Peruvian Hearts - Girls' Education & Empowerment

On behalf of the Peruvian Hearts board and our staff abroad, I would like to extend a big thank you to all of our donors that supported Peruvian Promise over the past few months! This December alone, seven girls in our Peruvian Promise program successfully graduated from secondary school. Two of those girls have already been accepted to universities in Cusco and the others are enrolled in a preparatory course to help them prepare for the university entrance exam in March. Overall, the sixteen girls in the program have shown a deep passion for learning and for becoming future leaders in their communities.

The Peruvian Promise program enables the girls to participate in weekly meetings which entail activities around self-esteem, leadership, service and goal setting to name a few. The program also gives them opportunities to visit, converse, and learn from professional women in the local work force. In November and December the girls visited the Khipu Institute in Cusco, where they had the opportunity to sit in on mock classes and visit and learn about the different professional programs offered, such as hotel management, tourism, and restaurant management. They also had a chance to visit a nearby primary school where they learned about what it might be like to be a teacher and where they got to sit in on a class to observe.

The girls are currently enjoying summer vacation and will return towards the end of February. Once the girls are back in school, they will begin with another component of Peruvian Promise. Each girl will work to actively change her community through developing and executing a service project. We are excited to see in what sort of creative ways these girls will meet the needs of their communities, while at the same time we look forward to instilling philanthropy as part of the values these girls gain through their experience in the Peruvian Promise program.

Most importantly, Peruvian Promise continues to instill hope and confidence in these girls. Sandra, who plans to study medicine after she graduates from secondary school, expresses her gratitude well.

“I am grateful to Peruvian Promise because I now look to my future with optimism and now I believe that I can move forward with my goals confidently. Peruvian Promise has given me self-assurance, faith, courage to be myself, and trust in God who is always in our lives in good times and in bad… I want to thank the benefactors of Peruvian Promise because I believe in them and I now have the hope to go forward to be something in life.”

There are many opportunities to support these growing girls. By giving to this program, you can be involved in sending girls to college or vocational school, in giving girls solid, private education, in developing girls as community leaders and in creating a brighter future for them, their families, and their communities. Thank you for supporting us in so many ways, big and small, in our mission to change the world, one heart at a time.