Our Mission

Our mission is to create lasting and sustainable change for the poorest children of Peru by giving them a real chance to step onto the road out of poverty.

Background
Hand in Hand was started by Josie and Roger Masters who took 10 of their adopted children to visit Peru in order to experience a different life. They never imagined that it would actually lead to a permanently different life.  Having seen the devastating effects of poverty on the children of Peru they determined to help and in 1997 they opened their first nursery in Lima. There followed the opening of a second one in Arequipa and in 2007, two in Yurimaguas.

The British Government has closed its Peruvian aid operation yet over half the population still live in abject poverty and nearly a quarter struggle for their daily existence. 14 million impoverished Peruvians are in danger of being totally forgotten by the international community.

In major city centres there are a limited number of nurseries; however, they are open for only 3 hours a day, and are only for children over 2 years old who are given no food and who spend most of their time sitting silently at tables and are predominantly staffed by untrained carers with very few resources.

All Hand in Hand staff are thoroughly trained, the fully equipped nurseries are open from dawn till dusk and the children are given 3 nutritious meals each day.

The Nurseries   

Yurimaguas - In Yurimaguas, in the Amazonian jungle of northern Peru, there is a high incidence of teenage parenting and very low literacy and numeracy levels among both children and adults. Many of these community problems arose from a population of dislocated people brought together by an American logging company who have left a vast treeless area in their wake. In 2007 Josie Masters won the Clarins Woman of the Year award and the £30,000 prize money was presented to Hand in Hand to set up and run two nurseries for two years here. Future funding is imperative to keep these nurseries open.

Arequipa - At 2,380 meters above sea level Arequipa is far colder than Lima. Most families have open fires for both cooking and heating which are a major problem when children need to be left home alone and many suffer badly from burns. The Hand in Hand nursery here has a small garden with rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens and is wholly paid for by Saga Charitable Trust. In addition to the day to day funding, one of Saga’s regular cruise ships takes clothes, shoes, books and toys to the children who love being able to tour the huge liners.

Callao (Lima) - This is our biggest nursery with nearly 100 children. It is in the spacious grounds of the Fe y Alegria School and the headmaster there will give us extra space to build an extension when funding allows.