Ever since I was a child, I have cried for my neighborhood. Our family lives in an area of Piura that most tourists would never want to visit. While many people love to travel to Piura for the beaches and great seafood, we live in the arid desert of Piura where our only visitors are drug-traffickers and gangsters. My family and I call this area home and are often heart-broken for the children that live here. Growing up, my father’s church was often vandalized and broken into. But despite the challenges, my mom and dad founded the education program “Pepe” here. They brought in the poor and at-risk children from our region and gave them an education while teaching them about God’s love. I would often love to attend classes with the children from our neighborhood, and when I was finally old enough, I became an assistant teacher. But it was then I learned that the Pepe program was not making any money. My parents knew that the children they were helping could not afford to pay my parents, and they simply accepted whatever donations the parents could give. We were able to continue the program for many years, but recently, my dad needed to get a job as a taxi driver to help support both the Pepe school as well as the church ministry. The Pepe ministry was left to my mom, my younger sister, and myself. When I was old enough to enter college, I knew what I wanted to study, I wanted to become an elementary school teacher to help the children in my area. The program I entered was a 4-year program, and I was doing well in my studies. After I finished my classes, I would return home to help the children in the Pepe program and then work on my schoolwork at night. It was very tiring, but I knew I was doing God’s work. Then in 2020, my life was changed. My family was in a great financial struggle during and after the pandemic. We struggled to continue with the Pepe program with the rising price of school supplies, and my father’s job was unstable since tourists stopped coming to Piura. I had just finished my third year of school when my dad came home with the bad news, “I’ve lost my job.” Suddenly, completing my education was no longer possible. I left my program uncompleted and went back to help the children in the Pepe program. Now in 2023, my life is still a great challenge. My parents continue the Pepe program, but my younger sister and I want to finish our schooling so that we can help lighten our family’s financial burdens as well as serve the youth in our community. I am in my final year of school, and I want to finish it well. As a Riverside Tree student, I am praying for God to provide a generous sponsor who will support me and come alongside me as I commit my future to doing God’s work. Karla Bobbio