WHY CHOOSE THIS TRIP?
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
All Quest Sabbaticals development projects have been carefully selected to provide the maximum positive impact on the communities where we work. Long-term partnerships with grassroots organisations, built to create short, medium and long term goals for each project guarantee that every team makes a lasting difference.
South America is well known for its classic models of rural migration. Millions of people over the years have gravitated to the cities in search of a better life or because they had become marginalized in their traditional areas of work and life. Peru is no exception; with a population of 25 million plus, over 8 million live in the capital Lima.
This influx is not easy for city authorities to control and the government is forced to grant property rights to all who set up in the desert outskirts of the city. Villa Maria was a district settled in by migrants in the 1970’s and is a mere half an hour from the centre of the city. Today Villa Maria has a population of about 700,000 people making it one of the largest shanty-towns in the world.
Villa Maria is QUEST’s longest running project with nearly ten years under its belt. The project focuses on improving the lives of children and families within the communities of Villa Maria. During school holidays the project offers the children a much-needed programme of cultural and recreational activities and during term time it offers educational support to build bonds within communities whilst helping to prevent them from becoming victims of poverty and drug abuse. The project has now been extended to include the construction of simple, pre-fabricated houses for some of Villa Maria’s most needy families.
THE PROBLEM
Life is hard in Villa Maria and people scrape a living by any means possible - be it endless hours of working in a factory for a pittance, driving taxis or selling stolen goods. This creates a social problem in the fact that children and young people are neglected and are often left to look after themselves. This leads to temptations of alcohol, substance abuse and violence. What they require is some attention and focus for their free time to guide them away from such dangers.
The Villa Maria project was instigated by a Peruvian anti-drugs Non Governmental Organisation called CEDRO (Centro de información y educación para la prevención del abuso de drogas), and was set up by Alejandro Menendez, who was CEDRO’s main contact for the Villa Maria district, in the early 1990s. Alejandro began his work with teenagers who had already become victims of drug abuse and the project was working to rehabilitate them and provide them with grants to study a trade. Although funding was focused towards teenagers in trouble, Alejandro tried to dedicate part of his time working with younger children on more of a preventative programme.
Alejandro saw the need for projects that worked with children before they became involved in drugs, or ended up on the streets, a project that could provide alternative activities for young, bored children. Unfortunately CEDRO simply did not have the funding to target this population, and this is where QUEST came in. A simple project was devised, to offer young children (5-12 years old) within various communities of Villa Maria, a basic programme of summer activities. Typically such activities cover sports, arts & crafts and, most popular of all, swimming. From the offset QUEST recognised that fulfilling such a mandate would require both volunteers and funds, and so each volunteer makes a significant financial contribution to the Project (£680 for 4 weeks). It is this combination of volunteers and funds that has allowed what was a good idea to grow into a long-term, sustainable and very worthwhile project.
As the years have passed and the project has grown, so have the relationships with the communities themselves. This in turn gives the project greater scope and potential, and we have been able to work alongside the communities to establish where the greatest areas of need are, and how our (and your) support can best be focused. One particular area of need is that of providing adequate housing for some of the more disadvantaged families within the communities. Each community rallies round to give support to the poorest families in the area (generally abandoned single mothers with many children) but of course the amount of support they can provide is limited. This is where YOU come in.
THE SOLUTION
People who come to Villa Maria with literally nothing are forced to find an area to build a shelter, making it with any spare piece of material available – cardboard, plywood, plastic - anything to help keep out the elements. In time, the Peruvian government will help by granting the family title deeds to the land they are on, but there is no support to actually help them improve the home itself.
A wooden pre-fabricated house with room for 4 people can be constructed in 1-2 weeks, depending on the number of people working on it, and costs around £500 for the materials, as well as installing electricity and water. This is the work you will primarily be involved in during this project. In addition to the construction work, you’ll help to organise ‘Domingos Familiares’, which are fun days for families from the surrounding communities, take part in dance workshops and help with games and activities for the children of Villa Maria.
Living in the QUEST school building in Villa Maria, you will work together with local staff to design, build and finally install these houses for the families as selected by the local community heads. The local support staff will be able to train you in all the skills needed to get the work done, but any previous experience in construction of any type will be a huge help. This is a spectacularly simple but extremely effective project, and your contribution will give much needed and quality shelter to some of the poorest families in the community.
While the focus of the work will be the construction of homes, the children’s project carries on all year round and you will no doubt be involved in help at the school, during the after school sports and dance clubs and even possibly on the stage and dressed up as a clown on one of Villa Maria’s famous ‘Family Sunday’ shows!
WHAT HELP IS REQUIRED AND PAST ACHIEVEMENTS
Construction Projects
This project begun in May 2007 and at the time of writing, in August 2007, three homes have been completed, whilst two more are in the process of being built. One of the families was a mother with two albino children, who could not be exposed to the sun for long periods of time. This home has improved their quality of life more than words can describe. Your focus will be helping in the construction of these simple but effective homes for those who need them most.
In addition to this, each year's Combined teams also get involved in small-scale infrastructure projects. Past projects include Villa Maria’s only cinema, a completely refurbished and secure playground and assault course in the complex, repainting, re-roofing and repaving parts of the complex, and repainting a number of kindergarten communities.
Summer Activities Programme
QUEST has established a timetable of activities over the Peruvian summer holidays. Children from various communities send their children to the to take part in a range of games, sports and swimming pool visits.
Dance Groups
QUEST has been supporting a children’s dance group called Arcoiris del Amor made up of and run by children from Villa Maria. In return for costumes, sound systems and other props for performances, the group has agreed to put on a weekly show for the whole of Villa Maria every Sunday, known as Domingos Familiares. When students are there, they also take part in the shows.
Parades, Fetes and Fashion Shows
Teams of volunteers and Peruvian staff have put on dozens of events for the communities, which they would never normally have the chance to see.
Pre-school QUEST
In March 2003, we opened a pre-school in one of the communities in Villa Maria for parents who cannot afford to send their children to regular pre-schools. Whilst the education system in Peru is meant to provide free government funded pre-school for all children, it is nowhere near big enough to accommodate all of them. As a result, there are many private pre-schools which, although not over-expensive, are beyond the reach of most in Villa Maria.
Year Round Clubs
Football and volleyball clubs, dance classes, musical instrument classes, a break dance club and many others.
WHERE?
You will live in the heart of Villa Maria, shopping in the local markets and experiencing the realities of life in a shanty town.