Reque is a small city, population 12,690, located close to Chiclayo in the northern coastal region of Peru. Over 60% of the population is aged between 13 and 30. In one third of families the father is not present, either because of working elsewhere or through abandonment. Unemployment is very high.

Chiclayo is the capital city of the Lambayeque Region in Northern Peru. It is situated 13 kilometers inland from the Pacific coast and 770 kilometers from Lima. It was founded in the 1500s and is currently the country’s fourth largest city, with a population of 738,000.

Most of the projects supported by Heart-Links in Chiclayo are located in the J.L. Ortiz district. With a population of almost 200,000, this district includes 54 new communities. These unplanned human settlements were created out of the barren earth mainly by people who migrated to the city from the mountains of Cajamarca and the tropical areas of the Amazon basin looking for work and a better life for their families. At least 45% of the members of these new communities do not have basic water and sewer services. They live in conditions of extreme poverty and unemployment. Because of poverty, their children are often forced to leave school and look for work. There is a high incidence of social problems such as the presence of youth gangs, delinquency, alcoholism, drugs, family violence and abandonment and the exploitation of children.