Orphanages / teaching EnglishPatricia - Feb 08 Just a quick note to say that I had an amazing time in Peru at the Hogar Esperanza and to thank you so much for your support and help prior to going out. It was an amazing experience and truly humbling to see what a difference our time makes to people in less fortunate positions than ourselves. Helen was a great support to us when we were there, and I would love to do a similar type of project elsewhere for POD next year (or hopefully later this year!). It was very sad to say goodbye to the kids and older women in the safe house and also Carmen (who runs the Hogar). She is a truly inspiring woman and hugely committed to each and every person in the Hogar. All best to you and I really hope to stay in touch so I can do another project for you again this year! Rebecca - Oct 07 "Bye for now and thanks again Mike for everything this year. Peru and the whole experience has totally changed my world and I absolutely love it. POD have been just fab. Rebecca x" Jess - Sep 07 "The kids are so adorable and have all gotten used to having me around after a week, I look after the special needs kids quite a lot as they are a bit disruptive and although they have given us all a few bruises during tantrums they are good kids!
Daisy has been amazing taking us all out and about while getting to know Cusco and all us girls are having fun living together (reminds me of uni days)! * Based on your experience, would you recommend PoD / this placement to others?
Yes I already circulated interest among my friends and colleagues. Its a life changing experience to not just visit but live in a different country, work with the locals & help out in some small way. * What 3 tips would you give to a future volunteer doing this placement?
Learn ALOT of Spanish prior to coming to Peru, don\'t be scared by the horror stories about being mugged in Sth America just be more aware than you otherwise would, and enjoy every minute as its a once in a lifetime opportunity!! * Did the placement overall live up to expectations?
Exceeded my expectations * If you had to change one thing about the placement what would it be?
I would have stayed longer, next time I will definitely do a more prolonged stay in a country as I felt I had really settled in after 3 weeks." Claire - Oct 07 "I was going to email you anyway to tell you what a fantastic experience I have had. I was working at Kindergarten Lucerito which at first was a shock as they have no educational toys or resources and all the children do is work from a book which seems crazy to me being a teacher in the uk. With the money from PoD i created a sand area, water area, construction, bought all the children mini white boards. The director was keen to find out how things work in England and how they can change things there, so Helen and I set up a meeting with the teachers and I bought loads of stuff with me from home and we talked about how we teach children through play and interactive methods. They loved everything I gave them and I told them that I have people at home who want to help them. My school back in England is using Pudsy Bear children in need day to raise money for the kindergarten which is fab! Helen is going to continue to keep contact with Lucerito and help them to buy the resources once the money comes through (just to make sure it goes on resources and not bonuses for the staff!). I also want to say how fantastic Helen has been to me. She really cares about our volunteering and is always asking us about how its going. She wants to make a difference like I do. (and the trip to Chincheros was great!)" Sophie - Jul 07 "My two months volunteering and living in Cusco organised by PoD were truly fantastic. The volunteer placements were unforgettable and I made so many friends and had massive amounts of fun on the trek to Macchu Picchu and the rafting. The co-ordinator Daisy was a constant source of support and friendship which really made our time out there the best it could possibly be. PoD in Peru was good value for money as well as offering me the trip to Cusco that every traveller wants combined with useful and rewarding volunteer placements to give something back to an amazing country that gives many people such a great experience. *Communication / correspondence (before and after making an application)? Mike was wonderfully friendly and helpful, no complaints! *Quality and location of accommodation? The accommodation on the plaza de san blas was lovely and gorgeously located, I wouldn’t have wanted to live anywhere else in Cusco.
Your work placement The Casa Hogar de la Esperanzer by Miraflores in Cusco was new to PoD but i would highly recommend further placements there, it was one of the highlights of my trip working with the girls. The new co-ordinator Daisy was terrific, not only was she got at organising us and supporting us, she made our trips fantastic and was a great friend to have on our trip. * Quality of any PoD activities?
