Background
Hand in Hand was started by Josie and Roger Masters who took 10 of their adopted children to visit Peru in order to experience a different life. They never imagined that it would actually lead to a permanently different life.  Having seen the devastating effects of poverty on the children of Peru they determined to help and in 1997 they opened their first nursery in Lima. There followed the opening of a second one in Arequipa and in 2007, two in Yurimaguas.

The British Government has closed its Peruvian aid operation yet over half the population still live in abject poverty and nearly a quarter struggle for their daily existence. 14 million impoverished Peruvians are in danger of being totally forgotten by the international community.

In major city centres there are a limited number of nurseries; however, they are open for only 3 hours a day, and are only for children over 2 years old who are given no food and who spend most of their time sitting silently at tables and are predominantly staffed by untrained carers with very few resources.

All Hand in Hand staff are thoroughly trained, the fully equipped nurseries are open from dawn till dusk and the children are given 3 nutritious meals each day.

Community Nurseries
Over time the Hand In Hand Trust has experienced once extremely poor areas developing and the overall wellbeing of the community improving. For time to time this had led to the hard decision of either continuing to base nurseries in the same area or to move to areas where the Hand in Hand Trust's help is more needed. This dilemma has led to a change of strategy whereby Hand in Hand Trust can continue to focus on those who are most in need but also to leave a strong and lasting improvement to the communities that we help. This new approach is based on using Hand In Hand's trained carers to develop the skills of parents to run their own nurseries, supporting them through the early development of the nursery based on Hand in Hand proven approach and gradually allowing them to take control of their own centre.