If you have ever worn an ill fitting pair of shoes, you will know by the end of the day. You hurt all over your body. The children needed shoes. The border control agents do not allow shoes to enter the country.
We found a compassionate family who owns a shoe store here in Huaraz, who empathized with our issue. They have agreed to supply sneakers or trainers, to each child for only ten soles. Roughly $3.00 U.S. When we visit a group of children in various pueblos, one of the first things we do is look at their shoes. It tells us the degree of the destitution and impoverishment that the children are enduring. When we see toes cut out of shoes to accommodate for their growth or shoes without strings, ripped up and literally falling off their feet, we know we are in the right place.
In 2015 alone, we visited over 2000 children throughout he Ancash region, more than any other NGO or humanitarian project. We stretched our budget and supplies to the limit but got shoes to as many children as we possibly could. Several hundred children have new shoes now. That is the good news. The bad news is we had to deny several hundreds more, equally deserving because we simply ran out of funds. Can we count on you to help us reach the rest of these children? Just $3.00 per child, mere pocket change to most people but a game changer for the children here in Peru. How about it?
"I asked the children what they wanted more than anything else that I can bring them, 'Shoes' is what they say most often."
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Did you know...?
9 million+suffer from malnutrition and undernourishmentin Peru, the most vulnerable of which are children(Peruvian National Strategy for Food Security, ENSA). 31.3%of Peruvian children under 5 experiencestunted growth(World Health Organization)
5.2%of Peruvian children under 5 areunderweight for their age (World Health Organization)
9.9%of Peruvian children under 5 living inurbanzones are chronically malnourished (World Health Organization)
Malnutritionis more concentrated in rural areas with 32.8% of children under 5 in rural areas affected (World Health Organization)
Changes for New Hope has served over 3000 children in the Ancash region of Peru since 2009. We have specifically gone into remote villages in the Andes where neither government nor other help organizations have been for extended periods of time. We feel our efforts and material support would be best served in those areas.