Warmi Kaya's First Participant

Warmi Kaya’s first participant is Ms. Miriam Yapu, single mother to 5 children attempting to support them financially.  She moved to La Paz in an attempt to make more money as a street vendor.  She has some serious health struggles as does her youngest child, an 18 month old.  The Kaya team began working with her on the children’s health to ensure his safety.  Additionally, one staff member, her “mentor,” is working with her to identify and set expectations for her own family as well as assess her motivation for supporting her family.  Two of her children, Jhonatan and Yamil, attend the Kaya Center and participated in the extra academic support offered during the school holidays.  Both are far behind in terms of their reading and writing skills.  They made some progress during the holidays but not enough and are still receiving support.

Miriam Yapu and 3 of her 5 children.

Miriam was recently evicted from her one room home.  The owner needed the space and asked her to leave the next day.  Her children had accidentally broken the window in the room.  The owner of the house room kept her cylinder of cooking gas as payment for the damage.  Miriam had a small amount of savings that she used to rent another room but she didn't have any money left to purchase another container of cooking gas therefore her children were unable to have hot meals.

Warmi Kaya provided Miriam a small loan to purchase the gas.  She has been repaying the loan by cleaning the Kaya Center several days a week.  Miriam recently learned how to make alpaca scarves and is selling them for approximately US$4 each to earn money for her family.

Miriam Yapu proudly identifies as a Christian.  Even though she faces extreme difficulties, she often wears a smile.  "God won't' let me know.  I have a lot of faith," she says warmly.