Getting ready to go!

Friends and family – thanks again so much for sponsoring our volunteer trip to Peru.  We are very excited and leave this Thursday.

We created (well, Jeff created) this blog so we could share our adventures and photos with you while we’re there.  I thought it would be good to test out my blogging skills and make sure it works before we go. (Maddy is already a pro at this – she will be contributing as well.) You should receive our postings via e-mail.

I thought you might want to know a little more about Globe Aware and the school where we will volunteer.  Globe Aware is a non-profit that coordinates volunteer vacations around the world.  Their motto is: “Have fun, help people” (how great is that?).  Their mission is to promote cultural awareness while volunteering to benefit a community.

Maddy and I will be in Cusco, which was once the heart of the Inca empire.  The organization we will be supporting is the Center for Rural Support and Social Action Kallpanchis (CEARAS Kallpanchis).  It was created in 1992 to help break the cycle of poverty in Peru by implementing an alternative education system.  It is recognized, but poorly funded by the Peruvian government.

Under this program they created Alburgue Hatun Sonocco Wassi (alburgue, for short) which educates and shelters children from ages 9-18 from poor areas of Peru, who have no reasonable access to school.  The alburgue arranges for the students to come to Cusco and provides shelter, food, education, medical care, and job training.  The children come to the alburgue for certain months of the year and return to their families for the rest.  The typical housing for these students when not in the albergue are one room homes made of earth laid on the open soil, with no running water, electricity or plumbing.

Maddy and I will be staying in one of the dorm rooms in the albergue.  We don’t know yet what our project will be – the staff chooses work projects based on the progress of prior groups and the needs of the facility.  Past projects seem to include some type of construction work – this should be interesting given our skill level (good thing there is no CEQA in Peru!).

Hi! This is Maddy! I get to spend an entire week with my mom! How cool is that? So far, we have been preparing forever for this trip. We went to Target and bought some supplies for the kids and have been packing our bags, planning for the cold, rainy weather.  I’ve never done anything like this before, it’s going to be so much fun!

The next post will be from Peru!