I am a missionary working in the Selva of Santa Rosa in Ayacucho, Peru. I read The Times online every day but I do not watch the videos because of the slow signal in the jungle where I live.

There are only a few Catholics in my parish but with their help I am building a church. Most of the population are Evangelicals; they are good people but they are not expected to help in the building of a Catholic church.

We have many projects in mind, such as orphanages, an old people’s home, a better clinic, charity kitchens and so on. We have decided that the best way to go about it is to build a chocolate factory because we grow cocoa beans and with the profits from the sale of chocolates we will be able to build these projects bit by bit. I will manage all the money and the building and run the factory. However, I need to present a good project to be entitled to aid from the United States; this project and studies will cost about €4,000. This is why I have decided to appeal to the generous Maltese hearts for help. Maybe the Mission Fund could also lend a hand.

You can write to me at missjunarju@yahoo.co.uk and I will even send you a copy of the preliminary project. Please help. We do have starving and dying children and we do have children with torn clothes but while we do take care of them as best as we can, we want to build something that will make us self-sufficient so that we would not have to keep asking for help like other missions. This factory will be the first of great projects here.

Donations can be made to Bank of Valletta, Missionary Knights Foundation.