Kids Explorers (Scouts) in the Peruvian Amazon
Highlights
- Explore the Amazon jungle while supporting us in our Boy Scouts program!
- Enjoy the pure nature of the Amazon!
- Visit indigenous communities, caves, streams of crystalline waters, a boiling river and more!
- Discover the benefits of Ayahuasca, the medicine of the soul!
- Dare to live an experience for a lifetime!
Overview
Our Kids Explorer Program is a holistic program focusing on environmental education and social integration of local kids. During the week volunteers will offer different workshops to teach ways to safe the environment and during the weekend volunteers and staff members will take the kids on small camping trips into the rainforest.
Our ‘Explorer’ kids program (scouts) is another strategy that we are developing to give a new perspective of life to this Amazonian community. Our vision is to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children by creating a safe environment for healthy physical, social, and emotional development. We want to encourage a passion and respect for the natural world to help transition eager young minds into caring, socially-conscious global citizens. Through connection with nature we can nurture a better understanding of the environment while improving their interpersonal skills with one another and other adults.
This trips need to be well prepared such as packing equipment, informing the kids about risks and rules and sharing out tasks. During the trip volunteers not only assist us with supervising the kids, but also introducing games for social interaction and group connection. Another focus will be nature education. Therefore, we are not asking volunteers to have the specific knowledge about Amazonian animals and plants, but together with the kids ask curious questions and search for answers. Ideas could be: to make research diaries with photos, sketches and data or to start making a herbarium (press leaves and label them), experimenting with filtering river water, making fire by friction with sticks or stones, etc. The idea behind this is to protect what your love.
Volunteers will be trained to develop hands on ideas for different workshop such as paper making, upcycling art, building compost, making paints out of soil and flower or guiding discussion groups about global environmental problems. After this training volunteers are welcome to work independently in small groups with our students. Volunteers are welcome to develop their own ideas. There will be regular staff meeting to exchange ideas and to report the progress. Volunteers will also receive first aid training.
We are also starting a reforestation project in areas damaged by mining and illegal logging and, we will need volunteers to make this possible.
There are many ways our volunteers can benefit from this cultural exchange:-
1. We are able to offer volunteers up to 4 hours per week of Spanish language coaching. Our Spanish professor is committed to helping volunteers improve their grammar, vocabulary and speaking skills in a real-life environment.
2. Volunteers will be welcomed into the community where they can witness and take part in the region’s customs and traditions, where people live happily despite their limitations and lack of modern-world facilities. You can develop new friendships and learn how to talk and interact with people from another culture, whilst learning how to adapt to a new environment and different way of living. Our vision is to build relationships, promoting a mutual understanding of respect and values.
3. We are happy to organize trips to local attractions and, of course, into the rainforest, where we can introduce our volunteers to the incredible flora and fauna of our beautiful Peruvian Amazon and also share some fascinating jungle legend stories! We organize weekend camps and explore the jungle.
4. And if you like food, you will have the opportunity to learn how to cook some of the amazing Peruvian dishes with the help of our project chef!! Buen provecho!
Important Information
Who we are:
We are a growing project working for the economic and social development of the less privileged communities in the Peruvian Amazon (Puerto Inca, Huanuco, Peru). Approximately 90% of the population in Puerto Inca lives without access to basic needs such as, running water, sewage and paved roads. However, Puerto Inca, has the potential to be an ecotouristic province. We believe that creating an infrastructure for sustainable ecotourism can help to develop these communities. For this reason, we started this project in June 2018, putting a lot of our hearts and energy into it.
What we do? – Mission & Vision
We focus on education, environment, ecotourism and cultural exchange. We believe that working together with these communities in developing different skills for its people and creating new job opportunities, not only will help to reduce poverty but to reduce activities that are damaging the environment such as, logging and gold mining with strong contaminating chemicals. We want to give opportunities to the community to change and care for their environment like having other ways to earn money instead of destroying the Amazon rainforest.
Protecting the Amazon should be a global commitment because of its incalculable biological and ecological value.
Where we work?
We are situated in Puerto Inca, Huanuco, Peru. Puerto Inca is the largest of eleven provinces of the Huánuco Region. It is a Province as well as a district. It is located in the central Amazon of Peru at an altitude of 330 meters above sea level. It is one of the most biodiverse places in the world. This province is also home of different indigenous communities such as, the ethnicities Ashaninka, Yanesha and Shipibo-Cacataibo. An Austrian-German Community can also be found in Puerto Inca.
Puerto Inca is a very peaceful place. Visitors can walk around the village at any time without any problem.
Goals:
One of our mid-term goals is to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children by creating a safe environment for healthy physical, social, and emotional development. We want to encourage a passion and respect for the natural world to help transition eager young minds into caring, socially-conscious global citizens. Through a connection with nature, we can nurture a better understanding of the environment whilst improving their interpersonal skills with one another and other adults.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for motivated people who are not only eager to teach others but who are willing together with the students to look at different perspectives, finding solutions, trying new things and developing ideas in a team. Especially for “our Kids Explorer” and “Teaching English” programs we would like volunteers to independently run short workshops. Therefore we are looking for volunteers who have an interest in different topics such as arts and crafts, music and drama, environment protection, DIY and repair workshops, animals, plants or taking photos and making videos and enthusiastically pass on their personal passion. All volunteers are role models for their home culture, their behavior and their way of problem solutions. We would like volunteers to keep this in mind and also to not judge other ways of thinking and acting, instead using open and critical discussions.