Welcome, Site Partner

And insider view of Orchard Children's Home

Pucallpa | Peru

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PUCULLPA TODAY'S WEATHER

Did You Know?

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.

Kids Alive has been serving orphans and vulnerable children in residential homes, care centers, and schools since 1993

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.


God is Working in Pucallpa !
Please pray for...

Supernatural energy for our house parents as they pour out their lives for our kids.

New staff to serve as caregivers and role models

More opportunities to share our trauma training with other organizations and agencies

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

About Orchard Children's Home

boys and girls live at the Orchard
sets of house parents care for the children
population of Pucallpa
government-run children's home in the region

Established in 2015, Orchard Children’s Home provides a safe place for children who were either orphaned, abandoned, or not safe in their own homes. We currently have 10 boys and girls cared for by two sets of house parents who provide a family-style atmosphere while the kids begin to heal from past trauma.

To complement the work that our house parents do every day, we have a full-time psychologist and social worker, both fully trained as trauma-competent caregivers. It is only through understanding the great impact of trauma on the developing child that we can hope to see them heal. But because a child’s greatest hope for healing is found in a relationship with Christ, we want everything we do at the Orchard to be “Kingdom-like”, reflecting the love of God to these precious kids.

Children should be with biological family if possible, and the Peruvian government has decreed that children should not be in institutional care for more than two years, so we are emphasizing connection with families. While they are with us, we seek to care for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs, making the most of our short time with them. We travel to meet with families, support immediate and extended family members in their efforts to better care for their children, and assess ongoing safety.

This past year we proceeded with legal action to make homes safe for several children and succeeded in getting a national identity card for a child who has been with us for several years. Objectives for the coming year include reuniting two sibling pairs with family members, sharing our trauma training with organizations and government agencies, and finding new staff members so we can welcome more children into our home. And since we received a generous donation, we can sink a new, much-needed well.

God is at work here, and we pray that the seeds we are sewing in the hearts of these precious children at the Orchard will continue to grow fruit, bringing beauty from ashes.

  • Pucallpa is a city in eastern Peru located on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon River.
  • Most of the transport to Pucallpa is done through the Ucayali River, located in the central east of Peru
  • Pucallpa was founded in the 1840s by Franciscan missionaries who settled several families of the Shipibo-Conibo ethnic group.

Life at Orchard Children's Home

Our campus houses orphaned and abandoned children in family-style homes with loving, attentive house parents. In most cases, the kids have been through difficult and painful circumstances before coming to us, and we count it a privilege to give them a safe place to live and recover from their traumatic pasts.

Kids Alive in Peru

children in Kids Alive programs
dedicated Kids Alive staff
families served in our Families Together program

Peru Country Director's Update

Planting a Living Hope in Peru!

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

Learn About Peru
  • Population of over 31 million, with many living in extreme poverty
  • Official languages are Spanish and Quechua
  • Peru is the third largest country in South America, after Brazil and Argentina
  • Peru shares borders with five countries – Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile
  • Our foster family program, in partnership with the government, is providing a way to give kids a real family

Rejoice with us, and praise God for...

  • Completion of Trauma Competent Caregivers training for all staff; our trainers have now been invited into local schools and a local church to do childcare and child protection training
  • Initial steps in restoring children with their biological families where safe and appropriate
  • Improved administrative processes that are freeing staff to focus more on their relationships and their connection to kids and their families
  • Our first-ever family camp for all residential children and staff, a big success with a lasting impact for the kids