Some years ago we “discovered” a special type of traveler: The volunteer traveler.

Maybe it was the opposite way, because they came to us to participate in trips, to exchange some books, to look for some information, to stay at La Casa de la Abuela or to take some of our courses.

We learned that some of them were doing volunteer work for some big organizations, that they had paid large sums of money to participate in a volunteer program and that they were not given any organized work to do, except to play with children or do whatever they could come up with themselves  to help the local institutions, without knowing if they were making a needed, sustainable contribution or not.

It was quite sad to learn that some of them were people  with excellent skills but they were not able to apply their training and skills to some real work to really help our people. Unfortunately, some decided to leave the places they were living early as they discovered that the families were not paid much, or even that some were volunteer families providing food and shelter for free in the belief that they were helping the volunteers to help our people! Other organizations seem to keep all of the money that volunteers donate for themselves and close family members, without providing the accommodations and meals promised, or providing any funding for the volunteer programs.

So it was then that we started to provide lodging and food with a small discount to volunteers at Casa de la Abuela and at our family homestays. 
We have provided lodging to travelers since 1995. Since then, many travelers have enjoyed themselves and learned good Spanish from our courses, and we believed that there was a real potential to develop in other fields.

We took one place as a challenge to test the possibilities.
The Orphanage El Rosario was and still is a place to learn about both sides:
the volunteers and the people in need of help. Now we have options
in some other fields as well.

As it happens a lot in Peru some people just copy whatever seems to make money,
especially in our survival economy, so it is not surprising that Huancayo
is now full of “organizations” that also offer courses and whatever
Incas has been offering for years, only cheaper and just “organized” however
they can with their lack of experience and resources.

During the last two years, as others undercut our prices and
we did not change ours, we basically lost the volunteer travelers as customers for our courses and also for our good organized volunteer work.

The main reason was that although the quality of our lodging, food and courses were higher than those from the new “organizations” our costs were also higher and our differences were hard to perceive from afar comparing websites alone, as the other organizations actually copied and pasted parts of our website and systems! They did this with the help of some travelers who probably believed they were helping these new organizations.

This resulted in many of their volunteers complaining and feeling cheated in Huancayo. We knew that the money they paid could have been put toward a much better experience and ultimately help, not hurt, the reputation of the Central Andes.

The whole volunteer system was becoming chaotic in the Central Andes and we felt that we needed to take action somehow. We recognized that the volunteers are humans with good intentions who are part of the traveler group visiting our country, putting themselves in hands of local people who have no idea about basically anything in tourism or community service.

So, we decided to make special BIG discounts for Volunteers at Incas del Peru, only under some special conditions.

They would have to be long term volunteers (minimum two weeks,) as a volunteer for less time would not make much in terms of a real project.

They would have to have a basic knowledge of Spanish. (To help with this,  some courses would be provided, also with a BIG – 20% - discount)

A volunteer for us needs to be a person that wants to help make a difference, a person who is freely sharing their time, skills, and knowledge, who is willing and able to make clear goals and objectives with a sense of commitment, and who is not just out for nice pictures to show family and friends.

We hope that all of you people out there who want to be part of this special group of volunteer travelers understand that if we make a discount, it is for three reasons:

a.-We want to provide quality, economical services to those of you who want to help our people for real.

b.-We want you to enjoy our country and the Central Andes safely and with a guarantee that you are dealing with a reliable company.

c.-Last but not least important: We are not a kind of those pseudo “non profit” organizations offering nice wordings and websites to sell poverty and hope, we are business people with development experience who know how to really help those who want to make a difference in a real way, not just to help the economy traveler to have a cheap holiday.

Our most successful projects are those that we are able to eventually turn over completely to the local people to run themselves. Once we have a program set up, we do not want to rely on foreign volunteers to continually support them financially or personally. Ask some of the other organizations how quickly they have to close their programs if volunteers’ money or availability slows down for a couple of weeks. If a program has not included local involvement and relies on travelers continually donating time and resources, then it is not promoting sustainable development.

At Incas del Peru, a minimum of 10% of your lodging and food costs is allocated for your projects’ budget. In some remote projects, you will determine your own lodging, food, and program costs to administrate yourself… so basically we do not even touch your money, we simply serve as your liaison to the local community. Later you can report and see your results for REAL.

So, we welcome you to a new way of volunteering, where you will help for real.

Positions are Available in :

• SCHOOLS and ORPHANAGES
• HEALTH INSTITUTIONS
• TOURISM and SERVICE related INSTITUTIONS
• CULTURAL and SOCIAL RESEARCH
  

This is an example of the type of work we do in this kind of institutions
Please take a look to the following documents.

SCHOOLS and ORPHANAGES

EL ROSARIO

“El Rosario” gives refuge to children in total abandonment, children orphaned by terrorism, and children with special needs.

On the 14th February 1986 existed the idea of Infantil “El Rosario”. There were so many abandoned children living on the streets of Peru that they had to look for a place to provide them a home.

