Peruvian Hearts - Girls' Education & Empowerment

As the number of Peruvian Hearts scholars continues to expand, so does the even larger Peruvian Hearts family of supporters. It is because of your ongoing and heartfelt generosity that we are able to meaningfully impact the lives of the 39 young girls in Peru and allow them to accomplish their dreams. As each of you know, every gifts makes a significant economic difference in the lives of our girls, and each gift also inspires our girls as they are again reminded that a large family of PH supporters is rooting for them and encouraging them to accomplish their dreams.

Maite, one of Peruvian Hearts’ newest scholars, will graduate from secondary school in Cusco in December and embark on her university career. She was just informed of her acceptance into the National University of San Antonio of Abad in Cusco to study Civil Engineering. After many early mornings and late nights of studying and preparing, month after month, Maite earned a perfect score of 20 on her first university entrance exam and a 19.60 on her second exam, giving her the second highest ranking among the 350 students in her class. Her determination and perseverance and her average exam score of 19.80 earned Maite one of the four coveted spots in the incoming class for civil engineering at the UNSAAC. The acceptance rate for the civil engineering exam was an extremely competitive 1.1%.

Maite’s mother, Lourdes, a very humble single mother of two girls, works as a school secretary part time and also at her church part time. She has always supported and encouraged her daughters throughout their studies. Lourdes knew that even with Maite graduating from secondary school in December, she would not be able to afford to send her to study at university next year, because of their extremely limited economic resources. With that in mind, Lourdes researched scholarship opportunities at various universities, only to realize that those options were essentially nonexistent.

While searching online, Lourdes found Peruvian Hearts’ website and read about our work and our mission to help educate and empower girls. She found it very interesting that in addition to empowering girls through character development and engagement in service, we also provide our scholars with financial scholarships to continue their studies at the university level. Lourdes quickly placed a phone call to our Program Director in Cusco, Jeannette, to find out if what she saw on the website was indeed true. It was difficult for Lourdes to believe that there was a charitable organization in Cusco that might possibly help give her daughter the opportunity to complete her dream of studying at university and working for a brighter future.

While attending secondary school, Maite maintained the highest student ranking in her class, but because of her family’s limited economic means, attending university was simply an unaffordable dream. She understood that soon her education would end, and university was not in her future. After several interviews with Maite and Lourdes, and a detailed application process, Maite was enthusiastically accepted into Peruvian Hearts.

Her acceptance into Peruvian Hearts now guarantees Maite the opportunity to accomplish her dream of studying at university. She is an example of a brilliant, motivated and thoughtful young woman, who has many gifts to give the world. We are so excited to watch Maite’s continued growth and to help enable her to fulfill her dream of helping others and making the world a better place. 

Many times when we give a gift, its power and the ripple effect from its impact are unknown. Your gifts are the foundation of our work and the scholarships and empowerment opportunities that we provide to our girls. Without your loyal support we could not give girls like Maite the support she needs to continue her education. Your gifts go directly to support costs such as tuition, books and uniforms, food and medical costs, transportation and participation in empowerment classes. The ripple effects will be inter-generational and felt profoundly by our scholars, their families, and the people who they will touch throughout their lives.

One of our scholars, Epifania (Epi), is in the process of completing her thesis, and will graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting during the first half of 2017. She will be the first member of her family to obtain a college degree! Epi comes from a small family just outside of Cusco who live in extreme poverty.  They live in a humble adobe house, and Epi studies on her bed under the dim light of a single bulb. Their bathroom is a hole in the ground and they bathe in cold water from the shower.

In October, a group of students from Adventures Cross Country, of Seattle, WA, came to visit the Peruvian Hearts girls and give their time and their hearts through volunteering. The group of young inspired humanitarians spent their time visiting with the PH scholars and painting the homes of Epifania and Peruvian Hearts scholar, Yeshira. The students also teamed up for a friendly soccer match against the Peruvian Hearts girls before sharing dinner together in Cusco.

In addition to the service work performed by the students, two generous Peruvian Hearts donors decided that they wanted to make a donation to help Epi and her family build a bathroom in their house. Thanks to their generosity, we took Epifania to ProMart (similar to Home Depot) in Cusco to purchase the supplies for her bathroom including things like plastic tubes and electrical cables, tile, a toilet, sink, mirror, towel rack, a light fixture, showerhead, and even a colorful shower curtain! The new bathroom will also have a large glass window for brighter natural illumination and Epi’s family will now have hot water with the electric water heater that was purchased. This project will bring not just a more sanitary situation to this family, but dignity, upon which a price cannot be placed. 

Thank you for being part of the Peruvian Hearts family. As you know, your loyal support, no matter the size, is life-changing for our Peruvian Hearts scholars. Your compassion and generosity continue to make a real difference in Peru.

#PeruvianHearts, #PeruvianHeartsScholars, #ChangingTheWorld, #GetInvolved, #VisitPeru

Links:

• Peruvian Hearts Website
• PH on YouTube!
• PH on Facebook!