Luana Found Her Voice | Peru

Luana Found Her Voice: From Hiding to Healing

Before Luana* ever arrived at our center, her mother had been doing everything she could to keep her safe. Overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty, she kept Luana home and isolated—hoping protection could be found in distance. But that meant school was disrupted, friendships faded, and their world grew smaller with each passing day.

In 2024, the two connected with Kids Alive through alternative education classes and vocational workshops in Manchay. They came as a mother and daughter working to build a stronger future—seeking skills, stability, and renewed opportunity. As they participated, Luana’s mother courageously stepped forward to share that her daughter was enduring abuse and needed deeper support.

Seen and Believed

When Luana arrived at our center, she was 16 years old. She and her mother carried visible exhaustion—the kind that settles in after prolonged fear. A survivor of sexual violence, Luana also lives with a mild intellectual disability, which made it harder for her to fully understand and express what she had experienced. Trauma had shaken her sense of safety, interrupted her education, and diminished her confidence.

From the first meeting, our team committed to walking alongside Luana and her family with dignity and steady care. Before any plan was developed, she was given something essential: the opportunity to be heard and believed.

Healing Through Support and Expression

Through trauma-informed psychological support — both individual and group — Luana began processing her experiences in ways suited to her learning needs. She participated in The Voice of My Heart, a creative expression group that helped her communicate emotions that had once felt impossible to name. Slowly, her confidence began to grow.

Restoration also meant rebuilding daily life. Luana enrolled in and successfully completed a sewing workshop, strengthening her sense of accomplishment and independence. She returned to school and regained access to essential services that had previously been interrupted. Structure, routine, and safe relationships began replacing isolation and fear.

Through coordinated legal advocacy and therapeutic care, our team walked alongside Luana and her mother, guiding them through the legal process while providing counseling support to help them navigate the emotional weight of the journey. One perpetrator was held accountable in court and received a civil reparation sentence for the harm inflicted. In another case, legal proceedings continue with a request for a 23-year prison sentence. These steps represent more than legal outcomes — they affirm Luana’s dignity and reinforce her right to protection.

Reclaiming Her Future

Today, Luana is moving forward with greater emotional stability, practical skills, and renewed hope. Her faith has become a source of strength, reminding her that she is not alone and that her life has purpose.

Luana’s story is a living testimony that when justice that heals is combined with relationships that restore, silence can be broken, dignity can be reclaimed, and a different future can begin.

Become a Safe Haven Champion

Your support helps children like Luana experience protection that heals — professional care, family strengthening, and the steady reminder that they are seen, valued, and deeply loved. Become a Safe Haven Champion today and help justice and restoration take root.

*Pseudonym used for child's safety.

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When Omar's Tears Turned Into Trust

For weeks, six-year-old Omar entered his classroom in tears, but at Dar El Awlad School in Lebanon, steady, trauma-informed care and a simple prayer helped him discover he was not alone.

When Omar's Tears Turned Into Trust

Each morning when Omar entered his classroom at Dar El Awlad School (DEA) in Lebanon, tears streamed down his face. The moment he sat down, a quiet wall seemed to rise between him and the rest of the class. He struggled to participate, to focus, or to join the curiosity of his peers. It wasn’t defiance or fear of school. It was a sadness his six-year-old heart did not yet have words to express.

When conflict and instability reshaped daily life in Syria, Omar’s family fled to Lebanon in search of safety. Like many families who crossed the border over the past decade, they arrived carrying uncertainty and loss. In Lebanon, they have navigated crowded housing, informal employment, and the difficult work of starting over. It was through this upheaval that Omar came to Dar El Awlad School — a place serving refugee children whose education and sense of stability have been disrupted. Today, his family is rebuilding together, working to create steadiness for their children amid fragile circumstances.

When Grief Has No Words

At Dar El Awlad School, teachers recognized that Omar’s tears signaled the need for deeper care. DEA is more than a place of academic instruction. It is a restorative learning environment where structured routines, trauma-informed teaching, daily meals, and individualized academic support come together to create safety. Prayer, Bible stories, and gospel conversations are woven naturally into the day, grounding children in the truth that they are seen, deeply loved by Jesus, and never alone — even when life feels uncertain.

The school also maintains close connection with families, offering encouragement and steady presence that strengthens both the classroom and the home. For families navigating displacement, that consistency matters deeply.

For Omar, that steady care became a turning point.‍

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A Moment of Childlike Faith

One day, as he sat at his table in tears, a classmate quietly suggested to the teacher,

“Miss, why don’t you pray to Jesus and He will help him?”

Most of the children in this classroom come from Muslim refugee families, and for many, DEA is their first sustained exposure to prayer in Jesus’ name. Day by day, they are learning that God listens and that He cares for them personally.

The teacher later shared,

“When we began to pray, every child in the class — without exception — closed their eyes and bowed their heads. And as we prayed, Omar stopped crying.”

Cautious but hopeful, she continued watching him closely. Two weeks passed without a single tear. More than that, his whole demeanor changed. He began participating in lessons, smiling, and engaging freely with his peers. The wall that once separated him from learning gradually came down.

The Fruit of Daily Faithfulness

Omar’s transformation was not the result of a single moment alone, but the fruit of daily faithfulness — compassionate teachers, structured classrooms, nourishing meals, and the steady reminder that he is known and loved by God. In a school serving largely Muslim refugee families, Dar El Awlad bears witness to Christ through love that perseveres.

Today, Omar participates fully in his classroom community. His story reflects what happens when restorative education and Christ-centered care meet children navigating displacement.

In the midst of exile, a child learned he is not alone — and that truth changed everything.

Become a Student Champion

Your support helps children like Omar experience education that heals — steady care, safe classrooms, and the life-changing truth that they are deeply loved. Become a Student Champion today and help hope take root.