Merly Anai’s two-room plywood home with a missing door is at the top of a steep hill.

As I walk inside the small house, the uneven dirt floor makes my steps uncertain as I greet Merly Anai, who stares at me with wide eyes, probably wondering who is this stranger, and what does she wants here.

With the project director’s help I try to break the ice, talking softly and making some jokes to her that make Jeremy, her two year old brother, laugh.

Merly Anai keeps staring at me, however, with big eyes and without saying a word. She is definitely a shy girl.

I find some candies in my pocket and give a few to Merly Anai who, in turn, whispers a soft thank you and makes a shy smile. I feel guilty for having forgotten that it is already lunchtime down at the project. I realise I am spoiling Merly Anai’s lunch, a very important meal that she never misses at the project because it is well balanced, healthy and tasty.

When the project is closed, Merly Anai and her four other brothers and sisters have no choice but to eat at the community soup kitchen, though it’s unappetizing and not very healthy.

Her family does not have all the necessary home appliances to cook. They came to Lima City only three years ago, from Celendin, leaving their house and farmland behind.

“In Lima there are opportunities to study and find a job, while at the farm you continue being an illiterate all your life”, says Tomasa, Marly Anai’s mother.

Life in distant rural areas is usually difficult because people lack almost everything, including hospitals, roads, schools and job opportunities.

“Nobody used to think about the future. We just used to live day by day with whatever comes”.

Tomasa is glad her children are encouraged to dream about the future, and the project will help them prepare for it as they grow older.

When asked about her daughter Merly Anai, Tomasa says, “She likes school, to sing at home, she is very loving and quite attached to me, but is a shy girl.”

Merly Anai then whispers to me that she likes to eat rice with chicken and candies. She likes to play hide and seek and would like to be a police woman when she grows up.

Merly Anai attends the Compassion project three days per week, where she learns social skills by interacting with other children of the same age. She also attends Sunday school regularly, where she learns the stories about Jesus and eats a snack before going back home.

There is no doubt that the teachings and the good influence Merly Anai is receiving at the Compassion programme now are a key to succeeding later in life and defeating poverty.

By Adele Marie Berg, PE Field Communications Specialist