Newmont Mining Corporation

At a time when jobs losses and economic woes are mounting around the world, 18 workers at Newmont's Yanacocha mine in Peru spent four months of their free time late last year to deliver a message of peace and reflection to nearby rural communities - through their play, A Merry Christmas in Cajamarca.

"Our objective was to promote culture in the communities near Yanacocha and transmit a message of peace and reflection for Christmas," said Carla Díaz, external communications chief. "We hoped to strengthen the bridges of friendship with our neighbors and to improve our communication with them."

The theatrical display was adapted from the classic production of A Christmas Carol, and was taken on the road to numerous rural communities. In the story, Alvarín Moro, owner of a grocery store, did not celebrate Christmas due to his bitter life, selfishness and misery. One day, Alvarín is visited by three ghosts representing the past, present and future. Each ghost showed him scenes of his past life, present life and future life if he continued living with this attitude

Finally, Alvarín woke up from his nightmare, reflected about it and became a generous man who found the real meaning of Christmas.

Productions like this are not found in the Peruvian countryside. As a result, villagers flocked to the shows early to find good seats and became swept by the magical world of theater. After the show made its debut in December, the cast performed to overflow crowds in Porcón Alto, Granja Porcón, Río Grande, Huacataz and Combayo. In Combayo alone, it was necessary to schedule a second show for more than the 1,000 attendees who could not see the first performance.