The Project
Teach and Travel in South America for 12 Weeks

Please note: our education projects in Peru are unique to Global Vision International. All funding of these projects comes directly from Global Vision International and volunteer contributions included in the programme 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.

Who We Are Helping and Why

Peru

Each year in Peru thousands of people migrate from the Sierra and the Altiplano to try to find work in Arequipa. Yet 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, as a type of stepping stone from the Sierra to 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, learning Spanish and receiving education in the local schools.

Due to the ever-growing quantity of children requiring education, language barriers and the low standard of teaching; the education they receive isn’t good and many children leave early or do not receive the level required to gain employment in Arequipa. Many of the parents have never received an education so cannot help the children with homework. Furthermore, many parents cannot afford the basic school supplies needed for their children or the school uniform which the children must use in school by law.

The schools themselves can have up to 100 children of all different abilities and language skills. A handful of teachers are charged with teaching them all and bringing them all through the school year – a very demanding and often impossible task, especially due to the scarce school supplies. Some children only speak a smattering of Spanish, but there simply isn’t time to give the personalised attention they require, and they don’t receive help from home. GVI currently work in Victor Maldonado and El Triunfo, which are located about half an hour from Arequipa into the desert.

Ecuador

The Indigenous people of Otavalo and its surrounds represent 30% of the Ecuadorian demographic (the remainder being 50% mixed Spanish, 10% African Ecuadorian and 10% Other). The communities we work in are 100% indigenous and are very much removed from the influence of the western civilisation. The families are generally farmers, growing potatoes and maize and live very self sufficiently, eating their home grown food and raising pigs, cows and chickens to provide meat. They make money by selling their produce in the markets in Otavalo. The poverty level in our communities is extreme, however most of the houses in our communities have electricity now, and the children are no longer malnourished as we have been providing them with a quality balanced diet for over 3 years.

One school has 70 kids, the second 40 and the third has 30 kids ranging from 3 years old up to 13 years old. Each school also has a day care with children ranging from 1 – 3 years old who you will see running around the school grounds. We place volunteers in different schools depending on the need in each school, and which will be the best fit for the volunteer.