There are 68 children in “El Rosario” at this moment. They are between the age of 2 and 18.They are children who were found in total abandonment, children orphaned by terrorism, children who come out of an extremely poor environment and children with special needs (mentally disabled children or children with psychological problems). The children will have to leave the orphanage when they have reached the age of 18. Only the mentally disabled children will continue their living in “El Rosario”.
The government helps the children by providing them with clothes, food and studies. But this is just the basic help. “El Rosario” is divided in ten little houses, called módulos. In every modulo there is a mother that takes care of 5 to 8 children. This mother takes care of them every day. She will give them love, helps them becoming independent and makes the children ready for a living outside “El Rosario”.
The main goals within the orphanage are:

• To help the children in a physical, psychological, emotional and intellectual way and to prepare them for a living in society.
• Providing the children education, mental support, medical needs and to help them coping with the difficulties of life by giving them the love of a family.
• To give them the chance to have a name, nationality, health, education, a family and to be treated as an equivalent person.
  

Mission
To offer a home, and to make the children feel loved and part of a family.

Vision
To find and provide a politically educative way, to develop and improve the quality of life for the children and adolescents that live in “El Rosario”.

The help that needs to be covered by volunteers is as follows:
Counseling
The children will have to leave the orphanage after the age of 18. Psychological training can be done by volunteers. Tutors can help the children prepare themselves for their life after leaving the orphanage at the age of 18.

Educational programs
One of the aims of a volunteer is to make the children able to take care of themselves in basic life as well as other, different situations. Educational programs could be put up by the volunteer to teach the children the importance of hygiene, social skills, to be taught how to play with other children, to be sure of oneself and to accept and respect others as and hereby teach them how to take care of themselves.

Special needs
There are eleven children at “El Rosario” who are mentally disabled. These children go to a special school; el Centro Educacion Polivalente. When they reach the age of 18 they continue living in “El Rosario”. Some special needs can be provided with the help of pedagogical guidence.
Bakery and baker (training in shop management)
In “El Rosario” there is a bakery. The volunteer can teach the children how to make their own bread and how to provide themselves a daily meal.

Agriculture
Volunteers with an agricultural background are most welcome. Around the orphanage there is a big piece of land. More agricultural information can be provided to the children, about how to provide temselves with food in an agricultural way and how they can even make a business out of it.

Craftworks and Drama
Another importance for children is to learn how to express themselves. This could be developed in different ways. They could learn this by doing drama, to learn handicrafts, etc. Through methods such as these mentioned, to stimulate the child’s creativity, the child is given methods of ways to express and/ or handle their emotions. According to the child’s interests, the child also will be stimulated to develop oneself by doing what the child likes to do.

English language
Wanted help from volunteers is providing the children English classes. When the first volunteer came to “El Rosario”, the children didn’t knew any word in English, but after the volunteers worked with them they were really making progress. The children are really enthousiastic about learning the language and there is a book wich will tell the next volunteer were the children ended and were they can continue the classes.
Dentistry and teaching of personal hygiene within the orphanage.
The volunteer can give training and guidence in health communication. Personal hygiene and the importancy of dentistry. The information can be given by a workshop. With the help of pictures, stories and paintings it will be a visual lecture. Gain the awareness of health importancy.

Any volunteer can be a great value for the orphanage. There are 68 children in the orphanage and every mother has to take care of 5 to 8 children. As a volunteer you are an extra person to give special attention to the children.
You can teach them in any subject your specialized at, Agriculture, Pedagogic, English and many more.

HEALTH INSTITUTIONS

EL CENTRO DE EDUCACION POLIVALENTE

This report is the result of a research project in El Centro Educacion “Polivalente”.
I will write about the following subjects:
The center, the activities, the parents and volunteer work

The Center

El Centro Educacion “Polivalente” is a daycare center for children who are mentally handicapped, deaf or visually handicapped. On the August of 1980 existed the idea of this daycare center. Nowadays there are a 170 children going to “Polivalente”.

In the center there are 39 workers at the center.

The children go to the center from 8.00 am till 13.00 am.

The Activities
There are a lot of physical programs in the center. The director and it’s staff acknowledge the importance of sports. With sports the child can express itself, improve it’s coordination, communication and their motorical skills.
In the center the children have classes in workshops. The workshops which are provided are:

• Painting
  
• Cooking
• Cleaning shoes
• Carpentry
  

The Parents

Having a handicapped child means, giving a lot of special care and extra attention to the child. This can cause some problems within the family.
The most showing problems in the families of a handicapped child are :

• The parents are having fights over the care for the child, overprotection or to high expectations.
• Conflict situations with the other children in the family, who can have the feeling that they have to compensate the disables of their handicapped brother or sister.
• The most showing problem; The parents can not accept the handicap of their child.
  

El Centro Educacion “Polivalente” supports the family to cope with these problems. They help the family accepting their child’s handicap, and they point out the importance of their support in the education, integration and the final independency of the child.
The parents will sometimes come to the center to help. But not too often. Most on the time they have to work or it can be a lack of interest. So it is important to let them know that they are really important for their son/ daughter, and that they are needed to help them grow up in a save, loved and structured environment.

