The Project
Teach and Travel in Central and South America for Six Months

Please note: our education projects in Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Peru are unique to Global Vision International. All funding of these projects comes directly from Global Vision International and volunteer contributions, included in the program fee. We receive no other outside source of income, apart from that raised through GVI and volunteer contributions. Suffice to say, without this funding from GVI and the volunteer contributions, the projects simply would not exist.

Guatemala

The indigenous Maya in Guatemala make up a huge percentage of the population, yet many live off just $1 a day. Global Vision International has set up its own schools in two indigenous communities: San Andrés Itzapa and Santa Maria de Jesus, which are both within a 45-minute bus ride from Antigua through lush mountain scenery and typical Guatemalan villages. Our aims are first and foremost in education and put particular focus on literacy and educational reinforcement for the children of each community.

Honduras

GVI has committed itself to helping and assisting the Maya Chortí villages around Copán Ruinas. These areas of Honduras are the poorest in the country and, as so often happens, rural communities are forgotten and ignored, with more emphasis given to urban schools and communities. The Maya Chortí community of San Rafael has a population of approximately 300 and a family income is about 25 Lempira (just over a dollar) a day. With this money, up to ten children must be fed, clothed and educated.

Ecuador

40% of the population is indigenous in Ecuador, yet many have to survive off just $1 a day or less. Global Vision International is currently working to encourage and improve levels of education in several of the communities around Otavalo, these being Urcusiqui, Huayrapungo, Julien Juez School above San Pablo and Larcacunga. All of the communities are located between 2600m and 3600m in altitude; and a 45-minute drive by minivan or bus, followed by some walking up into the mountains from Otavalo on average roads and dirt tracks.

Peru

Each year, thousands of people migrate from the Sierra and the Altiplano to try to find work in Arequipa, though due to language barriers (they are Quechua-speaking as opposed to Spanish-speaking), cultural differences and illiteracy, they find it very hard to integrate themselves in local life. Therefore ‘pueblos jovenes’ (new villages or towns) are springing up outside Arequipa. Most of the housing doesn’t have electricity, running water or other amenities, but with the $3 a day they earn from agriculture, they are slowly but surely building up a new life in these towns. Here they are learning Spanish and receiving education in the understaffed local schools in which GVI works.