Care and Community in Peru

In Peru our Care and Community programme offers you three different options: Kindergarten Programmes, Day Care Centres, or working in a school with children with learning disabilities.

Kindergarten Programmes

These are based in kindergartens in and around the Sacred Valley. Volunteers play an important part in creating a nurturing environment for young children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Teaching & Projects Abroad runs a pilot programme in coordination with the Ministry of Education, where materials, activities and strategies are tried out before we try to implement them in other kindergartens in the Sacred Valley. The official agreement is that we are responsible for the in-service training of the kindergarten teachers in the region, so volunteers are also welcome to help prepare materials for the training workshops.

Children aged 3 to 5 attend the kindergartens, and we work primarily in rural towns where many families lead a subsistence lifestyle. The children typically come from poor families where developing the children's academic abilities in preparation for school hasn't been a priority.

You will assist the class supervisor with activities such as arts and crafts, painting, and teaching them to spell and write. You may wish to develop projects with the children using your own interests in art, music, sports or drama, or you may wish to take a more observational role and lend the children support through your friendship and commitment. We encourage volunteers to try new activities and expand the range of games and ideas the children will encounter. Working closely with individual children and identifying their areas of strength is important.

Volunteers work alongside local teachers developing resources and classroom activities to make the lessons more interesting. We aim for volunteers to contribute to the resources at the kindergarten during their placement, building up a bank of information that the teachers can use in their lessons.

During the holiday, between mid-December and March, care volunteers will usually either work at summer Day Care Centres for pre-school children or on a Community Project in the mountains.

Day Care Centres

From March 2007 onwards volunteers can work in Day Care Centres for children between 1 and 4 years old. You will assist the supervisors with general hygiene and caring for and feeding the children. You may wish to develop small projects with the children using your own interests in art, music, sports or drama, so we can provide different types of stimuli and activities.

We encourage volunteers to develop extra curricular activities such as games, songs and general play so the supervisors will be able to identify children's areas of strength at an early stage.

During the holiday, between mid-December and March, volunteers will usually either work at summer Day Care Centres for pre-school children or on a Community Project in the mountains.

School for Children with learning disabilities

'Senor de la Vara' is a special needs school in Calca which we have been working with since 2005. People with learning disabilities are still often referred to as a homogenous group in Peru, but the care available for people with learning disabilities has changed dramatically in recent years. In line with this we are helping to implement a system focussed on the individual, including art, drama and music therapies and supporting life long learning.

Volunteers assist in improving the children's competence and awareness in social areas such as understanding and following the rules of society, adjusting their behaviour to the situation, problem solving and understanding others. Helping the children in these areas is vital in order to give them the best chance of living independently in the future.

During the holiday, between mid-December and March, volunteers will usually either work at summer Day Care Centres for pre-school children or on a Community Project in the mountains.

To read a more detailed information about this project, you may visit our Volunteer Care & Community in Peru specialized website.

All volunteers on Teaching, Care, Culture & Community, Medicine & Healthcare, Sports or Spanish placements in Peru now have the opportunity to add a 7-Day Conservation Project to the end of their main placement. Click here for more information.