Madventurer.com

Challenge:

Orphanage/Drop-in Centre

Destination:

*Peru

Departure Dates From:

01/01/1970

Sorry No availability in 2011!   

Based around the historic town of Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, Madventurer have been working in Peru for many years. Located high among the spectacular Andes Mountains our projects focus on assisting children and impoverished communities who, despite their harsh living conditions, will always have a big smile for you.

Cuzco has over 6000 street children. Often their families simply cannot afford to feed or shelter them and so they are forced to live on the streets. These children have little or no access to food, healthcare and education, and there is a lack of social programmes in place to support them.

The project

Our care projects offer you the opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the lives of some of Cuzco's most vulnerable children, giving them the attention and time that they deserve. The project can include working with babies, young children and teenagers, teaching them creative arts, playing games and sports and occasional care duties such as cooking and cleaning. All dependent on experience and availability.

Basic conversational Spanish is useful but not essential - contact MAD HQ and we'll let you know about our 20 hour Spanish Course in Cuzco that you can take before you start your Project.

Casa de la Esperanza. Casa de la Esperanza, located in the San Geronimo district of Cuzco a 15-20 minute bus ride out of the city centre, is a transitory home which receives women, children and adolescents who are the victims of domestic, mental and sexual abuse or abandonment. Apart from providing basic care in the form of food, shelter and emotional support, the refuge offers other services, including self-help groups, counselling and education in hygiene, childcare and family planning. They also run a number of workshops at the home in skills such as knitting, clothes-making and producing artisan goods, which help to equip women and older children with tangible skills they can put to use to help support themselves when they leave the refuge.

Since the children at Casa de la Esperanza cannot attend school due to the difficult conditions in which they arrive at the refuge, volunteers contribute to providing them with a form of alternative education, whether teaching English, teaching the younger children how to read, walk or talk, or sharing any other specialised skills they may have. They encourage the children's creativity and capacity for learning and also, importantly, encourage the children to have fun and feel valued. Volunteers usually have lunch at the centre with the children and work with them in the afternoons, with great results.

This year for example one little boy with development difficulties learnt how to walk with one of our volunteers through dance; another volunteer taught new jewellery-making techniques to older girls who will be able to incorporate the skill into the crafts they make and sell.

Casa Acaridae Mantay. This is a small family-run centre in the outskirts of Cuzco, a 20-25 minute bus ride away from the city centre and housing roughly 15 teenage mums aged 13 to 18 and their babies/toddlers. Teenage mums in Peru rarely receive any form of legal support, whatever the conditions in which they may have become pregnant, and are not accepted in school. Casa Acogida Mantay provides a home for these girls where they receive shelter, food, and emotional support; they also have access to counselling, educational facilities and baby care facilities. In the home they can learn arts and crafts which they will then sell, helping to fund the centre and learning invaluable professional skills. They leave the centre when they turn 18, and the refuge provides them with basic furniture and dishware for their new home. Madventurer volunteers support the in-centre carer in looking after the babies/toddlers. This involves basic care such as feeding and changing the babies, but also playing with the children and encouraging emotional, intellectual and sensual development.

The volunteers' role is crucial since it not only frees up time for the mums (themselves still children) to receive training and education, it also sets an example for the mums who often tend to leave their babies with little or no stimulation. They will learn from volunteers who therefore contribute to the long term development, social integration and well-being of these children.

Further Links:

• Mad in Peru Blog
• Peru Photos
• Mad Videos
• Full Trip notes
• Feedback from past volunteers
• Weather guide from bbc.co.uk
• Money conversion from oando.com
• InterHealth Pack - Click this link, register and then have access to a comprehensive Health Pack.
• Pre-Departure Form - To be filled in and returned to Mad HQ before you depart