Peru has the highest sand dune in the world, Cerro Blanco, located in the Sechura Desert in the south of Peru. It measures 3,860 feet from the base to the summit.
Peru is home to the pygmy marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world. The average adult body weight of a pygmy marmoset is just over 100 grams (3.5 oz), and they can rotate their heads 180 degrees.
Cuy, or guinea pig, is the national dish of Peru and is eaten during important festivals, served crispy and complete with head, legs, and eyes. It's estimated that Peruvians consume around 65 million cuyes every year.
The Andes Mountains, home to our Friends of Peru ministry site, are the second-highest mountain range in the world, after the Himalayas. Mt. Huarascán is the highest point in Peru at 22,204 feet.
God is Working in Lima!
Please pray for...
Our new family mentors to help hurting people and serve as great role models
Success for our Families Together team as they work to support and strengthen families
Salvation for our children and their families
Continued protection and health, knowing that while the threat of COVID-19 will eventually retreat, recovery from its impact will be more long term
Prayer requests updated 6/2020
Located on the outskirts of Lima, the Oasis of Manchay seeks to rescue, redeem, and restore children through family strengthening. Poverty here is widespread, with homes often made of scrap wood. In this area, malnutrition, neglect, and violence are daily realities for children, and our program has grown over the years as more children have come for help.
Our school gives children a quality education they otherwise couldn’t afford, which is a reliable path out of the poverty so prevalent here. A support network is in place to connect churches and mentor couples with poor families in the area, offering resources like trauma care and family counseling. Everyone in our program hears the truth of the Gospel and new believers are discipled.
An important part of Oasis is the House of Glory, an initiative for teen girls and their babies and other young at-risk families. Our staff, including a psychologist and social worker, use holistic methods to help the girls work through their own traumatic pasts and learn to care for their babies. Daycare is provided as the girls continue their education or skills training.
We welcomed 40 new students into the school because scholarships were made possible through donors. Several of our students recently put their faith in Jesus, and our teachers say the change in their lives is evident. In the coming months we hope to put better resources in place to help students with learning disabilities, help 15 more young families through House of Glory, and identify and train more mentor families. God is at work in Manchay!
The number of needy children coming to the Oasis Center for help continues to grow each year. A large percentage of these kids come for our preschool program where they receive two meals a day, hear important Bible lessons, and learn early childhood skills. Older children come either before or after school and receive a meal, hear the Gospel, and get help with their homework.
Greetings in the name of Jesus from the ministries of Kids Alive Peru!
It’s been my joy in this first year of my new role as Country Director to catch amazing glimpses of all that God is doing through and because of your support. Your partnership and your gifts are helping to plant hope in the lives of at-risk children, and we rejoice that this is not simply a hope for escaping poverty or abuse – you are planting the living hope (1 Pet. 1:3) in their lives that means an eternity with the One who loves them!
In the past year, God has laid it on our hearts to be more fully involved in protecting children from the kinds of abuse that are often accepted, or at least overlooked, in Peru. We are accomplishing our goals by a combination of careful training of our staff, collaboration with other ministries who share our vision and will help us increase our impact, and working with local churches to reach out to their communities with the life-giving message that children are precious.
But swimming against an entrenched culture of silence and indifference can be hazardous, and our staff and others have experienced threats, isolation and loss of relationships because of their commitment. Choosing to follow Christ and to commit to life in a kingdom-centered culture often puts us at odds with the surrounding community. Please pray that we will stand strong for children even in the face of this adversity.
Peruvian authorities are increasingly determined to reintegrate children into their biological families, a welcome and much-needed effort. We are on board! But without the costly and time-consuming investigations that determine whether and when the family is a safe and healthy place for the child, we risk multiplying the trauma that fractured the family in the first place.
We are meeting this challenge through the formation of therapeutic teams of psychologists and social workers (and in some cases, attorneys), who will do the necessary work to ensure healthy transitions for our residential kids. We are also coming alongside families to strengthen relationships and parenting skills so that reintegrated children can grow up in healthy environments.
In all our ministries, whether in the city, the jungle, or the mountains, we remain dedicated to planting living hope for children who, without your compassion, have little earthly or eternal hope for the future. Thank you for partnering with us in this great task!
Dan Anderson
Country Director
Peru