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About PEP
The mission of the Peruvian Educational Project (PEP) is to provide assistance to Peruvian students of promising academic ability so that they may obtain a secondary education. This education will improve the lives of these students so they can achieve their greatest potential and may more fully contribute to the advancement of Peruvian society.
The promise of education
The majority of children in Perú lack the financial resources to attend high school. Despite the fact that all of our scholarship recipients have demonstrated academic promise, the reality is that most live in poverty and come from fragmented families.
PEP provides an opportunity for a select number of students (ages 12 to 17 years) to attend high school in the Huaycán district of Lima. We are entirely funded through private donations. Additionally, over 85 percent of contributions are directed to our academic program.
Our goal is that with PEP’s assistance, the lives of these students will be improved, which in turn helps lift up their families and strengthen the fabric of their neighborhoods and Peruvian society.
The donations that PEP receives pay for the students’ school fees, uniforms, field trips, tuition, books and supplies, as well as two meals a day, five days a week. The scholarship is grade-based and emphasizes academic achievement. While the students are encouraged to study and not to work outside of the home, they remain integrated with their families and assume usual household chores.
Our on-site program coordinator lives in Huaycán and closely monitors our students’ progress. Funds from PEP are carefully disbursed—we do not distribute funds directly to the students or their families—so we can assure our donors that the funds are solely used for the intended purposes.
Learn more about PEP
To learn more about PEP, you can read an article from the September 2008 issue of St. Thomas University’s Shining Star. The article includes an interview of PEP founder, Dr. Gustavo Wensjoe, who is quoted as saying, “Education isn’t going to solve everything, but without education, these kids won’t have any future. It can be heartbreaking, but these kids are going places. I have tremendous hope for them….”