Testimonials

Lalo Harris
What an amazing month in peru, it has exceded all my expectations and there`s no way i wont be coming back. I think this as been the volunteering epxerience. The company is small and hands on, with only me and another volunteer, its cheap, you can see where your moneys going and you really feel like you`re making a difference.

Im Lalo, 20 from England and came to Peru to volunteer and travel for my summer between college an uni. I feel that I`ve made the most of and enjoyed everyday here in Peru, it`s been awesome. On my average weekday I`d get up 7 to get to the office for 8 am where I`d either have a 2hour Spanish lesson or teach a 2 hour English lesson to ault students in the language school. Spanish lessons were a real help and  the mix of these and just being constantly surrounded by the language has enabled me to improve loads in preparation for doing spanish at university in september. All the teachers are wicked aswell. Teaching the english lessons to the adults has been a good experience. All my students were a lot older than me which was interesting at the start, but my confidence increased and I was soon the boss lol. Was a good experience for me too because im interested in being a teacher when im older. The money the office recieves from these lessons is a big source of the funs that Volunteeringperu has, in order to buy more resources for the schools, and improve facilities.

After the lessons we`d go to the primary school "31 542 "to teach English to a class. These kids are aged 4 – 6 and all come from fairly poor situations. And yet they always seem to have a smile on your face. They`re the cutest kids ive ever seen and all such characters. We`d teach the class more or less 2 animals and 2 colours a day, it sounds silly but some days this was really hard work, like talking to a brick wall. Most of the time I though it was really rewarding and you get great feedback from the class. I don`t think it`s the English which is important but the concentration practice and learning to contribute to class invidually. I also think its good for the kids to feel important, like people have travelled from across the worl to help them. We did all sorts of exercises to help the children learn and keep them entertained. After the amount of animal impressions I`ve done, jumping around the class like a frog or a monkey, I think I could be a clown when I`m older too.

After teaching the class we`d usually go outside and help them to brush their teeth, with toothbrushes and paste that PeruForYou (PFY) provides, showing them good techniques and making sure there doing it right, saying “al fondo!” and “mas fuerte!” a lot. Some of the kids teeth are in such bad shape its upsetting and irreversable at the tiny age of 5. I`m pretty positive that this teeth programme that PFY helps with is the only time the children brush their teeth allday, who knows about weekends or when they`re ill. Aldo has had some meetings with the school and the parents and we have given out lots of leaflets to them explaining the importance of this twice-daily action that we take forgranted. On the Friday before we finished our volunteer stay, the children of the school put on a massive party for Peruvian Independance Day, with amazing costumes that all the parents made and dances that must have taken ages to rehearse. It was a great day, a great way to say adios to the kids that we formed real attachments with. The parents had put money together to buy me an Sean the other volunteer presents, a peruvian style bag each for our cameras and money. Was a really lovely gesture and gift, from parents that we hadn`t even met before, and made the stay even more rewarding and the adios more emotional.

After teaching at this school on Thursdays we would go to do a sports development programme at another school in Chilca, the poorest part of Huancayo, where all the programmes are based. This school is alot smaller and the kids a bit older, but no less smiley or happy to see you. You really get the feeling that this is what they wait for all week. This school has been built totally by VP and is a really nice learning environment. When walking to the school, all you can see is a dirty, depressing rubbish filled street. But when you walk into the school and see all the colourful swings, slides an painted classrooms, its like being in a different world, exactly what the children need. Playing football with the kids is great, there all really competitive and proper good. We showed them loads of other exercises which we remembered from school too. I tried teaching them rugby but it just turned into a messy game of handball. This programmes a nice change from being in the classroom.

On some days we`d visit PeruForYou`s third programme San Fernando. This school is in the worst state and needs the most work. Its a stuntmans job to walk to the school avoiding the massive holes in the ground and half finshed sewage works, it has to be the worst environment for a school. Inside is bad aswell, we have been fundraising to get a toilet installed in the school an running water. When we visit the school, about twice a week, we bring a bag of Mandarinas to give to the chilren and teach them a little bit of english, like a song or rhyme. They all have little uniforms and the classrooms are all really colourful too, its really important for them to feel part of something and be in a safe and friendly environment and not the streets.

This variation of work and programmes is imporatant for the volunteers to feel that they`re doing alot but is vital for the children in huancayo and the communities. With this being the first volunteering I`ve done abroad and with the organisation being so hands on and close to the communities it was a shock to hear from other volunteers in the area who work in orphanages for 8 hours a day,spend a lot of the time sat in the background, pay $2000 for 1 month when I pay 1500 soles and really don`t feel like they`re making a difference. Some other people I met have to pick peas or something and seperate them into bags all day. How tedious! And how are they making a difference? When what a volunteer can pick in 2 days a local can pick in 2 hours. An unhappy volunteer from another distant organisation came to spend a week with us because she wanted to do something worthwhile, she had a great week and we all had a good laugh but she had to go back because she already paid them a massive fee. Its annoying at the end of the day, that a REAL organisation like this struggles to find volunteers and is overlooked by big agencies who give no real support to the volunteers and just want the gringoes money for their xmas party.

The teaching and the programmes are only half of the volunteer stay in huancayo. Then you have the weekends to go to different places in the area and party hard in the discotecas. Some people and guidebooks say there`s not much to do in and around Huancayo, but I think thats rubbish, the Amazon jungle`s 3 hours away, the markets are massive and cheaper than most other places in peru, actually theres about tweo massive markets everyday somewhere in the Mantaro Valley – which is beautiful. Mount Huaytapallana is just round the corner to go trekking around, and there`s the Torre Torre red rocks in the mountain aswell. We went on a bike trip around the Mantaro Valley the other week and saw loads, it was just 3 of us cycling around the peruvian countryside with some amazing views, was a pretty cool day. Yesterday I went with some mates to this lake in the Valley called Nahuimpuquio I think, we nabbed a boat and went rowing round was a laugh. It was a result having a homestay with another volunteer my age and having a 20 year old sister, it´s been great meeting her mates. Made some real friends for life here.

One of the unique things about living in Huancayo is that you don`t feel like a tourist and you`re not surrounded by gringoes unlike being in Cusco. Its quality walking around, feeling safe, being surrounded by amazing views of the andes mountains, seeing people everywhere in their traditional dress. It`s great walking to the office saying hello to people on the way, I felt like a local after my first week! This is the real Peru, no fake posing with a baby goat for money here.

I really think this has been a great introuction to Peru. I left England the day after I finished my A-levels, and came straight to Huancayo from Lima which VP sorted out for me. After my month here I planned to travel around Peru and Ecuador for 7 weeks, but already my route has changed because i wanted to spend more time in Huancayo. Now my Spanish has improved, i know more about peruvian culture and I`ve gained confidence/grown up in many ways, I feel far more prepared to head off on my travels. I have actually just returned to Huancayo after 2 weeks travelling the south of Peru – Machu Piccu, Colca Canyon and Huacachina – I`m here to chill for a week, see friends again and get to know the area a bit better because there`s so much to see do. Then I`m heading up the coast to Ecuador for my return flight. Forget the clichè, but it has been a real life changing experience here. Met so many amazing people here, I`m really looking forward to coming back in a few years.

Thanks!