A New Home for Ruth and Her Girls

Ruth Mirella has been a single mother in Peru for 6 years. To support her three daughters, she sold snacks to neighbors.

One day a storm hit their community and her makeshift house could not withstand the strong winds.

“The wind blew off the back of the roof and a wall. After that, living here was dangerous,” Ruth told us.  “Now when a strong wind comes or the house moves, I move my daughters to safety.”

Ruth’s ten-year-old Jomira agrees, “I was very afraid that pieces of metal and wood from the roof would fall on us.”

Now, whenever it storms, Ruth says she stays up all night watching her daughter's sleep. She said she’s afraid that at any moment the wooden timbers supporting the house could fall on then.

She’s also concerned about the impact of the cold rainy nights on her children’s health. “My youngest daughter always got sick with bronchitis and flu because of the cold weather and drafts,” she said.

During the pandemic, Ruth’s snack sales suffered. There was barely enough money to feed her daughters. There’s not been any extra to repair the house. “I earned about 3-dollars a day. With that I made breakfast for my daughters. I stretched the breakfast food out so they could have a snack when they cried asking for food. There was not enough to eat.”

Operation Blessing first came to Ruth’s community to develop a chicken program to help low-income families. We trained Ruth and gave her one-hundred chickens and a chicken coup to start a poultry business. 

“For me it was a chance to have an income to support my family!” she declared. “It was a blessing, because, with the chicken and egg sales, I bought for food for the girls. And I started to save.”

And when we saw their living conditions, we built Ruth a new house with a kitchen, bedrooms and a bathroom.

“We have a kitchen. I have pots where I cook and I have my bed to sleep. I am very happy,” said Jomira.

“Thank you for giving me a house and the chickens,” added the grateful mother. “It was a dream that I wanted so much for my daughters. I am very happy in my new house!”