This vision came to life thanks to the tireless efforts of our partner organization, Latidos, and the support of local businesses like Agrícola Cayaltí. Together, they’ve created a safe, welcoming space for learning, where families can connect and grow. But this is just one chapter in Latidos’ incredible story of building resilient communities across the Zaña Basin.

Empowering a Generation

Over the past year, Latidos has reached deep into the heart of their communities, sparking change where it’s needed most.

Take the workshops for children and adolescents, for example. Through sessions on life planning, cultural awareness, and psychosocial risk prevention, 120 students across four schools have discovered their potential to dream bigger and achieve more. These young people aren’t just learning—they’re becoming leaders, equipped with the tools to transform their future.

And it’s not just the kids who are finding their voices. Women in the community are stepping into leadership roles too. Through workshops on entrepreneurship and family well-being, Latidos is helping women harness their strength, build businesses, and advocate for change. They’re forming networks, planning events like a Christmas dinner for women leaders, and showing their communities what empowered women can achieve.

Hope for the Future

Latidos’ impact extends to the elderly as well. Picture senior citizens gathering for a workshop on self-esteem, their laughter filling the room as they share stories and build friendships. These sessions are more than just classes—they’re lifelines, creating a sense of belonging and purpose for older adults in Zaña, Cayaltí, and Mocupe.

Then there are the health campaigns, which have delivered fortified food, organized anemia screenings, and even hosted competitions for healthy cooking. The results? Stronger families, healthier children, and a community inspired to take charge of their well-being.

Cultivating Resilience, Together

Latidos is also tackling environmental challenges head-on. Through their EcoGuardians Program, students are learning to protect their environment by conserving water, planting trees, and reducing waste. These young guardians are already making an impact—250 trees now line riverbanks near their towns, standing as a testament to their dedication.

All of this work is guided by a single goal: to create resilient communities. Latidos connects local groups with regional institutions, private companies, and NGOs, ensuring they have the resources to thrive.

Looking Ahead

The story doesn’t end here. Latidos is already planning for the future. Their upcoming programs include:

• Expanding literacy: Building new community libraries and strengthening school libraries to ignite a love of reading.
• Fighting anemia: Launching Superheroes Against Anemia to protect children under five from this preventable condition.
• Growing leaders: Empowering women and youth to become champions of change in their communities.

Your Role in This Story

This journey of transformation is only possible because of the support of people like you. Every dollar donated, every moment of your attention, fuels the dreams of the people in these communities.

When you join us for events like Share the Love or contribute to Heart-Links, you’re not just giving resources—you’re giving hope. Together, we’re turning the page to a brighter future, one where communities stand strong, resilient, and united.

Let’s keep this story going. Join us in supporting Latidos’ incredible work and become a part of their journey to change lives in Peru. Together, we can write the next chapter.

Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to visit the communities Heart-Links’ partners work with in Cajamarca, Chiclayo and Zaña.

This trip can be life-changing in the best way.

One alum told us that her trip to Peru prompted her to leave the private sector and start a career in fundraising for non-profits that advance women’s education. She completed a Master’s degree in Diversity, Equity and Social Justice and continues to support the work of Heart-Links.

This is one memory that stayed with her:

One evening while in Zaña, after dinner, our group took a walk down to the river to see the bridge to La Otra Banda. I was amazed that this bridge was used regularly. It was a great feat of engineering to use natural materials in the area, but it seemed so unsafe.

As we explored the area, took photographs or sketched, I watched the activity at the river. Horses were being brought for water, a truck was being washed and a group of small children were having their bedtime wash. I was impacted by the idea of water—how we take it for granted in Canada.

To this day, I am grateful when I turn on the shower in the morning and hot water comes out, when I pour a glass of water from my fridge dispenser with ice cubes at the ready. The Solidarity Trip made real for me, concepts of abundance in Canada. Once you see the value of a local river with your own eyes, it stays with you and changes you.

You can help a child succeed.

This GOOD DEED will provide primary schoolchildren with afterschool educational reinforcement in reading, mathematics, arts and crafts, and social interaction. It will be led by Heart-Links’ partner Madre Oliva Association in Nuevo Mocupe. This program will run six days a week, working closely with parents and teachers to ensure children progress. Nutritional snacks will also be supplied. 

The program will help these children get back on track with their learning (and have fun doing it).

Every child deserves a quality education. But without support, these children are at risk of dropping out. This GOOD DEED aims to help these children succeed at primary school, leading to further schooling and more opportunities as the children grow.

For impoverished people in Peru, education remains one of the best routes to higher incomes and greater job security. Giving these children a more solid foundation is the long-term aim of this GOOD DEED.

If you want to provide additional support to the 24 Canadian charities that are participating in the 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar, click the button below.

We are happy to report that your donations helped Latidos meet their goal of 8 villages and surpass it. They brought health and vaccination clinics to 15 communities in the valley. They worked closely with all five health centres in the valley and strengthened their reach by supplying medical and non-medical volunteers, transportation and lodging.

Latidos also campaigned to raise awareness about the importance of vaccination and disease prevention. In the towns of Zaña and Cayaltí, vaccination rates were 99%.

Thank you for responding to our appeal and helping improve health care in the Zaña Valley.

Latidos has helped us health strategies in the communities. Thanks to their support with volunteers and logistics, we’ve been able to reach 90% of the most vulnerable communities.

