Teach and travel across Latin America
| country: | Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru |
| departures: | 2009: 5 Dec 2010: 2 Jan, 6 Feb, 6 Mar, 3 Apr, 1 May, 5 Jun, 3 Jul, 31 Jul, 4 Sep, 2 Oct, 6 Nov, 4 Dec |
| price: | From £4630 (6 months) - £7495 (12 months) excluding flights. Includes Spanish lessons, activities, accommodation & meals |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Teach Indigenous children, learn Spanish and explore the best of Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Peru
This is a unique opportunity to live and work for six months in four different countries throughout Latin America; from the indigenous heartland of Guatemala to the Pacific coast of Honduras moving high up into the Andes of Ecuador and the deserts of Southern Peru. As a volunteer you will be teaching in Spanish to indigenous children on our initiated and run projects, dedicated to literacy and numeracy.
A large percentage of the fee goes towards the running costs of these projects, including food programs, scholarships, local salaries, daily transport, learning utensils, scholarships and expenses incurred for teaching. Volunteers will also be building an energy efficient stove for cleaner air and less wood consumption in Guatemala.
Included in the programme are 120 hours of Spanish classes to be taken throughout the 6 months, food and accommodation, airport pick ups and drop offs, plus required internal flights.
Volunteers will live with local families in Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru in comfortable but basic accommodation allowing for an enriching cultural experience and the valuable opportunity to practice Spanish! In Costa Rica volunteers will live in shared hotel accommodation.
Guatemala: Two day adventure activity to Lake Atitlan Ecuador: A horse trek and visit to a waterfall, visit to Mitad del Mundo and entrance into the museum Peru: Machu Picchu, 3 day guided trek of the Colca Canyon, guided mountain bike trip, guided horseriding trek
Honduras: Volunteers work full-time on the project from Monday to Friday starting early eating breakfast with the host family before meeting up with the other Volunteers (usually up to 6 per community) at around 6.30am to catch the transport to the project site. Lessons start after 7am and continue until 1pm, with a mid-morning break for a food and fruit break for the children; classes then continue for two hours in the afternoon in the GVI Secondary school. Volunteers head back to Copán for 5pm.
Ecuador: Volunteers work on their project from Monday to Friday. Days start with eating breakfast with the host family before, depending on which community you are designated to work in, you will either meet the minivan at 6.55am that will take you directly to either Urcusiqui or Huayrapungo. Those working at Larcacunga and Julien Juez will catch a local bus at 7.25am to the community and after a short walk you will arrive in time for the start of the school day at 8am. Classes officially run until around 1.15pm in all schools, however those in Urcusiqui and Larcacunga will have until around 1.45pm to help the kids with their homework or to clean up the classrooms. Open classrooms (aulas abiertas) are being started so some days will end later.
Peru: You will work in the chosen community from Monday to Friday. Days start with eating breakfast with the host family before meeting the pickup at around 7.15am and travelling to the designated communities, usually about a 30 minute drive along semi-paved roads, arriving to start classes at 8am. Morning lessons are interspersed with breaks and finish at 1pm whereupon you will have a short break for lunch, before the 'open classroom' sessions, which continue until 3.30-4pm, after which you will return to Arequipa.
In addition, a US $100 donation will be given on the behalf of each volunteer (you choose where it goes) on each project. Your money will also contribute towards the daily running of the projects, other local community needs and one scholarship for a child to attend school for one year.
This is a unique opportunity to live and work for six months in four different countries throughout Latin America; from the indigenous heartland of Guatemala to the Pacific coast of Honduras moving high up into the Andes of Ecuador and the deserts of Southern Peru. As a volunteer you will be teaching in Spanish to indigenous children on our initiated and run projects, dedicated to literacy and numeracy.
A large percentage of the fee goes towards the running costs of these projects, including food programs, scholarships, local salaries, daily transport, learning utensils, scholarships and expenses incurred for teaching. Volunteers will also be building an energy efficient stove for cleaner air and less wood consumption in Guatemala.
Included in the programme are 120 hours of Spanish classes to be taken throughout the 6 months, food and accommodation, airport pick ups and drop offs, plus required internal flights.
Volunteers will live with local families in Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru in comfortable but basic accommodation allowing for an enriching cultural experience and the valuable opportunity to practice Spanish! In Costa Rica volunteers will live in shared hotel accommodation.
activities
A day in the life of a volunteer
Guatemala: Volunteers work full-time on their project from Monday to Friday, once the Spanish classes have been completed, during which time you will work half-days. Days start early with eating breakfast with the host family before meeting up with the other Volunteers (usually up to 6 per community) at around 7.15am to catch the bus to the relevant project site. Help with homework for the children is then available before classes start at 9am. There is a break mid-morning for a fruit snack for the children; classes then continue to 12.15pm, when the Volunteers will eat with a local family in the community, plan lessons and relax. Classes then restart with new children at 1.30pm with the fruit break mid-afternoon and finish at around 4pm, when the Volunteers all return to Antigua a little after 5pm. Honduras: Volunteers work full-time on the project from Monday to Friday starting early eating breakfast with the host family before meeting up with the other Volunteers (usually up to 6 per community) at around 6.30am to catch the transport to the project site. Lessons start after 7am and continue until 1pm, with a mid-morning break for a food and fruit break for the children; classes then continue for two hours in the afternoon in the GVI Secondary school. Volunteers head back to Copán for 5pm.
Ecuador: Volunteers work on their project from Monday to Friday. Days start with eating breakfast with the host family before, depending on which community you are designated to work in, you will either meet the minivan at 6.55am that will take you directly to either Urcusiqui or Huayrapungo. Those working at Larcacunga and Julien Juez will catch a local bus at 7.25am to the community and after a short walk you will arrive in time for the start of the school day at 8am. Classes officially run until around 1.15pm in all schools, however those in Urcusiqui and Larcacunga will have until around 1.45pm to help the kids with their homework or to clean up the classrooms. Open classrooms (aulas abiertas) are being started so some days will end later.
Peru: You will work in the chosen community from Monday to Friday. Days start with eating breakfast with the host family before meeting the pickup at around 7.15am and travelling to the designated communities, usually about a 30 minute drive along semi-paved roads, arriving to start classes at 8am. Morning lessons are interspersed with breaks and finish at 1pm whereupon you will have a short break for lunch, before the 'open classroom' sessions, which continue until 3.30-4pm, after which you will return to Arequipa.
In addition, a US $100 donation will be given on the behalf of each volunteer (you choose where it goes) on each project. Your money will also contribute towards the daily running of the projects, other local community needs and one scholarship for a child to attend school for one year.
volunteer travel - what's it all about?
Are you looking for an adventurous trip with a purpose, or on a gap year or career break? If you want to make a difference in some of the world’s most important conservation areas - and in community projects - then volunteer trips are for you! Volunteers tend to have a sense of adventure, and come from a range of different backgrounds and from all over the world. Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Guatemala: The Indigenous Maya in Guatemala make up a huge percentage of the population, many living off just US $1 a day. We have established our own schools in two Indigenous communities, these being San Andrés Itzapa and Santa Maria de Jesus; both providing local children with the opportunity to learn Spanish and receive an education.
Honduras: We have committed ourselves 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: We are 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. 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”, or 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 US $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 under-staffed local schools through taking classes and the 'open classrooms'. |
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