Volunteer work
I will explain how the contact is with Incas del Peru, and what the help of the volunteer can be.

Volunteer work and Incas del Peru
Usually volunteers are asked to work for at least one month to leave enough time for training. Incas del Peru will organize any Spanish classes you may need, as well as board and lodging.
Volunteers will be committed to the program for at least two weeks. A basic knowledge of Spanish will be required for all volunteers. Before starting the volunteer program, the applicant will have to pass a short Spanish exam.
A minimum of 15 hours of Spanish lessons (3 hours a day, 5 days) will be provided by Incas del Perú at a 15% discount on our usual rates to all applicants with insufficient knowledge of Spanish before starting the volunteer program. Time spent on Spanish lessons does not count toward the two-week minimum commitment.

A report written by the volunteer will be given to the Institution and to Incas del Peru when you finish your program. The report will include notes on type of work involved, hours worked, comments on the volunteer program and possible improvements

The Contract :
The contract is between the operator, INCAS DEL PERÚ (Av. Giráldez 652 Huancayo, PERÚ),Represented by Luis Hurtado Zanabria and the client whose signature appears on the booking form. The form will serve as a contract for a minimum period of two weeks .

The volunteers needed for:

• Orthopedagogics
• Logopedist
• Physiotherapist
• Occupational therapist
• Social pedagogics 

Orthopedagogics

How to receive the pupil? How to give the pupil self-confidence and confidence in others? How to help the pupil to solve problem-situations? How to teach the pupils to perceive their own needs and to be able to express them and respect them?
In the field, adopt methods and procedures that best meet the needs of the person Set targets and conceive learning sequences that take into account the specificities of the handicap and the proximal zone of development of the person concerned.

Logopedist
The logopedist works with the children on their voice-, speaking, language and hear disturbances. They understand the problems of the client. If they are unable to speak or to make themselves clear the logopedist will find a way to communicate with them. This can be with gesture language or by lips reading.

Occupational therapist
Occupational therapy is skilled treatment that helps individuals achieve or regain independence, as much as possible, in all facets (activities) of their lives. These activities concern self-maintenance, productivity and leisure. Together with the patient, the occupational therapist sets up a program, to help the patient improve abilities to carry out the activities of daily living. For instance: dressing, writing, doing grocery shopping, taking a shower, cooking, et cetera. When skill and strength cannot be developed or improved, occupational therapy offers creative solutions and resources for carrying out the person's daily activities.

Social pedagogics
The social pedagogic worker is able to work on three levels;

• Micro-level: providing services focused on the client and client’s environment, including family and social ties.
• Meso-level: creating conditions for the client, including family and social ties.
•  Macro-level: developing the profession, placing care needs in the social context.
  

They are educated to work with handicapped children and have the knowledge about working methods as about human development in interaction with the surroundings, and how children and youth develop their personal, social and cultural identity.

Possible projects

Body language
Body language is about all the expressions and signs that can point out the feelings of a person. For example facial expressions and bodies attitudes. Because some persons with an mentally handicap can’t use language it’s important to ¨listen¨ to their body language. The parents can be provided extra training in understanding the meanings of the body language of their child.

Communicate with pictures
A lot of handicapped people make use of pictures to understand things or to make them clear.
These pictures are called pictograms. This are simple symbols that refer to concrete things or situations from the daily life. In the communication with mentally handicapped they will be used as a support by the speaking, reading and writing.
For example, to explain the child it is going to take a bath u can use:

Or for example

Personal Centered Planning
Every person is different. That means that every client has different needs. The individual care of the client, in this case the child, can be written down in a plan. We call this personal centered planning.
This plan contains the information about who the child is and what are his/ hers possibilities/ changes that society offers for this person to participate. The plan is focused on a personal development. Knowledge of the persons that are most closed to him/ her is important.
The following points can be seen as a development project:

• School and learning behavior.
• Attitude problems that show in Polivalente.
• Working or playing together with the other children.
• Working on the independency of the child.
  
• Social emotional:
  
  • Child is very shy
  • Child cries a lot
  • The child doesn’t talk
  • The child is always by itself
    

I will give an example of what a “Personal Centered Plan” can look like:

FINAL ENCLOSURE
El Centro Educacion “Polivalente” has a professional way of working.
It will be very interesting to work here as a volunteer.
You will not only be able to work with the children but hopefully as well with the parents.

A contract will exist between 3 parties: the Institution, INCAS del PERU, and the Volunteer.

The Institution will state its needs and the work involved. In coordination with Incas del Peru and the volunteer.

INCAS del PERU will organize Spanish lessons and accommodation for volunteers during their working period. We will also liaise between the Institution and the Volunteer. We will provide official certification and references upon completion of your Volunteer Work.

The Volunteer is responsible for his or her own flight into Peru, travel insurance, and personal effects. The Volunteer will also be responsible for committing to the full length of the program.