Ever since I was a kid, my family spent countless hours knocking on doors simply to share the love of family and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is no different, we love walking the dirt streets of Peru, turning heads everywhere we go.
We met 13 year old Nilfer and 10 year old sister Monica at our After School Feeding Center. We noticed they always ate two or three helpings of food and many times would discretely empty their plates into a plastic bag hiding the food in their backpacks. One day, Nilfer didn’t finish his homework, we told him he had to finish at home. He said he “couldn’t because his family had no power and it would be dark.” We took him home that night as the LORD chastened our hearts. We were humbled seeing 6 kids living in a dirt floor, metal shack with no power, water or sewer. Their Mom Cecilia was home sick. Normally she works from 6am to 7pm in the chacra (picker in the fields) making only enough to feed her kids.
We asked if we could pray with her. As we prayed, she broke down in tears saying she didn’t want to live anymore, it was just too hard. Maisie and Sandro shared the hope thru Jesus Christ. Maisie was able to help her thru the plan of Salvation. Cecilia was broken as she asked the LORD to save her.
We visited the family a few days later. We gave them donor sponsored new clothes and shoes. Sunday we took the kids to our Church for the first time!
By: Maisie Clemmer Mendoza
WE FEED OURSELVES SPECIAL NEEDS GARDEN PROJECT
How cool are these kids rocking the bright orange work vests, sunglasses and cool helmets? It’s hard to believe the LORD hand chose 35 of His favorite kids in the whole double wide world to live a few doors away. We get to share daily life, prayer, love and family with them. We get to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We started a vocational training style program for the older boys at the special needs orphanage. We do yard maintenance, cutting grass by hand, raking, picking up trash, watering plants and other life skills. We used your loving donations.
We saw a real need to make a long term investment in these kids future, we rented a TRACTOR and plowed a MONSTER field to create a sustainable food supply…YUP we now have a gigantic vegetable garden to help feed our kids. This provides purpose and self-worth plus some good eating too!
This is a privately donor funded Christian home for 35 abandoned kids with multiple, severe disabilities. This home only receives kids with no family in total abandonment. All are mentally challenged with many severe cases. We share life with 6 wheel chair bound kids, 2 with walkers, 2 that crawl, 5 blind kids and 2 with microcephaly. About three-fourths of our children have no ability to communicate…we share our daily lives loving the LEAST of THESE.
Matthews 25:40
“ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
After School Feeding and Tutoring Center
We immediately saw a huge need in our local community for kids from single Mom homes and kids living in extreme poverty. Many kids go without food all day until a single Mom returns home at night. We decided to feed them, provide homework help and love on them! This program is geared to single Mom’s families and children who live in extreme poverty. Every child in the project lives in very challenging situations. We feed these kids lunch, have Bible time devotion, we do arts and craft but we also do very basic “need things” such as hair washing, teeth brushing, hand washing, shoe shining, we provide haircuts and school supplies. We simply share the LOVE of family and purpose. For many of our children, this will be the only warm meal of the day. On empty stomachs, kids don’t have the energy to focus, engage, learn and grow. Children struggling with hunger may be more likely to repeat a grade in elementary school, experience developmental impairments in language/motor skills and have more social and behavioral problems
Many Mom’s work in the fields 10 hours a day 6 days a week earning less than $2 per day. We were providing this for the severely distressed/poor kids in the Live Simply community. This project is seeking ways to prevent child abandonment allowing fully fed kids both spiritually and physically to return home with homework done causing no burden to the family allowing to keep kids at home rather than the streets at night.
Chronic child malnutrition affects 35 percent of children. Anemia affects over 46 percent of children under the age of three. Insufficient access to food, poor consumption patterns, inadequate childcare, poor nutrition practices and low educational levels are the main drivers of chronic child malnutrition and anemia in Peru.
Sponsor our Live Simply Feeding Center and feed a community!
Single Mom Obleas Project
We help prevent child abandonment by embracing single Mom’s needs. We live to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Live Simply started a Single Mom Obleas Project to allow our Mom’s to provide for their children keeping the family unit at home and together. We aim to train and offer practical skills for these Mom’s to use to lead independent lives and help support their families. Single Mom’s sell this Colombian dessert using earnings to feed their families. We have a Single Mom making Obleas in our house. We then give the finished dessert to Single Mom's to sell to provide income for her family.
Our Single Mom Obleas Project inspires, educates and equips Single Mom’s to face the problems that hold them back from accomplishing their dreams and goals that they have for themselves and families.
Unfortunately, staggering statistics depict the challenges of many women in Peru. A girl is raped every 20 minutes in Peru. Fourteen percent of girls in Peru become pregnant before the age of 18 and 90% of these pregnancies are the result of rape.
Giving the Gift of Water
Live Simply 4 Peru Mission Teams are providing the gift of safe water, clean hands, healthy bodies this summer!
Safe and reliable water restores hope and unlocks potential. Access to safe water is foundational to the development of our Characato, Peru community for those living on less than $2 per day. Living in extreme poverty, 2 of 3 families have no fresh water source and no sewerage access. Live Simply for Orphans PERU shares hope, improves children’s health and gives our community a future. Your gift funds local solutions to local problems, creating opportunity all along the way. Everything we do is funded by folks just like you.
Communities are waiting for water. You make it happen.
Live Simply 4 Peru is ready to respond.
Beginning with many questions?
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Beginning with many questions?
Do I somehow deserve this middle class American dream?
Is it okay for me to spend fifty dollars on a pair of shoes, when I know my shoes could have saved a life?
Am I any different then the child dying on the streets of Peru in the eyes of Jesus?
Is there a disconnect from when I am walking with the least of these in Peru and striving for the American dream?
I believe its not how you look at it, its if you look at it...
Last post for the night
Live simply so others can simply live.