are yet to be bought or made. So much has to be taken into account, even the provision of a school uniform of warm fleece trousers and jacket with the Mirasol logo.  Meanwhile, the owners of the ranch have loaned tables and chairs so that teaching can get underway on a small scale. Even before the official opening, a summer school took place in January and February to help children with their school studies which gave the children the opportunity to improve their standard for the coming school year. This is very important as currently the educational achievements of the rural Quechua-speaking children are markedly lower than those of children in Arequipa, the nearest town.

Jane Ellison, a young British designer, has been associated with the project from the outset, creating the Mirasol brand identity and producing two collections of designs for Mirasol yarns which have been very well received. Commenting on the success of the project she says, “It has been exciting to see the response from knitters and I think it is because Mirasol has managed to get the formula right: excellent yarns and, if I may say so, good designs that are easy to knit and the idea that the enterprise is supporting future generations of people who are currently so disadvantaged.”  Peter Mulley of Diamond Yarns of Canada, one of the distributors of the yarns confirms this, “Response for a brand new label and initiative has been unprecedented.” And Thomas, a sales representative of the US distributors, Knitting Fever, echoes this by saying, “We all know the benefits of this brand: be it fairtrade, cost-efficient production, beautiful, luxurious and colourful yarns, or designer-driven patterns.”  Jane has now completed her third collection incorporating  the new season’s yarns: Chirapa, a 4 ply 100% hand dyed merino wool; Qina, a blend of baby alpaca and bamboo with a fabulous drape; and Tupa, a blend of merino wool and silk in jewel colours to show off the silky sheen. Jane says the colours she has chosen for the range of yarns reflect the memories of the time she spent at the ranch in Peru and the colourful clothes of the local people. There are 30 designs for the autumn/winter season including a lovely child’s lace jumper, a slip stitch checked jumper, a cable and lace baby’s blanket and a lined easy-to-knit colourful bag. Inspired by the ‘worry’ dolls of Guatemala, Jane has even designed a little doll with a dress and cable jumper. The already popular yarns of earlier collections, Miski, Sulka and Hacho, are also included with an expanded range of colours.  In Miski, there is a cabled jacket which is perfect for chilly winter days and Jane admits to wearing a man’s cable jacket knitted in Sulka to pop down to the shops.

The list of countries selling Mirasol yarn has now expanded to include Norway, UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, France, Spain, Mexico and Germany. Buyers of the yarn are directed to the Mirasol website (www.mirasolperu.com) so they can see for themselves how the project is progressing and where their money is going. Jeffrey J. Denecke Jr. of Knitting Fever comments, “In these strained economic times in the USA, it is very important to the consumer that they spend their dollars wisely. But not only that, when they can spend their dollars on a product where they feel some of those dollars are directly benefitting humanity, it leaves them feeling happy that they spent their money. This is exactly the sentiment attached to the Mirasol Project. With every skein purchased, the avid knitter feels like they are contributing a few rows to a communal Afghan because they can see the direct benefit to these beautiful children in Peru.”  Money is still needed to finance the day to day running of the Mirasol centre and it is hoped that the centre will become a prototype for the development of more centres in the high sierras of the Andes. Raul Rivera, representing Michell y Cia., comments on the success of the project, “It has taken just three years to fulfil a dream that we hardly dared believe in, but time and time again we are showed that dreams can be fulfilled. If you really want something, you can move a mountain.”

Michele Matheson