Education, arts and crafts activities with Peruvian children
       Ayacucho          April 8 - April 27, 2009
       Ayacucho          May 6 - May 25, 2009

Volunteer project: This project is organized in cooperation with the local organization Hogar Luz in the city of Ayacucho Peru. They work with children from 1 month old to 17 year old, by providing home and food as well as promoting good habits (hygiene, education, etc) with the objective to give them better possibilities for their future.

Volunteers will develop many activities with the local staff of the “Hogar Luz Organization” depending on their skills and experiences, their interests, their specialties, but in general, the activities are these:
Organization:
To work with kids at the zone where they develop their work.
To develop the education program to help youth.
Training:
To develop workshops with the kids.
To impulse the workshops training
To implement workshops: like handicraft, bakery, etc…
Music, dance, and paint workshops.
Volunteers will work every day with around 38 children of Ayacucho. Some of them are disabled children.

Language: English. Some Spanish would be appreciated.

Accommodation: Volunteers will stay at a house in the city with all facilities at disposal. There are no beds, please bring your sleeping bag and air mat.

Location: Ayacucho is a historical city of Peru, located in the mountains at 2700 meters above sea level. It has all the services of the modern city.

Nearest airport: “Jorge Chavez” International Airport, Lima, Peru

Age range: 18 and over

Extra fee: 210 Euro
The extra fee is intended to support the hosting organization who does not have sufficient funds. It is due upon arrival on the project.
 

 

Activities with kids in an orphanage in Ayacucho
       Ayacucho          April 8 - April 27, 2009
       Ayacucho          May 6 - May 25, 2009

Volunteer project: As a volunteer in Ayacucho, you will be working at the URPI orphanage for boys. Currently, there are approximately 48 boys in the orphanage with ages ranging from 5-17 years old. You will be in contact with half of the group at a time as half are at school in the morning and the other half of the group goes to school in the afternoon. These boys have come to URPI for a variety of reasons concerning their familial situations; this could include reasons such as death of parents, violence in the home, drug and/or alcohol abuse by parents or imprisonment of their parents.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to: participate in ongoing courses on topics such as English, gardening, etc. plan their own activities based on individual and group skills and interests and the needs of the children, take the children on Saturday afternoon excursions to the local swimming pool and occasionally on outings to learn about ceramics and artisanship, volunteer on an additional project running Saturday mornings at a town near Ayacucho where volunteers teach life skills to people with physical disabilities.

The purpose of the activities the volunteers will be preparing is to provide the children at the URPI orphanage with lasting, practical skills to carry with them when they are old enough to leave the orphanage such as carpentry, handiwork, handicraft, cooking, baking, etc. Please keep this in mind when developing the activities.

While at URPI, volunteers will be working in a supporting role with the teachers and other permanent volunteers at the orphanage. While the volunteers are responsible for both caring for and disciplining the children, the teachers and other permanent volunteers will help with the more serious disciplinary actions that are required, though these seldom occur.

Language: English. Some Spanish would be appreciated.

Accommodation: Volunteers will stay in a house in the city which is only a 5 minute walk from URPI and a 20 minute walk from the city-centre. Mototaxis are a readily available and cheap means of transportation in the city. The house has all basic facilities available, including an area to hand-wash clothing. There is no phone or internet in the house but both are easily accessible within a few blocks of the house. Bed frames and foam mats are provided but volunteers must bring their own sleeping bag. Also, an additional air mat would increase comfort but is not a necessity.

Location: Ayacucho is a historical city of Peru, located in the mountains at 2700 meters above sea level. It has all the services of the modern city.

Nearest airport: “Jorge Chavez” International Airport, Lima, Peru

Age range: 18 and over

Extra fee: 210 Euro
The extra fee is intended to support the hosting organization who does not have sufficient funds. It is due upon arrival on the project.
 

Ayacucho     (Eye-ah-coo-choo) Basin is located within central Peru and consists of several archeological sites which date from 23,000 B.C. to 1470 AD. The basin itself has been a host to an estimated 23 civilizations from the Wari to the Inca. Though there are many sites within the Ayacucho Basin, the civilization known as the Ayacucho, occupied a relatively long timespan of roughly 2,000 years, and was the second civilization to live within the Basin. Ayacucho has been known by many names such as Flea Cave, Ayacucho, and by the multitude of archeological sites found in the Ayacucho Basin.
The site which has yielded the most archeological artifacts has been Picimachey Cave.
Picimachey Cave is located 24 kilometers north of Ayacucho City. It has been estimated by archeologists that the cave and its inhabitants were living during a time after the glacial period, which made the basin a forest zone, rich with plants and animal inhabitants. The preservation of the Picimachey Cave has been theorized to have been caused by a stream which backed up into the cave and deposited a thin layer of peat around the Picimachey settlement. This thin layer of peat aided in the preservation of hundred of tools, which have given archeologists a greater picture of what life was like within Ayacucho Civilization.