Projects Abroad in Peru

  Peru

• Cusco: 
Cusco
• All Other Areas in Peru: 
Urubamba

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months and 7-12 months
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: All Year Round (you set the start and end date)

Description: With an extensive coastline, a vast area of Amazon rainforest and the Andes, Peru gives you the opportunity to visit South America and see much of its character in one country: wildlife, beaches, historical sites and mountains.

Projects Abroad has its office in Urubamba in the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. There are placements in many of the small towns in the Valley all keen to have volunteers working in their schools. Our Inca Projects are based three hours away in Huyro which is surrounded by newly discovered Inca remains. To visit our Rainforest project you need to take a half hour flight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado followed by a two hour boat trip up the Madre de Dios river - a real adventure into the jungle.

Here are the projects you can do in Peru:

Medicine:

We work with two hospitals in the city, the Es Salud Hospital and the Lorena Hospital in the poorer Belen area. For volunteers with an interest in a more rural medical experience, we can also offer one volunteer at a time, subject to an online interview, a placement at the Kausay Wasi Health Clinic in Coya, about 45 minutes away from Cusco. For all medical placements in Peru, you need at least intermediate Spanish.

Our program coordinator is Patricia Davila, a dentist, with many years of experience in the social health sector in Cusco. Patricia previously worked for German and Dutch NGO's and understands the needs of volunteers.

Learn Spanish:

With 60 hours of instruction per month and also accommodation with a local family, you'll learn quickly and can practice what you've learned with your host family each day! Lessons are one-on-one with a tutor and are tailored to your ability. Whether you are a complete beginner or have been learning Spanish for a number of years, being surrounded by the language every day will help your skills progress in leaps and bounds. After your lessons you will, of course, have plenty of time to complete your homework and explore the area with other volunteers.

Inca Projects:

Inca Projects volunteers are based in Huyro in the La Convencion province. Volunteers take part in three different activities: archeology, community work and expeditions. From May 2007 onwards, for one week a month, we will also be able to do some excavation work on Sacsayhuamán, an amazing Incan construction in Cuzco. The building of Sacsayhuamán took over seven decades and required the work of approximately 20,000 men, both for the foundations and hewn stone works, the transportation of materials, carving and the setting of the stones. Some of the external walls at Sacsayhuamán exceed 9 meters in height and 350 tons in weight.

Teach English:

We are particularly proud of our Teaching Project in Peru. We work with the Peruvian Education Ministry on an 8-year scheme to update the English curriculum for 26 schools in the Sacred Valley between Cuzco and Macchu Pichu. Peru's English curriculum is created in the city of Lima and is not always relevant to children in the more rural Sacred Valley. If we are successful in our work, the new curriculum will be applied to schools throughout Peru. This project is run by our Peru Director, Tim de Winter, previously an education specialist with UNICEF.

As a volunteer, your role is built firmly into this scheme. We work with a wide range of age groups, so if you have a preference please let us know and we'll try to accommodate your request. With worksheets and teaching resources available in our office in Urubamba you will be well supported and given innovative ideas about how to teach effectively. You'll also be able to see a full history of what has been taught previously in your schools and hints from past volunteers.

Conservation:

Based in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, alongside the famous Madre de Dios River, The Taricaya Center is our own lodge and your home for the duration of your stay. Conservation in Peru is a project for the more adventurous. Access to the lodge is an hour river-boat journey from the town of Puerto Maldonado. You will be living with up to thirty other volunteers and a resident spider monkey! Taricaya lodge is basic, but clean and comfortable, and everyone helps with its upkeep.

Care & Community:

In Peru, our Care & Community program offers you three different options: Kindergarten Programs, Day Care Centers or working in a school with children with learning disabilities. Our kindergartens are based in and around the Sacred Valley. Volunteers play an important part in creating a nurturing environment for young children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Volunteers can work in Day Care Centers for children between 1 and 4 years old. You will assist the supervisors with general hygiene and caring for and feeding the children. You may wish to develop small projects with the children using your own interests in art, music, sports or drama, so we can provide different types of stimuli and activities. We encourage volunteers to develop extra curricular activities such as games, songs and general play so the supervisors will be able to identify children's areas of strength at an early stage. 'Senor de la Vara' is a special needs school in Calca which we have been working with since 2005. People with learning disabilities are still often referred to as a homogeneous group in Peru, but their care has changed dramatically in recent years. In line with this, we are helping to implement a system focused on the individual which includes art, drama, and music therapies in an effort to support life long learning.

Sports:

We also offer a sports placement at the Apu Pitusirary sports center located in the town of Calca in the Sacred Valley. At this center there is scope for coaching soccer, basketball and volleyball. There are around 150 children who attend the sports center - ages range from 6 to 14 years old, with both boys and girls taking part. This project provides our volunteer coaches with an excellent variety of skills and talent to work with.

For high school students between the ages of 16 and 19, we also offer 2-week summer specials on our rainforest conservation and Inca projects.

Highlights: For your accommodation, you'll live with a Spanish speaking host-family, which is a 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. For those volunteers participating in the Inca or Conservation projects, you will live in shared volunteer housing.

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 Cuzco. The city of Cuzco (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: For our medical placements in Peru you need to have at least an intermediate knowledge of Spanish.

Cost in US$: From $ US2,195 up

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Open-minded with a desire to travel.

Age Range: 16-70

This Program is open to World Wide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, 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:

• Alumni Network
• Exit DebriefingAbroad
• 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