Explore stunning Peru and South America while teaching children and learning Spanish

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Program Overview
Life on the Program
Program Details
Volunteer Testimonials

Program Overview

Explore the breathtaking historical city of Arequipa located in Peru while providing critical first-time education to the young children in the surrounding communities.

While you volunteer on the project you will be educating children starting at the age of four in Spanish, with a focus on basic education. Your contribution will be vital as class sizes grow quite large requiring additional assistance for those children who need it most. In addition to this you can get involved with the open classrooms provided to both children and adults in the community as you help them achieve a basic level of education necessary for employment opportunities.

Phoenix, our in-country partner has been running their programs throughout Latin America since 2003 and in Peru specifically since 2006. Since this time they have provided educational programs to many impoverished communities.

Life on the Program

Throughout the week most of your time will be spent in the communities where you will lead morning classes to the children, followed by open classes to the surrounding community in the afternoon.

While this program is undoubtedly rewarding and critical for all involved, your days will be long and both staff and students expect your lesson plans to be in place for fun, interactive sessions.

During the time that you’re not with the children in the communities you will be in Arequipa where you will have a chance to socialize with other volunteers, explore the surrounding area and plan for your next day of lessons.

Host families provide the accommodation for this project, allowing you the chance to practice your Spanish and become fully immersed in the Peruvian way of life.

Program Details

The opportunity to receive an education is not often in the communities where you will work. The indigenous communities here are constantly faced with the struggles of adapting to life in Arequipa as Spanish is not their first language.

The essential goal of this program is to supply an educational foundation for these Quechua-speaking (the local indigenous language) communities which will allow them to further participate in more educational programs or find work in the city.

Phoenix, our in-country partners base their programs on a 25-year cycle. They aim to take the youngest child of a community and provide them with a strong educational foundation that will afford them a better chance at securing a job in the future. With that, they can financially support the same education for their own children making the program long-sustaining.

Volunteer Testimonials

My 8 weeks in Peru, was one of the most amazing 8 weeks of my life, and I would not have missed it for the world I enjoyed it so much I wanted to stay for an extra 2 weeks. The staff there are...

Matthew Brown, United Kingdom

My 8 weeks in Peru, was one of the most amazing 8 weeks of my life, and I would not have missed it for the world I enjoyed it so much I wanted to stay for an extra 2 weeks. The staff there are amazing and help you throughout your stay in Peru. The community you work in really brings it home as to how lucky we are and how much we take for granted. One thing that shall stick in my mind for the rest of my life will be the kids, who would often sprint down the stairs to greet us (even if I was called Profe Mal for a little while) although this soon stopped as they realised they had to walk or be carried back up the 98 steps leading to the school. In hindsight my first impression of the project and the school was that I would never cope, teaching in a new language would be classed impossible by many of my old school teachers but with the help of the staff and the amazing Spanish teachers it was made possible. My overall impression of the project is that the work they undergo is really beneficial for the community and the children and really shows how hard the project managers, the volunteers and the interns work in bringing an education to the children within the community.

My time in Arequipa teaching was amazing! The kids were beautiful and I really loved coming to understand the work that GVI was doing there, as I didn’t know exactly too much about the projects...

Melanie Hunt, Australia

My time in Arequipa teaching was amazing! The kids were beautiful and I really loved coming to understand the work that GVI was doing there, as I didn’t know exactly too much about the projects before arriving. The work GVI are doing in the two schools (as well as in the tanking projects) in Arequipa is fantastic! Feeding the kids, providing for some of their practical needs, supporting their education, providing employment, helping maintain the school etc is wonderful and it’s great to think these kids have an opportunity to improve their futures. The team of volunteers and project coordinators were lovely to work with and I especially loved working one on one with a girl who had learning difficulties. For so long she’s been ignored and left to her own devices with nothing expected of her. Yet she had ability and just needed the correct attention and help for her to realise her potential. It was hard work working with her, but she was such a beautiful person and her smile and the joy she had in her being was a pleasure to encourage and experience. Overall, the work everyone was doing was inspiring and a great thing to be a part of. It’s great to think of the difference being made in the local community and that there can be a glimmer of hope for these children, struggling in an unfair world devastated by poverty. If only I could’ve stayed longer!

Many past volunteers have had amazing experiences traveling with GVI. Read what they have to say here.