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City/State: Cusco |
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Country: PERU
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Program description: |
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Globalteer is a registered charity in the UK providing ethical and affordable volunteering with the amazing children of Peru. The Peru Kids project is based high in the Andes mountain range in the city of Cusco, the oldest continually inhabited city in South America and the staging post for Machu Picchu.
The project includes orphanages, a free education programme, medical clinic, community project, vocational training and an environmental programme.
The project focuses on the young and vulnerable to assist them in finding a way out of the trap of poverty and to train them in vocational skills so that they can become contributing members to their families and society.
Orphanages - Provide safe places for the children to live, learn and play. More than 70 children are provided with a home in two locations, one for boys and one for girls. The children are 4 to 18 years old and either have no family or come from high risk families that are unable to care for them. The children are provided with food and education as well as vocational training to allow them to support themselves in the future.
Volunteers - Assist the local staff to teach Spanish or English. Play sports, arts and fun activities, teach the children vocational skills. Manual work to improve the orphanage, painting, decorating, gardening.
Community project - Oropesa is a beautiful Peruvian village is only 30 minutes from the main tourist centre of Cusco but sees very few visitors. The community is very poor and 30% of the residents are bread makers. The community work very hard to support their families financially and as a consequence the children become neglected with care and attention. Globalteer are pioneering a project to care for the children during the hours that they are left wandering the streets.
Volunteers - Organise games and fun activities to occupy the children, help with homework, teach, assist local staff, help with feeding the children, manual work improving the project facilities, building play area, gardening, create security wall.
Free Education Programme - English is now the global language, and in a city such as Cusco which sees a million foreign visitors a year, English has never been so important for the children to learn. By speaking English, new opportunities are available to the children that would otherwise be destined to stay in the cycle of poverty.
Volunteers - Teach English, assist the local staff.
Medical Clinic - Situated in the magnificent Sacred Valley of the Incas, the clinic provides basic health and dental care to thousands of Peru’s poorest people. The indigenous inhabitants have limited access to primary health, dental or ophthalmology care. Children are not immunized and communities do not have access to potable water. All of this means that the clinic is busy treating 10,000 patients per year and performs 300 operations, free of charge to those struggling in poverty.
Volunteers - Medically trained volunteers can work directly with the clinic. Other volunteers can assist by teaching the Peruvian staff English, manual work, computer work.
Vocational Training - An essential component in the providing the children with a future. We can house the children, feed them, keep them safe, but we wouldn’t be doing our job if they then leave the project in adulthood without the skills to survive. The vocational programme teaches the children the skills they can use to earn a living for themselves and their families in the hope of breaking the cycle of poverty. The children are taught Technical English (job specific), computers, cooking, weaving, ceramics, recycling paper into sellable products and secretarial work.
Volunteers - Teach using their own particular skills.
Environmental programme - Clean up and educate! In poorer countries the people often do not have access to the litter disposal services that we are used to. They are also ignorant of health and environmental issues associated with discarding paper and plastic into their rivers and surroundings due to poor education. Globalteer organise clean up operations which the children can be involved with to both “clean up and educate”.
Volunteers - Take a "clean up" walk with the kids in the countryside on scenic Inca road for the benefit of the environment and peasant communities.
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General program information: |
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Program open to: Everyone
Age range: 18 - 70
Travel to site: Independent Travel
Is opportunity more independant or group orientated: Varies
No. in group: 2
Living arrangements on the program: Varies
How long does the program last?: Various Durations
What are the dates of this program: Various
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Benefits and advantages of the program: |
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By volunteering you will be giving the kids a chance of a future. The enthusiasm and resilience of the kids who would otherwise be begging on the streets or have no chance of a decent future is something that will stay with you always.
Volunteering is an amazing way to gain an insight into the culture of a country. Once you volunteer you are no longer just another tourist, you will work intimately with the local staff and more importantly give a special gift to the project and community you visit. Volunteering is for those who have an interest in other cultures and want to help those less fortunate than themselves. Also to meet like minded people, adventurous, open minded and with a willingness to make a difference.
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Cost or price of this program: |
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From £478
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Typical person for this program: |
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The majority of volunteers do so alone, and then meet up with existing volunteers at the project. The majority of volunteers come from the UK, USA and Australia with significant numbers from Canada, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand. Although volunteers are welcome from any nationality.
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Application process Involves: |
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On line application form
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