The Machu Picchu jungle trek was amazing, definitely one of the highlights of my trip. The white water rafting was very well organised and the guys from Eric Adventures made it really fun and safe. * Based on your experience, would you recommend PoD / this placement to others? Why?
Yes, it has a great mix of well organised placements that actually make use of volunteers and has the good support system of having a co-ordinator out there is a really valuable resource." Sarah - Jul 07 "Thanks ever so much for enabling me to go to Peru. Your organisation is absolutely fantastic and I had a brilliant time. This was largely due to Daisy. She is wonderful, extremely adept at organising activities for her volunteers to do, willing to realise any desire that we might have and always ready to share her life and friends with us so that we might be fully immersed in Cusco life and feel welcome. I never felt lonely with Daisy, she was unbelievably caring and devoted to her job and ensuring that we had the best time possible. I can't think of a better staff person you could possibly have and I am left with fantastic memories both of her and Peru.
Give her a pay rise!!!! Thank you ever so much again, I will certainly recommend your organisation to my travelling friends, All the best" Max - Jan 07 "ok about my trip. When i arrived i Cusco i was really excited and when we got to the house with Tessa got shown around. the house was really cool it was great living there, the loos were a bit of a problem at times getting blocked and the showers went cold every now and again but you need to expect that. Mined you, I did join a new gym that had just opened in avenue de sol which had the nicest hot showers ever! I arrived with Mel and Caroline arrived a few days later. I did my first week at the Spanish school and then decided to do a second week, which did help." "I worked in the all boys orphanage and loved it. I helped in the class with homework, did things around the orphanage like pealing spuds and also did lots of activities like, swimming, cooking, arts and crafts, wood work, and sports. The orphanage asks you to think of things you would like to do with the children but you will have to pay for them, although what ever I did like swimming would only be a couple of pounds. I loved working here and felt very welcomed. I worked here for three months and found it very hard to leave. I also worked in the all girls orphanage three times a week in the afternoons. The girls orphanage went to school in the mornings and the boys went in the afternoons. I helped with home work with the girls and then they would make their local crafts so I didn’t do as many activity’s of my own. I was never very good at my Spanish so did fined it quite hard helping the children with their homework. I was also made to feel very welcome with the girls. And didn’t want to leave. I did take over to Cusco things like skipping ropes and things for arts and crafts. There are a lot of arts and crafts shops that I got a lot of things from. One thing I didn’t see over there which I took over was paper aeroplanes which the boys loved. I was told about Cusco and that you could buy every thing you could want or need whilst over there but I definitely over packed. I could of just packed a small rucksack and would have been fine. All the trips I did with PoD and by myself were definitely worth doing. Machu Picchu, where you need to climb waynapicchu just to be able to look down onto machu picchu. The trip to the manu Jungle with Crees learning centre which was great, everyone needs to go there with Crees. water rafting was cool. And Bolivia and the Floating Islands was a good trip for the weekend. I also went to see the Colca Canyon and got to Nasca to see the Nasca Lines also amazing. I stayed for four months to make sure I got around to places which was good advice from PoD. I did a lot of walking around cusco which is the best way to see the sights and to learn the area. Cusco is a beautiful place to live and very friendly.
You just need to be careful with your bags on your back and your pockets. I did feel at home when living in San Blas and found myself after a while calling our house home. This trip has been the best thing I have ever done and I learnt a lot from it. I would recommend doing something like this to everyone and to do it with PoD. I definitely want to do another trip like this again. The best thing I have ever done Many thanks to everyone at PoD that made my trip what it was" Georgina - Sep 05 "I just wanted to say that I had an AMAZING time in Cusco, I literally enjoyed every minute of it! The Machu Picchu trip and the rafting trip were excellent and the jungle trip was incredible - we had such a great time!" John - Jan 06 "I liked the idea of picking the placements in country, this differs a lot from other gap organisations but i feel pods style is better, there was no way I could of picked in the UK, even with the most detailed brief on all of the placements, its great just to go out and get a feel for the place. my time at the placement was great in both the personal development sense and also in the way it was just great fun, I meet some great people and did some amazing things. The only thing I would change is maybe packing a razor, but apart from that very little was less than perfect in the three and a half months i spent away." Beth - Jun 06 "PoD is value for money; the company is small enough that you feel looked after. All in all a memorable gap year for all the right reasons." Sarah - 06 "I wanted to say how good it was that Tessa was out there as a representative of PoD, she was really helpful and made my first few days there very easy by showing me round and providing me all the information I needed. Off the back of this positive experience I have decided to go forward with an application I am submitting to train as an educational psychologist." Lindsaye - 06 "In a nutshell Cusco was wonderful for me - I went without any expectations so I can't say it exceeded them, but I loved every minute (apart from when the toilet blocked and there was no water!!!)." Andy - 06 "Life in Chincheros is fantastic; everybody there is so friendly and helpful. Our English classes have become so popular half the village turns up!
I’m also starting to master the manly skill of weaving." Donna - Oct 06 "The pre departure pack was very useful! It gave me lots of information that would have been pretty much impossible to find out prior to travelling. *Was the work placement what you expected?
That’s a hard question because my expectations came from absolutely no experience in anything like this so off course they were different but not necessarily in a negative way. The staff were less interactive and supportive than I expected but really they have other things to be worrying about than all the volunteers that come and go. Maybe I expected a bit more babysitting but that wasn’t really the point of this experience and I definitely got more from having to initiate and deal with things by myself. It was definitely more emotional than I expected, especially when spending 6 hours a day with such young babies who start to get used to you being there. Seeing new babies come in was hard and we also had one baby pass away just before Christmas which was very sad. I did start to think is this the right to be doing, just one of many that will come and then leave the poor babies lives, but you do quickly get into the swing of things and do as much as you can for them." Donna - Oct 06 “Happy New Year!!! Hope everyone had a fantastic xmas and exciting new year!
A big thank you to all those that have donated money at some point to me and made my work at the orphanage and to the street kids of Cusco possible. It has been one of the most amazing experiences in my life so far, I have seen and learnt so much more than I ever could have imagined, felt every emotion possible and realised things about myself i never knew and all in the space of 2 months. Everyday here has it`s own story or a moment that made me appreciate how lucky I really am or we all are at home.
After thinking about all the best ways to spend the extra money donated and speaking to Elena (the lady that owns the hostel) we opted to give as many street kids a little bit of christmas as possible. In cusco every xmas eve they hold a huge market in the square when all the poor families come down from the mountains and sell anything they possibly can arts and crafts, herbs or just sit and beg making the most of all the tourists. They sleep on the streets come rain or shine to make sure they get the best spots and here when the craziness begins. They have absolutely nothing and black from head to toe!
Elena and I worked out how much we had in total and went on a mad shopping trip for sweets, toys, chocolate, milk, biscuits and Panatone (a traditional cake handmade and served over xmas in Cusco) we had enough for 500 goody bags and a huge vat of yummy hot chocolate! We also had enough money to buy my babies at the orpahange a new cd player and baby cds like Barney etc. which would have made my 6 hours a day with them slighly more fun. They love music and the player they had nearly got thrown out of the window several times after spending 20 minutes to get a cd to play.
A 5am start for me on xmas eve after a day of putting bags together although poor Augusto (another guy that works at the hostel) had been up all night preparing for what I was told was going to be a crazy hour. I`m walking down the street to the hostel where we would be serving it from and could not believe how many children were already there waiting! How the hell did they know? Augusto had told one security guard in the night and he had told just 2 children!!! It was fantastic and after blackmailing all my friends to help we had a good team to stamp the kiddies hands and keep the queue orderly although this was not easy, also trying to explain to the adults why they couldn`t have anything was funny, my spanish still being on the slightly non existent side.” I would just like to finish with a big thank you to all of those that helped in anyway with my placement at PoD. It has definitely been a fantastic experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life and share with many people. "Another big thank you to everyone at PoD that helped me last year. You're doing amazing work for the people in the countries you work in and also giving people like me the opportunity to do something we never felt would be possible. I'll always recommend you where I can." Sarah - 06
"I wanted to say how good it was that Tessa was out there as a representative of PoD, she was really helpful and made my first few days there very easy by showing me round and providing me all the information I needed. Off the back of this positive experience I have decided to go forward with an application I am submitting to train as an educational psychologist." John - 06 "I liked the idea of picking the placements in-country, this differs a lot from other gap organisations but I feel PoD’s style is better. There was no way I could have picked in the UK, even with the most detailed brief on all of the placements, it’s great just to go out and get a feel for the place." Cristina - 06
"The best way of learning about the placement was to be actually out there (obviously). I think it's really important to have at least a week to settle in and get used to the city, as well as to take a look at some of the possible placements and get to know the rest of the group. The crash course in teaching was absolutely essential and really useful, even if just to get you in the right frame of mind." Georgina - 05
"I just wanted to say that I had an AMAZING time in Cusco, I literally enjoyed every minute of it! The Machu Picchu trip and the rafting trip were excellent and the jungle trip was incredible - we had such a great time!" Paul - 05
"After such an amazing experience in Peru, it really opened my eyes, made me realise alot of things, so I've got my head down, went to do my a-levels, now I'm at university in Manchester studying business." Amazon jungle conservation Lucie - Jul 06 "The MLC and everything involved in the Manu Learning centre was an incredible experience and I learnt so much whilst out there. All of the staff were so friendly and supportive as well. Thank you so much for the opportunity - I really had an amazing time." Danni - Apr 07 "I feel I have put a lot into the last 6 weeks at the MLC and feel like I have learnt a lot and met some fantastic people. I value my time here and believe I have got out of it what I wanted and more so. The work here is very valuable and I would lastly like to thank Crees and all the staff here for providing me with the opportunity to work here and for making it an amazing and indescribable experience." Lucinda - May 07 "* If you had to change one thing about the placement what would it be?
I would have stayed longer! * Did the placement overall live up to expectations?
Definitely. It was one of those experiences that I will happily never forget. The placement was awe-inspiring, and the people were great, I had such a brilliant time. * Based on your experience, would you recommend PoD / this placement to others? Why?
I have already done, and will continue to do so. I thought that everyone involved in the application and placement process were friendly, knowledgeable and helpful, and really helped make my experience what it was; a totally unforgettable placement. * What 3 tips would you give to a future volunteer doing this placement?
Bring plenty of bite cream and bug spray - it really helps..
Try everything, don’t just specialise in one thing - you discover so much more!
Take PLENTY of socks, they will get destroyed by the general climate in wellington-booted-amazonian walks. * Any other comments?
I just wanted to say thank you again, I really appreciated the help and advice you gave me. Good luck for the future!" Alison - Oct 07 "Made it home safe & had to sleep in peace & quiet – no frogs, cicadas & birds which was very strange! I had a fantastic time. Everyone was great, staff & volunteers. The work was mainly fun & interesting but we have given them more feedback on individual projects. The parrots were amazing!
Thank you for organising a great placement & all the support & reassurances you gave me before I went." Neil - 06 "Volunteering for CREES offered the chance to help with the conservation of the area whilst knowing that a lot of the money made is inputted back into the native communities, unlike some volunteer organisations. PoD were very helpful and enthusiastic in organising my project, and I hope to travel with them again soon! By far the best part of the project for me was the mammal census, involving trekking through the jungle with sightings including Woolley monkeys, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, peccaries and jaguarondi, plus many kinds of birds, lizards, snakes and insects. My time spent at the Manu Learning Centre was incredible and provided a great insight into living in a jungle environment. The accommodation was better than could be imagined considering the location, and our daily routine and expedition gave plenty of opportunity for learning about the area, helping to conserve the rainforest, trying out local cuisine and swimming in Amazon tributaries! Value for money was very good - looking at other projects, PoD was cheaper and included more. The placement was more enjoyable than I could have imagined and I have no complaints!" |
Testimonials 