Karla Jiménez, Zaña Health Centre

I am very grateful for the opportunity Latidos gave us to help. We often have the will, but we do not have the financial means. Thanks to Heart-Links, we were able to travel, have refreshments and to help many people. A unique experience.

Angel David Salazar, nursing student

To help you get ready, we wanted to let you know about a very special initiative Heart-Links is taking part in this giving season: the 24 GOOD DEEDS charity advent calendar.

• For just $24 you can support 24 projects around the world
• All projects are implemented by registered Canadian charities
• Order one for yourself or as a meaningful gift (you can add a personalized message)
• Available as a 3D physical calendar and as a digital version

Pssst! One of the projects is run by Heart-Links’ partner Madre Oliva Association.

Here’s how the calendar works: On December 1st, open door number one. The next day, door number two. Behind each door you’ll learn what you donation is achieving. More information about each project will be available on the 24GoodDeeds website.

This holiday season, join us in making the world a better place, one GOOD DEED at a time.

“Here in the Zaña Valley, communities have been isolated, bridges washed away and a man from Zaña was even killed, he has not been found,” Flor Reaño, of Latidos, reports. “Houses have collapsed, others have been damaged by the constant rain. We hope this passes quickly because already food prices are rising and products are scarce in the places that have been cut off.” 

Latidos has purchased plastic sheeting and corrugated zinc sheeting to help the most vulnerable in these communities protect their homes.

Latidos’ rapid response to the emergency shows why strong community-based organizations are so important. It’s why at Heart-Links we believe it is just as important to support the growth and development of our local partners as it is to fund the projects they run.

When Flor Reaño founded Latidos in 2016, Heart-Links was the organization’s only funder. Latidos used that support to produce results that impressed other funders and broadened their base of support. In the last few years, we’ve seen the organization’s team of volunteers more than double. They’ve also been able to connect with government programs and services and bring these to the communities they serve.

Heart-Links’ partners are always at the ready to help the people of northern Peru. They can do this because of you, our supporters, who have invested in building strong, responsive, community-based organizations like Latidos.

Do you want to invest in strong community-based organization in northern Peru? Join our monthly donor family so you can help organizations like Latidos all year round.

We end our International Development Week celebration with a shout out to our partner Latidos.

Latidos’ work to help families in the Zaña Valley to recover health and well-being after the devastating years of the COVID-19 pandemic and to stay healthy during the current political and economic crisis was the focus of our recent fall appeal.

Heart-Links donors answered that call with great generosity, fully funding Latidos’ project for the coming year. That’s worth celebrating.

We were also thrilled to see Latidos’ work highlighted by the Ontario Council for Interantional Cooperation as part of their IDW celebrations.

Check it out!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ontario Council for International Cooperation (@ocicofficial)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ontario Council for International Cooperation (@ocicofficial)

For the last several years, Madre Oliva Association has worked closely with vulnerable families in the rural hamlet of Nuevo Mocupe, just outside Zaña.

They have attended to the needs of children and adults with developmental disabilities and others who are finding it increasingly difficult to feed themselves and their families because of rising prices.

In the wake of COVID-19, Madre Oliva Association also started an afterschool program for children to help address the educational and nutritional gaps exacerbated by two years of school closures and limits on travel (which reduced employment opportunities).

Six days a week, they provide 35 children with reinforcement in reading, numeracy, art and social skills as well as a nutritional snack. Therapists offer workshops every two months to the children’s parents on topics such as mental health, how to detect learning disabilities, COVID-19, and parent-child relationships.

When: Thursday, February 10, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM EST

Where: Zoom Webinar (registration link to come)

Special Guests:

• Lola Paredes, of Rural Libraries Network (from Cajamarca)
• Flor Reaño, of Latidos (from the Zaña Valley)
• Erla Hoyos, of Centro Santa Angela (from José Leonardo Ortiz, Chiclayo)

Proceeds from this FREE-ADMISSION virtual event will go to supporting the work of these and our other three Peruvian partner organizations in the coming year.

DO YOU WANT TO HELP SHARE THE LOVE?

There are many ways to get involved.

• Join us on February 10. Visit this EVENT page to register (registration link to come).
• Visit our online silent auction. Auction goes live February 3.
• Donate a silent auction prize. If you have an item or service you’d like to donate, contact info@heart-links.org
• Own a business? Consider sponsoring our event. Contact info@heart-links.org for more information.
• SPREAD THE WORD!

With the support of Heart-Links donors, Latidos has supplied families and individuals in need in the Zaña Valley with educational materials, nutritious food and mental health counselling. They have helped rural women to grow healthy produce for themselves and their families and to generate much-needed income. 

Now, with vaccination against COVID-19 a priority, Flor’s team of volunteers has mobilized to provide logistical support—PPE, uniforms, food and refreshments, transport, lodging—to frontline volunteers and medical personnel deploying vaccines throughout the Zaña Valley.

Initially only 20 vaccines had been alloted to Zaña, but with the support of Flor’s volunteer brigades, clinics in the valley are vaccinating as many as 300 people a day. Heart-Links just received the official tallies for May: Flor and her team helped 4,278 people get vaccinated.

These women are heroes. They have continued to help even after experiencing loss themselves. Flor fell ill with COVID-19 last year, and she and two other Latidos members have lost several family members to the disease. They carry on, as Flor says, “so that the vaccine reaches everyone, without regard for age, without regard for social condition.”

Listen to Flor yourself and learn more about the amazing people who are making your donations make a difference in so many lives: