Back in 2012, I was visiting one of the churches that support me, and sharing about the difficulty that some families in the jungle encounter in keeping their children in school. Even though education is "free" in Peru, the families are responsible to pay for school uniforms, school supplies (both personal and for the classroom), for photocopies the teachers make, and for belonging to the Peruvian PTA (Apafa) each year. For some families, especially those with multiple children, it gets very expensive to put their children in school, and many drop out to work when they hit high school, or find a "marido" (man you are with, but not married to) to support them, and start their own family. The church asked, "Can we help some of these families with school expenses?" and that's how DESAFIO (translation: challenge) was born.

The DESAFIO program was started with the intention of providing help with buying school supplies, but it quickly expanded to include help with food security and small medical expenses, and also to provide a place where the parents could meet each month and learn. This is one of my favorite parts of the program, because it means generational habits can change and families be transformed as the parents learn more about things like good parent-child relationships, healthy marriages, good money practices, and of course, Jesus!

Each child that you see highlighted here in this blog site is need of a sponsor. Currently, the cost to sponsor a child is $30/month, which covers school supplies, a grocery trip each month, and a Christmas gift/ celebration at the end of the school year (Peru's school year conveniently ends in December). You can exchange letters with your child, and have the privilege of praying for them and their family as they learn and grow.

The opportunity page is here, or a direct link to the donation page is found here, and then if you do decide to sponsor a child, just fill out this short form to let me know you're joining the DESAFIO initiative.