Helping bring hope for tomorrow with La Esperanza del Mañana

We are so proud of our Retail Account Manager, Roxana Vergani, who has been fundraising for La Esperanza del Mañana, a charity in Cusco, Peru, that works with families in the local area. 

The funds raised helped the charity to buy gifts for children in Cusco for Christmas. 

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Roxana works closely with the charity, in Cusco, and told us more about the community’s struggles and how the charity helps.

‘La Esperanza del Mañana’, which means ‘Hope for tomorrow’, facilitates a number of programmes that are designed to alleviate some of the burdens on families in Taray, and to bring smiles and love to the lives of these families and the young people they support.

The work is carried out and focussed on Taray, a small rural community in the Andes of Cusco in the south of Peru, situated at 3,000m above sea level.

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There is a small population mainly made up of sustenance farmers who grow corn (maize), potatoes, and keep chickens and guinea pig (cuy).

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The community is near to the town of Pisac, which was a major tourist attraction on the route to Machu Picchu. However, the last two years have devastated income derived from tourism, which has exacerbated the challenges the community faces.

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The charity supports young people and women in the community, with a focus on self-empowerment through different activities such as social and environmental justice education, learning English for tourism, yoga, governance education, self-awareness practices, art, and martial arts.

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The young people in the community face many challenges and many do not go to school, whilst those that do so receive a poor formal education. Children as young as three years old work in the fields with their parents, many of whom do not have any formal education themselves. If the children neither go to school nor work, they will be at home unsupervised all day, usually with caring responsibilities for younger siblings.

The community, primarily women, continues to battle with high infant mortality, illegal abortions, and domestic abuse. Access to clean water is difficult and expensive. Whilst those in Taray have some access to facilities, those in the high Andes struggle for the basics. 

The charity is doing incredible work and is currently undergoing a change in directives but will soon have a strong online presence to further their work in the area.