| WHAT WE DO: | ||
| + | Child Development & Education: Intensive tutoring, parent trainings, school and library infrastructure repair, kids clubs, values formation, vocational scholarships, field trips, sports tournaments. | |
| + | Health & Nutrition: Hygiene and nutrition trainings, disease prevention, child-to-child health trainings. | |
| + | Water & Sanitation: Well repair and construction, latrine maintenance training, water and parasite educational museum, technical assistance to water committees. | |
| + | Family Development: Home visits, attention to victims of domestic abuse, case referral to appropriate services, family counseling and conflict resolution training, awareness raising campaigns. | |
| + | Economic Development: Formation and training of informal savings groups, financial literacy training, business management training. | |
| + | Leadership Formation: Formation and training of community health promoters, mother leaders, community mediators, community counselors, water committees and youth leaders. Support of church leaders, community leadership groups and school teachers. | |
José beat his wife, Lucy. Until she bled.
He threw their young children out of the house. She left him three times. And three times she returned when he promised to change. But each time, the violence continued. Four times he wielded a knife and threatened her very life.
Fourteen years. Fourteen years of physical and psychological abuse.
José and Lucy´s story is not unusual. In the capital city of Lima, where they live, 37% of women are victims of domestic violence.
Lucy met another man and after becoming pregnant returned to her husband and five children in repentance. They asked for the help of the local pastor.
But things came to breaking point when Lucy was eight months pregnant. José, in a fit of rage, pushed her off a two meter drop near their house. Lucy was hurt, but the baby was unharmed.
José and Lucy were ready to separate, to end the relationship. To be done.
FH´s psychologist told them how the Lord could forgive them and that God was the only one who had control over the life of this baby and nothing man could do could change that.
José and Lucy re-thought their decision. They decided to work towards restoring their relationship with the help of the local church, who fasted monthly for them, created a retreat for them and prayed for them. They attended therapy sessions, José received medicine for his maniac depression. And God began to knit them back together.
Lucy gave birth to a son, Samuel, who she had conceived with the other man. And José loves him as if he were his own. He dotes on Samuel.
José and Lucy´s neighbors clearly see the change in them and their pastor is able to use their testimony to help others.
¨I want to submit myself to God,¨ José declares, ¨and seek integrity. I want to raise holy hands to the Lord.¨
And no longer raise them to assault his family.
Reconciliation. Relationships made right.
¨God changes people,¨ Lucy states, her eyes full of the security that comes from experience, ¨He changes people.¨
FH works with José and Lucy and other couples like them in the slums of Lima, to help bring about reconciliation in their relationships. FH also trains up community mediators and counselors to combat the harmful thinking and attitudes that lead to violence.
+ FH HISTORY:
FH began working in Peru in 1982. FH worked for several years in Chiclayo, Trujillo, Lima and Arequipa, but had to leave the provincial areas due to terrorism. FH then concentrated activities in Lima and subsequently in the jungle area of Pucallpa. In 1991, due to terrorism extending to Lima, FH had to leave the area, and established itself in a new and safer project area. From 1989 to 1998, FH conducted clean water programs and sponsored a school for handicapped children in Pucallpa. FH also had a small business loan program. In 2001 a part-time pastor was hired in the Highlands, in the Department of Ayacucho, to exclusively work in equipping local Quechua churches to minister holistically through the Samaritan Strategy Program. In 2007 FH extended programs to Chincha in response to an earthquake.
FH Peru now works in 17 communities in Lima, 11 peri-urban areas of Pucallpa, and 3 communities in Chincha. In all three regions, FH Peru continues to prioritize personalized work with children and their families through home visits, children and adolescents' clubs, plus working with community leaders in community planning and organization. FH Peru also works in the area of health, addressing family violence through their Family Action Program. FH Peru is currently attempting to increase their Scholarship Program to provide funds for vocational training to ex-sponsored children.
+ Peru's HISTORY:
Peru, in western South America, was once home to the ancient Inca civilization. Today it remains a country with rich cultural history, as well as widespread poverty.
The first inhabitants of Peru were hunter-gatherers. Cultures such as the Chavín, Paracas, Tiahuanaco, Mochica, and Chimú emerged, each who made grand advances in construction, fishing, agriculture, commerce, ceramics and the arts. At the beginning of the 15th century, the Incan Empire came to power, conquering an area that extended not only throughout Peru but also into current day Chili, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador.
The Incans had a well-structured government, an extensive road system and are well-known for their architecture, as seen in Machu Picchu, and their quipu system of knotted strings used to record information. In 1532 the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived in Peru. His conquest of the Incan Empire was made easier by the fact that the empire was in the midst of civil war. From 1542-1821 Spain ruled Peru through a viceroy. During this time, the native population was often abused, killed and humiliated. With the help of Don José de San Marin and Simón Bolívar, Peru fought and won their independence on July 28, 1821. What followed was a mix of good and bad governments with an occasional military coup as Peru struggled to learn how to self-govern.
In the 1980s and 1990s two terrorist groups, the Shining Path and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), gained strength and led attacks against the government and civilians. The government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) created an intelligence service, and through the use of state-sanctioned violence, was able to capture the terrorist leaders and put an end to the majority of terrorist activities. Currently, Peru is experiencing an improving economy due to international trade agreements.
+ FACTS:
+ 7% of the central government´s expenditure is allocated to education.
+ As few as 30% of children in grade one and only about half in grade two could read simple passages from a grade one textbook.
+ 47% of women in the mountain region of Peru have suffered physical and psychological abuse by their partner; 46% in the jungle; 38% on the coast; and 37% of women have suffered from abuse in the capital city of Lima.
+ In Peru, 25.4% of children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition.
+ Peru is home to the famous ancient Inca site Machu Picchu, often referred to as “The Lost City of the Incas,” situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley.
+ Facts from: Oxfam International, UNICEF, UNESCO, Ministerio de Salud – MINSA
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