PERU + YOU = Hope

PERU + YOU = Hope

This is what hope and love look and sound like (in Quechua) from our artisan friends with Threads of Hope.  

Threads of Hope started simply - with a few committed people dedicated to loving vulnerable women into an uncertain but better future. 

Peru + You

In 1999, a Peruvian Episcopal Pastor visited Texas bringing a few fine pieces of Peruvian textiles made in a shantytown outside Lima.  During the visit, he connected with Dr. Kim Nimon, whose commitment to Christian principles for helping those in need motivated to launch Threads of Hope. 

Kim connected the Peruvian artisans with a loving local leader, Jean Samaniego, who met weekly with the artisans to offer encouragement, support, friendship and to make beautiful things...   

Table Runner

Threads of Hope Empowering Artisans

Executive Director Cinde Rawn took over where Kim left off, and in 2018 the organization celebrated $3M of sales for the artisans.  Equally impressive, "Sister Jean" is still going strong at 85 years old, jumping on the bus for the 20 minute hot and dusty ride to visit her friends every week and share in their life.

Bievenido a Peru! 

We were honored to spend two weeks in Peru with Cinde, meeting many of the artisans living on the outskirts of Lima and in the highlands region.  The impacts are real and it was amazing to see firsthand the impact of ToH in the lives of artisans. Homes of artisans have been slowly yet deliberately built and expanded cinder block by cinder block through years of income from their needlework a sustainable income that would otherwise not be possible. 

Maria at home

Furthermore, every family has benefited from educational gains, having been trained in new skills or able to financially support their children’s education from primary to college, graduate school and even medical school!   Other artisans have launched small businesses and have benefited from addressing healthcare proactively rather than merely responding to medical emergencies.

 Peruvian

 

Model Generosity

Through their Hope Grant Fund, ToH gives 100% of the profits from their sales back the artisans. Caring for the least of these and offering empowerment through dignity from their work is the foundational work of Threads of Hope. At the end of each year, grants based on textile sales, are offered to these projects as gifts to assist in poverty alleviation. 

Working under tarp

When we visited artisans in two different villages at the beginning of our time in Peru, the women in the first village were sitting under their rain shelter that ToH had previously built for them, sewing their textiles while children played or sat with their mothers. As we sat with them we conversed (through two translators) about how ToH could continue to meet their needs. Upon request, ToH decided to buy each family a cow that they could reproduce to have a sustainable supply of meat, milk and cheese. In another group of villages, education was the focus, providing the children school supplies. 

As of 2019, steps are being taken in partnership with FINCA-Peru to provide educational scholarships for girls, training for rural educators and an innovative program for livestock management because they know that the training and education is critical to transformation.

Also noteworthy, ToH recognizes that sustainable transformation happens at a spiritual level and has recruited a local liaison to share the gospel to those remote villages.

The work ToH is doing truly is remarkable! 

Who they are - What they do:

“Threads of Hope is passionate about life-changing economic development and micro-finance for disadvantaged women. Artisan handwork is the second largest income-generating sector in the developing world, therefore, we seek to empower the artisans at that level in their lives. As we accomplish this goal, the women are able to build better lives for themselves and their families.”

Threads of Hope working in Peru  

Threads of Hope + YOU:

Your purchase directly impacts families and the infrastructure of this developing country. As these families see hope in the present, they’re beginning to dream and work for their future, giving the next generation hope and a future. 

Just as these women and what they do matter, our lives and what we do matters. We are making a difference! In even small ways, our support can be that vessel of hope for those where hope has been lost.

Kingdom Impacts: 

Hebrews

Living Generously:

Why: ToH remains true to its core value, to be open to God’s possibilities. This value allows them to be responsive to God’s leading in various areas of Peru, letting these women know that they matter. Subsequently, the women know that the work they do matters and supports the whole family. This support is also causing men to step up into their roles and participate as an active support system. 

Peruvian Artisan Maria giving thanks

"It was humbling to see the tears of gratitude with each village and family we visited, given the opportunities ToH has continued to provide over the years." Theresa Miller

 

The Details: 

Threads of Hope serves two main groups of people in Peru: those in the Lima project and those in the Andean mountain villages.

Every artisan has seen progress in their lives from self-esteem to stabilized families. 


This is remarkable considering the culture of poverty in Peru is reactive to its environment and familiarity, therefore does not value women working, nor their education. But these artisans are believing and working for a different future - read the story of  Olga and her daughter here.

Olga

Highland Villages in the Andes Mountains In this primitive area, although the environment is accommodating for growing food and raising livestock, there is little access to paying jobs, making the educational system weak and the healthcare system inadequate. Since 2009, Threads of Hope has been working to make a difference in these villages, offering them work and educational benefits through their Hope Grant Fund.

 

Join us in prayer! Here's how you can be praying for Threads of Hope:

Peru Prayer Requests

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