The Tragedy of Poverty in Lima, Peru

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Global Volunteers’ team members are motivated by a sincere desire to help improve the daily lives of children living on the margins of Lima, Peru.  These journal excerpts depict such a day through the words of Global Volunteer, Mykaela.  After witnessing the areas of extreme need in surrounding areas, she concluded that poverty “must be the worst of all evils.”  

We traveled in our bus out towards the shanty towns to visit the homes of the children we work with. As we drove further away from the Miraflores area, Lima started to change. It was like an entirely different city.

When we arrived at the first neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, the first house we visited was the home of a mom who is addicted to alcohol and street drugs. She wanted her children (who are living at the PPA) returned to her. She was attending therapy with the Ministry of Women. The grandma of the kids could possibly take them. Elizabeth did not seem very hopeful about the situation.

Youth gaze out from a shanty town in Lima.  The soccer field where they stand took 14 years to build by hand.

Then we headed to the second home by a local market. One of the vendors in the market was the grandma of the second family of children.  She wanted the kids back, but it would be hard for her to support them, she said. The mother of the children was a drug addict and did not want her children back. So the children were left in the orphanage.  The grandma was happy to show us her fruit stand and take pictures with us. The market was filled with real Peruvian music and freshly slaughtered chickens. The conditions were quite shocking for many members of the team.

The third stop was at a small, tidy home. The father had a new partner and hoped (the government) would return his children to him. There was a chance he could get his children back and he seemed ready to do so.

At that point, it was late in the day so we ate a very late lunch. The poverty in Lima, Peru gave us a lot to reflect on.  For many of us, the day of home visits was life changing.

I believe poverty must be the worst of all evils, because seeds of all other evils seem to thrive in the presence of poverty.

Our first week in Peru truly impacted each one of us. Learn how to gain a first-hand perspective of these lessons as a volunteer in Peru with Global Volunteers.