Located along South America’s central-western coast, Peru comprises arid Pacific coastlands, spectacular mountain ranges and the vast Amazon rainforest. This land has been home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years, including the Inca Empire, the culture that constructed Peru’s most iconic landmark, Machu Picchu. Peru’s rich culture, breathtaking beauty and wealth of natural resources, however, belie the abject poverty in which many of its residents live. Many rural areas are still recovering from the Sendero Luminoso terrorist attacks of the 1990s, which claimed countless lives and caused thousands of families who had relied upon agriculture for generations to seek shelter in large cities where they encountered even deeper poverty.

While Peru as a whole suffers from high unemployment, hyperinflation, and all the difficulties that poverty entails, problems like disease, malnutrition and crime are most pronounced in its overcrowded urban areas. These problems are worst in the nation’s capital, Lima. For this reason, the Puente Piedra Girls’ Home serves as a beacon of hope. An order of nuns established the home in an effort to stem the effects of poverty on impoverished children of this region. Through the provision of basic needs, shelter and a well-rounded education, the Puente Piedra Girls’ Home offers these deserving girls an opportunity to rise above the difficult socioeconomic circumstances from which they have come.