Pucallpa is a city of 300,000 people in the jungle of Peru. In Pucallpa, the family unit appears to have a strong bond, but if you look a little deeper, this is not the case. It is said that most husbands cheat on their wives, fathers do not take an active role in the raising of their children, and women and children are often abused. Due to cultural superstitions, lack of parental involvement, and erroneous education on the topic, many teens become pregnant.

Oftentimes the fathers do not take any responsibility to help with the raising of the child. As a result, the children grow up without the presence of a paternal figure and in poverty as the mothers do not have jobs or don’t have adequate education to get jobs that pay enough to provide for basic needs. Sometimes infants are abandoned at birth, at the local clinics and hospitals, sometimes just discarded to die. Many of these infants are found and taken to the local orphanage. Abortion is illegal in Peru, but because of the staggering numbers of teenage pregnancies and the instability of homes, many women choose to abort, even at the cost of their own lives at times. “Latidos de Esperanza” Crisis Pregnancy Center is a part of the ministry of Mil Palmeras, as well as 8 other Biblical churches in the community.