Washington the Unstoppable! Born the third son to a teenage mother of five boys, Washington grew up a starving and abused child of the streets. Washington has taken the pain and anguish he experienced as a child and turned it into an unrelenting passion to uplift, nurture, and change the lives of thousands of poor, homeless and handicapped people of Peru. Most people analyze, plan, hash and rehash things; Washington just goes ahead and gets it done!

If you were to meet Washington today you will see a very gentle man, an open heart, kindness, empathy, exuberant in life as well as an intelligent entrepreneurial young man who has learned through his life experiences what it means to be one with your people.  He says, “that if we live in community, we are in just oneheart and we are living and loving each other.”

Washington has accomplished so much in his short life that it is impossible to list all of his amazing contributions, but here are some highlights:

• At age 16, Washington traveled for a whole day to present documents to the President of the country demanding better conditions for the poor and handicapped, which resulted in them taking action to improve conditions.
• At age 17, Washington started the Chocolada, a Christmas Celebration for the poor and destitute. It has grown exponentially and this years he and Carlos served over 3500 people.
• At 19, he built his own three-bedroom house and planted acres of vegetables and fruit trees to help feed the starving. He goes out into the destitute high mountain communities and teaches them how to grow their own vegetable gardens.
• Also at 19, he adopted a boy and girl from the jungle. He clothed, fed and educated them.
• Washington graduated at the top of his class from Laredo Institute - a private University, with a degree in Tourism and Business Administration.
• He founded a daily food line in 2002 where he has been feeding 120 street children each day ever since.
• He teaches on-going classes aimed at ending abuse and alcoholism, birth control, entrepreneurial skills and conflict resolution.
• The age requirement laws were changed to allow Washington (age 23) to run for Mayor of Ollantaytambo.
• Washington worked many long days for months in order to save enough money to open what he calls, The Restaurant of the Universal Heart in Ollantaytambo.  This is a place where the starving children and elderly can come daily to receive nourishing food.

Witnessing so much at such a young age has created a young man of resilience, compassion and generosity. He states he has learned one very important thing “that when you help somebody, no matter where they are from, you make their heart very happy and so your heart will also be happy forever.”