We know how hard it can be to take the final plunge and commit to your volunteering experience, so we’ve been talking to some of the former volunteers at our Volunteer Peru Children’s Project to find out what helped them to take that all important decision, and how their placements lived up to expectations.
Australian Kiri Backhouse (photo) was just 18 years old when she arrived at the project for a two month stint last year, and although life wasn’t always plain sailing during her stay, she is eager to do more volunteering now she has her Peruvian experience under her belt, as she explained “It had its challenges but I would do it all again in a heartbeat."
David Schwartz, 52 from New York had never been a volunteer teacher before travelling to Cusco for his three week placement early in 2012, despite having volunteered previously on building projects. So teaching at Picaflor House was a whole new ball game for him – and turned out to be a ball game he clearly enjoyed. When we asked him if we could share his story his reply was simply, “I would be happy to share this experience with anyone.”
And finally, Erika Palomino , who now lives in Texas was born in Peru so she was already familiar with the country its people and its culture. But this didn’t stop her from having a hugely rewarding trip and from learning lots of new things during her volunteering experience. In fact she enjoyed it so much she told us, “those two weeks I spent volunteering in Peru were the happiest of my life.”
We hope that reading about their experiences will help you to make up your mind and come and volunteer with us in Peru.
You can read more about their time in Peru by going to our Peru Volunteer Stories page. If you would like to know more about how to apply please visit our Volunteer Peru Children’s Project page.