By Gabriela & Maria del Carmen | Directors
Dear friends,
The first months of 2025 have passed quickly. The days have been full — steady fieldwork, quiet coordination, long conversations with teachers, families, and neighbors. Shared Meals has continued, as have other projects — including the weaving workshops, still growing, thread by thread. You can read the latest update of the description of the project on GlobalGiving and subscribe to our institutional newsletter to follow each step more closely. Suscribe, here.
As these months unfolded, the school we have been working with sent us a formal request. Their message was clear:
“Given the needs we continue to face, we would like to ask if there’s a way to expand the food deliveries for the children this year.”
The question stayed with us — not because it surprised us, but because it confirmed what we have seen all along.
Almost simultaneously, we visited our friends from Operación Mato Grosso in Huaraz. We accompanied them as they delivered food to families living in extreme poverty. Quiet homes. Familiar hands. The same struggles appearing under different skies.
And standing beside them, it became evident that there was room — and a need — for us to also contribute here.
Since then, much of our work has been about preparing the ground: conversations, coordination, and carefully building what may be possible. Donations remain low, and we understand. Hunger moves across the world: over 700 million people live with it. In Peru, 51.7% face food insecurity. But as Carolina Trivelli has said with painful clarity: poverty no longer disturbs. We see it. We live beside it. And yet it no longer unsettles us.
What should be unbearable has quietly settled into the background.
And yet, even inside that landscape, something holds. There are teachers who keep opening classrooms. Mothers who gather to organize meals. Neighbors who help keep track of each delivery. And you — whether one, ten, or a thousand — who continue to stay.
Looking ahead, Shared Meals will continue delivering food to the children in Lima. And now, monthly food baskets will also reach families in Jangas, Huaraz. These steps may seem small. But they hold. Because they are shared.
When the world is burning, community is all we have.
And perhaps now more than ever, as polarizations deepen, this reality calls us to stay close, to remain together. We hope you will continue walking with us — and, if you feel comfortable, invite others who may also wish to join.
With gratitude,
Gabriela & María del Carmen
By Gabriela & Maricarmen Valdivieso | Directors
By Maricarmen Valdivieso | Founder and Director
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