Community Development Projects - Peru
A land of extreme contrasts, with arid deserts and immense tropical forests bisected by the jagged spine of the Andes, on its journey from Venezuela to the Southern tip of Chile.
Peru has become an extremely popular destination for tourists who flock to the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, the highest lake in the world, Lake Titicaca, the Inca ruins of Arequipa and the tropical rainforests and cloud forests of the Amazon.
However, few tourists see the poverty that plagues this proud country. Desperate conditions in rural areas, force Peru’s youth to travel to large cities to seek their fortune.
Past projects have been located in the area around Huaraz, north of the capital Lima, but in 2006 we have moved our base in Peru to the south east, to the city of Cusco. 3400m above sea level in the Andes Mountains, Cusco was once the centre of the great Inca Empire and is home to some 300,000 people. The city attracts a great deal of tourism, as the base for getting to the Inca Trail and the ruined Inca city of Machu Picchu. The narrow cobbled streets and local craft markets still retain their traditional charm, and llamas wander past the internet cafes and bars.
Our projects in and around Cusco will concentrate on the most pressing needs of the area, the need for rural development around the city and the lack of support to the huge amount of orphaned and abandoned children.
Some projects will be based in the city itself helping the children’s homes and orphanages which cater for abandoned street children. Other projects will be based outside of Cusco in rural villages where little has changed in the last hundred years. People in traditional Peruvian dress still farm the fields with ox-drawn ploughs and donkeys are the main rural transport. Despite the income parts of the region receive from tourism, many of these small villages remain very poor, and there is a great deal of scope for Community Development Projects and our work will focus on providing and renovating resources.
Please contact us if you’d like to know more about volunteering on a Community Development Project in Peru.
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