TPRF Provides US$4,500 to Bring Prem Rawat’s Message of Peace in Native Peruvian and Ecuadorian Quechuan Language

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California-based The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) has donated US$4,500 to Mountains of Hope (Montanas de Esperanza, MdE) to translate and produce DVDs, CDs and text materials to bring Prem Rawat’s message of peace to 20,000 indigenous people in the northern highland areas of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

“This message is very beautiful. It helps the families here stay together; that is why I want the message to stay in the community”

Leaders in several Ecuadoran Quechuan villages have requested DVDs featuring Prem Rawat’s message in their own language after introductory events were held in the mountain villages of Tucara, La Esperanza, Aqualongo and Otavalo, Ecuador. Word has spread to villages in Peru, which have joined in the request for materials in their language.

“This message is very beautiful. It helps the families here stay together; that is why I want the message to stay in the community,” says one village leader. Currently, Prem Rawat’s message is available to more than nine million households in South America on Infinito TV and other cable networks airing the award-winning Words of Peace (WOP) series.

The popularity of WOP is increasing across the world. Since the first U.S. Words of Peace broadcasts in 1999, cable and satellite stations throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia have aired Prem Rawat's message of inspiration and hope to millions of households, with subtitles or translation in more than 20 languages. Currently, 875 screenings are available to 25 million households in the United States.

Prem Rawat reminds people, “The peace you are looking for is within you. Peace for each human being is not impossible, but very, very possible.”

Mountains of Hope, a nonprofit organization focused on educational enrichment, cultural exchange and sustainable community development for children and adults in Ecuador, has offered to provide the translations. TPRF is providing funds to translate, produce and replicate six DVDs, along with text materials in Peruvian Quechuan and in Ecuadorian Quechuan.

The Quechuan language (written also as Quichua and Kichwa) was widely spoken across the central Andes long before the time of the Incas, who adopted it as the official administration language for their empire. Quechuan is spoken today by some 10 million people throughout regions of Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Chile. Including its two main dialects (Peruvian and Ecuadorian), it is the most widely spoken language of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

About The Prem Rawat Foundation

The Prem Rawat Foundation was created in 2001 by Prem Rawat, known also as Maharaji, and has a dual mission of bringing his message of peace to people around the world and providing essential humanitarian aid to those in need. TPRF partners with other humanitarian organizations to bring food, water and rapid disaster relief where it is most needed. To learn more about TPRF’s humanitarian initiatives, Prem Rawat and his message of peace, please visit http://tprf.org/pressrel/20080924-Quechuan.htm.

About Mountains of Hope

Founded by Executive Director Paul Murtha and Director of Education Susan Brown, Mountains of Hope (MdE) is a nonprofit organization providing programs and projects in educational enrichment, sustainable community development and organic agriculture. MdE has participated in global education exchange, creation of a children’s library, renovation of rural schools and development of a women’s micro-cooperative. In addition, MdE has sponsored community food banks, seed banks and organic agricultural initiatives in rural Ecuador.