Care Work in Peru with Projects Abroad

  Peru

• All Other Areas in Peru: 
Ollantaytambo,  Sacred Valley of the Incas,  Urubamba

Durations of Program: 1-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks and 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 9-12 weeks
Dates: All year round

Description: Peru is an amazing destination to work with children in kindergartens and care homes in South America. Located on the Pacific Coast of South America between Chile and Ecuador, Peru is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Latin America. Exports such as coffee, potatoes and gold have done much to improve the levels of high unemployment, but low wages mean that many families still live in poverty and, especially in more rural areas, there is a real need for volunteers to help with caring for children.

As well as working with children there are also opportunities for more experienced
volunteers to assist with the training of staff in our partner organizations. Whatever your age, abilities, qualifications or level of experience, you can contribute to this vital development work during a college break, gap year, career break or just a vacation. Energy, passion and commitment to the work at hand is all you need to participate!
Volunteering in Kindergartens, Day Care Centers and Special Education Schools with Projects Abroad

Our office is based in the town of Urubamba, which is situated in the Sacred Valley. Our Care projects in Peru are all situated in this region. There are three different placement options for volunteers: Kindergarten Programs, Day Care Centers or working in a school with children with learning disabilities. Our local staff will help you to find the placement that most accurately matches your skills and level of experience.

Projects Abroad runs a pilot program in coordination with the Ministry of Education, where materials, activities and strategies are tried out before we try to implement them in other kindergartens in the Sacred Valley. We are responsible for the in-service training of the kindergarten teachers in the region, so our volunteers are also welcome to help prepare materials for the training workshops.

You will assist the class supervisor in all kinds of play-work activities, such as arts and crafts, painting, and teaching reading and writing. You may wish to develop projects with the children using your own interests in music, sports or drama, or you may wish to take a more observational role and lend the children support through providing friendship and assistance.

We encourage volunteers to try new activities and expand the range of games and ideas the children will encounter. Working closely with individual children and identifying their areas of strength is a very important part of this placement.

Volunteers work alongside local teachers developing resources and classroom activities to make the lessons more interesting. We aim for volunteers to contribute to the resources at the kindergarten during their placement, building up a bank of information that the teachers can use in their lessons.

Volunteers can also work in Day Care Centers for children between 1 and 4 years old. Here you will assist the supervisors with general hygiene and with the caring for and feeding of the children. You may wish to develop small projects with the children using your own interests in art, music, sports or drama, and we will provide you with the resources necessary to assist you in this.

A further care placement is at a special-needs school in Calca, where we have been working since 2005. People with learning disabilities are often still regarded as one homogenous group in Peru, but the provision of support for many learning disabilities has changed dramatically in recent years. In line with this we are helping to implement a system focused on the individual, including art, drama and music therapies, and supporting life-long learning.

During the holidays - between mid-December and March - care volunteers will usually either work at summer Day Care Centers for pre-school children or on a Community Project in the mountains.

Volunteering Abroad with Children on a Care Project in Peru

We try to take advantage of all of our volunteers talents and skills when organizing their Care placement. Volunteers can assist in improving the childrens competence and awareness in many areas of personal and social education, such as problem-solving, adjusting behavior to different situations, and understanding others. Helping the children in these areas is vital in order to give them the best chance of living independently in the future.

Volunteering on a care project in Peru is a chance to make a real difference to these children, not merely through the development of their social and life-skills, but also through exposing them to new ideas and cultures. And it is likely that you will learn as much from them as they do from you!

Highlights: For your accommodation, you will live with a Spanish speaking host-family, which is great environment for developing and improving your language skills. All the families involved are extremely supportive of the projects carried out by Projects Abroad and are eager to experience an inter-cultural exchange and learn about the lives of volunteers.

Peru is a country of contrasts, a place of extremes: desert and jungle, snow-peaks and sand dunes, great wealth and grinding poverty. We are based in the state of Cusco. The city of Cusco (the state capital) is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the Americas and was known to the Incas as the navel of the earth!

This project offers you the opportunity to become fully immersed in the culture in a manner which even the most hardened of backpackers could never hope to do.

Qualifications: Volunteers must be 16 years old and submit 1 letter of recommendation.

Cost in US$: From US$2,795 up

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Anyone with an open mind and a desire to travel

Age Range: 16-80

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Peru Independently or in Groups

Typically Participants Work Independently or in Groups

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Written Application

Post Services Include:

• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Re-Entry Debriefing at Home

Projects Abroad's Mission Statement: As part of the global economy, Projects Abroad helps create local employment wherever we send volunteers. Employing local staff overseas and using their talents and knowledge is important to us. This local knowledge and support enables the organization to channel the skills of the volunteers from more affluent countries to regions around the world where they are needed. Volunteers also learn from their placements and the people they meet, and they gain experience in a chosen field. In the 21st century, we believe this mutual respect is what cultural exchange is all about.

Year Founded: 1992