I am super excited about this trip to Peru! I will be traveling with a team from West Rome Baptist Church on June 18th - 25th. We will be providing much needed trainings to educators and sharing the love of Christ at Kairos School in Iquitos, Peru.

What can you do to help?
1. Pray! Please pray that our team will be a blessing and will be the hands and feet of Jesus!
2. You can sponsor a child! Your contribution can change a child's life and give them an education they desperately need. http://helponenow.org/kairos-kids/
3. Finally, you can partner with me on this trip, if you feel led to do so. Any form of support, especially your prayers would be so appreciated!
 
Thanks so much!
Teri

Here is some background on this area of the world:
Iquitos - Gateway to the Amazon. This city of nearly 600,000 people in the vast Loreto region of Perú, is a mix of both ancient and modern. Isolated and mysterious, there are no roads that lead to Iquitos. One can only arrive by plane or by ferryboat.

This is the city in which Help One Now has recently launched a partnership with Kairos Ministries to educate vulnerable children and break cycles of extreme poverty in South America.

Iquitos is a growing city, teeming with life, culture and opportunity for some. Yet it is also home to more than it’s share of extreme poverty. Nearly 30% of its population lives in a township called Belén, which lies in the Amazon riverbed, where the land gives way to water more than half the year. Houses are either built on stilts or built to float with the rising river. The land is free because it’s not really land; hence, Belén is home to those on the fringes both economically and socially. Some live there because they have no choice, and some choose to live there to skirt the laws and norms of civil society.

Many of these one-room houses are home to large extended families, or even multiple families. Most parents are forced to work long hours to make ends meet, leaving small children at home. All of this mixed with alcohol and isolation is a recipe for abuse, sexual exploitation, and disease.

The School:
Nearly 20 years ago the Malpartida family launched Kairos Ministries, which now consists of a church and two schools. Since that time, they have been tirelessly building bridges in their community by providing quality education and care for vulnerable children, and counseling and support for struggling families. Many of the children who attend Kairos schools live in Belén. These children and their families are receiving education—often the first step toward breaking cycles of poverty—and support that would otherwise be out of reach.

The two campuses of Colégio Kairos serve nearly 500 students in grades K-12, and they even offer advanced classes such as Accounting, Trigonometry, Chemistry and more. The school is proud to serve “problem kids” with nowhere else to go. And many alumni of Kairos are now bringing their children to the school.