WellConnected is helping by specifically raising money for house construction amenities. The building expenses include plumbing, electricity, walls, roofing, security bars, and much more. The amount needed to build one house is $23,000, all of which comes from donations.To learn more about Heritage of Jacob Peru Mission, go to their Website

The following is a quote from Jim Anderson, the Founder of Heritage of Jacob Peru Mission;

“Certainly the burden on my heart this month continues to be the result of a visit I made to the Casa Hovde recovery center, the ministry of Asociación Tamar, a branch of Asociación Paz y Esperanza.  I went to visit the Casa Hovde facility, together with two of our MHJ directors, sisters-in-Christ Emida and Domitila, to donate sewing machines and plan the ongoing partnership of teaching sewing to the girls who are interned there.  At the time of the visit there were 24 interns, I’m guessing their ages are between 10 and 15 years old. Seeing their young faces, and knowing why they are there, broke and burdened my heart. They are there, rescued by the Peruvian Family Courts system, to recover from sexual abuse.  (Here in the USA abuse can mean wrong touching, which is not why these girls are interns. In Spanish the word for rape is “violación”, or in the verb past tense, “violado”, which word I will use now. The English seems too harsh or strong a word to use, and the Spanish seems more accurate as it has violence and violation at the root.)  Some of those young faces were capable of a smile, some were not as yet.

Most of them will need a safe place to go on with their lives after their allowed time at Casa Hovde is finished.  The Casa Hovde professional staff includes a social worker and lawyer who study each case and make a legal recommendation to the Family Court.  The “interes superior” (in the best interest of) the child is the first right guaranteed by the Peruvian Constitution for every Peruvian child. If terminating parental rights is what the Family Court decides is best, then each child goes on to the National Adoption list; called a “priority adoption”  (which is a nice sounding term for cases that have no realistic hope of finding adoptive parents); we have seen adolescent girls with a baby in their arms and at their breasts, the product of having been violado by their drunken father, just to mention one type of case warranting termination of parental rights.

A few years ago, with our ministry van, I participated in rescuing two girls from a home where their alcoholic single mother was allowing a neighbor to have his sexual way with her older daughter in trade for rent and food.  The girls were allowed to enter the Casa Hovde treatment center, which internship has a maximum two year time allotment. A place for the younger daughter was found, but not for the older who was the victim, and Casa Hovde allowed a one year extension of stay while they continued looking for a safe place.  How, we do not know or understand, but eventually the older daughter returned to live with her mother and we may presume how that turned out. Since that time of personal involvement in the rescue, it has been a longing of my heart to be able to provide that safe place for all those who leave Casa Hovde with nowhere to go.  Now, as we see the beginning of a formal partnership between Misión Heredad de Jacob and Casa Hovde, there is a strong resurgence of longing to provide homes for these young women.”

Jim also mentioned that; “Donations from Bette and Ivan went towards the first year tuition and other university education costs for two young high school graduates who are orphans living in a rural village up the hill from Sariapampa.  The donations also built a new reservoir and irrigation system for our orchard.  The system served us well during this year’s irrigation season.”