Project: “Club Deportivo San José de Chahuaytire”

Our first interaction with the farmer community of Chahuaytire started in 2016, when Francesco D’Angelo, Sinkumunchis co-founder, conducted investigations for his Anthropology thesis; an interesting study of the architecture of the community’s houses and the social status of its inhabitants. He never imagined that this initiative would continue rolling..

Chahuaytire is located 20 kms (45 min by car) from the district of Pisac, in Cusco, with an altitude of 3800 meters. The territory is recognized and titled as “Comunidad Campesina” (“Farmer Community”) which means that it is organized and governed under the ancestral customs and norms of its original settlers. In fact, today you can visit cave paintings from 5000 BC located in the area of the community. The community of Chahuaytire subsists on what the land provides them, which means an arduous and little known working of the land and a sincere relationship with the environment. Also, Chahuaytire is known as “la comunidad de tejedores” (“community of the weavers”), based on their development of high quality weaves and textiles which are sold especially to tourists in the city of Cusco.

As any community of people, entertainment is an important part of the culture and today the preferred activity of the 1,000+ settlers is soccer. In 1999, Lucio Ylla, one of the original settlers and farmers, founded Chahuaytire’s sporting institution: Club Deportivo San José de Chahuaytire (CDSJ). Since then, the community has made efforts to see themselves well represented with their red and black jerseys in the Copa Perú (inter-regional tournament organized by the Peruvian Football Federation). On top of positive involvements in the cup, their last accomplishment was the construction of their stadium in 2016. Today, this is a space used for community gatherings, where they meet on Sundays to eat, drink, and enjoy soccer games after a long and hard week at work.

In spite of the pandemic, 2021 was a historic year for the community as the Sinkumunchis Foundation arrived to Chahuaytire for the first time to participate in the development of the academy and promote sports in this beautiful place. It was Gonzalo Garcia, trainer and founder of Sinkumunchis, who proposed the development of a men’s youth academy after meeting the community and seeing their passion for the beautiful fame. After the approval of the project, the women of the community didn’t take long in manifesting their interest and asking “What about us?”. Naturally, the development of a women’s soccer academy followed and according to Gonzalo, they were the most enthusiastic group of players.

There are more than 140 students of the game, only in Chahuaytire, who now have a space a few times a week to practice soccer and represent their community in the weekends in inter-community tournaments and friendlies. A real example of a healthy competition between communities.

This is the first project of the Sinkumunchis Foundation. Francesco, Gonzalo, and Diego, the three Sinkumunchis founders, are firm believers that that Quechua , the native language of Andean communities in Perú, is a fundamental piece in creating a system that promotes local culture and values, while offering well-being through the practice of sport amongst kids, adolescents, and adults.

The next objective proposed for the CDSJ Project is to achieve the remodeling of the Chahuaytire stadium, which will allow to operate a soccer school in the native Quechua language which will integrate the rest of the communities in Pisaq, contributing to the economic and urban development of the communities. This will benefit not only Chahuaytire but more than 8,000 inhabitants of the neighboring farmer communities.