The Earthquake
Tupe was destroyed by the Earthquake of August 15, 2007 that shook the whole country of Perú. Officially 85% of the houses are uninhabitable. Among the destroyed public building, the school was left in ruins. Also, many homes in Aysha and Qullqa were also affected.

Help for the victims
We were in Lima during the earthquake and, before returning to the US, we participated in a meeting of the Residents of Tupe in Lima en which we elected a Commission for coordinating help for the victims. When we returned to the US many people expressed the desire to contribute their help also directly to Tupe.

In the enthusiasm to accept such help I never imagined how difficult it could be. First I sought out international organizations hoping that, through them, help could be directed to Tupe. No way – none accept donations for a specific destination. Then I looked into national and local organizations including some that deal directly with endangered languages. The result was the same, many explaining that their charters did not allow direct help to a given place.

The blocks to the Jaqaru Foundation
Then I set about creating an institution that could accept donations for direct help for Tupe. We named the institution The Jaqaru Foundation. I began to work through the paperwork; I did succeed in obtaining an EIN (official tax number from the federal government), which cost quite a bit, but I did do it. Then I began to discover that that was only the first of a long long list of steps to have a functioning foundation, viz:
➢ papers from the IRS that they were supposed to send me automatically, but they didn’t; I had to call, through a difficult telephone tree; I made it and they said they were sending them but they haven’t yet arrived; presumably still more telephone trees required
➢ getting tax free status which costs hundreds, requires 28 pages of paperwork and may take a year
➢ that for success in any of this the recommendation is consultation with both accountants and lawyers, at hundreds per hour
➢ that to open a bank account in the name of the foundation one must incorporate at the state level (Florida in this case) which also costs hundreds and requires pages and pages of paper (this they didn’t tell us until the 4th trip!)
➢ since it isn’t a personal account, the bank charges a monthly charge and other fees, decreasing thus the amount that can be used for the charity
➢ that all of this paperwork will have to be filed again every year, and every year with fees and charges

Given the tenuous state of my health, our lack of energy (we are not young), the cost of everything and the enormous task that we have undertaken for all the documentation of all of our work for all of the Jaqaru and all of the Jaqi languages, we cannot do what would be necessary to make a functioning reality of the Jaqaru Foundation. If that should come to pass some day it will have to be with the work of volunteers who can dedicate the necessary time and money to make it a reality. The value of doing so needs to be evaluated against the effort needed. For now I will keep the EIN, just in case. I will also maintain this Webpage that is in the form of a blog where we can converse of all matters relevant to the Earthquake and to the preservation and revitalization of the Jaqaru language.

The Webpage
This webpage is the first donation from our friend Candra K. Gill, of the Carl Brandon Society (http://www.carlbrandon.org/). To her our warm thanks for her great support.

How to help
What we have done is that I have opened a separate line in my savings account where I will deposit any donation for the community of Tupe that we should relieve for the reconstruction from the effects of the Earthquake, especially that of the school, and for the reestablishing of the efforts for the preservation and revitalization of the Jaqaru language. The checks have to be written such that I, MJ Hardman (PO Box 12099, Gainesville FL 32601 EEUU), can cash them. In the US, since the Foundation is not functioning, the donations cannot be tax-deductible; any donation has to be simply a gift.

On this page we will announce the donations, with or without the name of the donor as each person wishes, but the quantity we will announce together with an exact accounting of exactly how the donations are spent and specifically what is accomplished because of the help towards the reconstruction of the school and the preservation and revitalization of the Jaqaru language.

Original wish list for the Jaqaru Foundation
We had dreamt of the many ways in which we would like the Jaqaru Foundation to help, not only now but into the future:

o the reconstruction of the school with improvements that would help in the preservation and revitalization of the Jaqaru language.
o a classroom adequate for the use of computers (where dust would not be such a major problem) and the computers to furnish it
o a classroom where elders could feel comfortable and would want to come to talk in Jaqaru to the children, to tell them the history and the stories of Tupe
o a better library with a major section dedicated to publications in Jaqaru
o a recreational classroom where children and adults could play language games, like Scrabble (I developed Scrabble in Jaqaru decades ago – the game exits)
o support for the teachers who are dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the Jaqaru language, in the following ways:
o teaching materials for posters, charts, writing, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc.
o works published in Jaqaru
o the expenses of taking in-service training courses
o support for the Director of the Jaqaru bilingual education program in the following ways
o in covering expenses that are required between Tupe and Huacho (seat of the Lima Provinces government; 3 hours north of Lima – thus a required trip of 9 hours one way even to get one’s paycheck)
o in covering the cost of materials necessary to convince the Ministry of Education to support and contribute to the actual preservation and revitalization of the Jaqaru language
o in covering the cost of continuing education at places of higher education such as universities in Perú or elsewhere
o in covering expenses of giving papers and other presentations, for all those involved in the presentation, for conferences in Lima and elsewhere
o provide scholarships for young people who wish to specialize in Jaqaru, particularly at La Cantuta (the Normal School) where there is already support
o whatever else may occur to us as we work with what we have

All of the aspirations remain, as dreams for now; if we could achieve even a few of them it would be very good. We will continue doing what we can as individuals, but, alone, as always, what can be done is very limited.

Greeting
We do wish that we had been able to do what we had set out to do. I lament the long delay (3 months!) in coming to the realization that I could not do it.

To all of you, with affection, esteem and thanks for the expressions of support that you have given us these three months.

MJ Hardman
Dimas Bautista Iturrizaga