Volunteers Travel to Peru to Give Service

photo: Jim Speth

Volunteers give their time and their hearts to help children and families in the mountains above Cuzco, Peru. Upon returning home, they are enthusiastic about their experiences.


Many volunteers state that they are changed for life. 

Join us on one of our 2011 Travel-Service Trips. A large portion of your travel costs may be tax deductible.

For more information about our mission and sustainability projects, visit www.heartwalkfoundation.org

All of the members of our group were overwhelmed with the experiences of the trip.  In my seven years of doing humanitarian work, this has been the best.    --Ted D.

We were able to do so much while there! I’m excited to go back…TOMORROW!!!!   -- Katrina S.

I have a sense that the world is a better place because of what I participated in. -- Jim S.

It was a life-changing experience for me. I sure came home pumped! I came back from Peru an entirely different person. Peru is beautiful: great people, super food, and many wonderful ruins – and not just Machu Picchu!       -- Karen C.

photo: Jim Speth

Our experience has been awesome. For me the proudest moment was when the people in the village asked me to put in the first stone for the foundation of the baños (bathrooms) and asked our group to each put in the first shovels of mud. We were able to paint the entire school, fix the walls on the back and side, and varnish the doors. It does not look like the same school. …an amazing experience. --Ted D.

 What an incredible group! I loved getting to know each and every individual that was with us.  -- Katrina S.

It is important to try to help, but also to leave them to enjoy their simple life.  The interaction I had with the children was really wonderful.  I really soaked in the sights and smells and sounds. That was a very spiritual experience for me.   --Kermit E.

Volunteers Travel to Peru to Assist Q’ero Tribes  
 Read about our projects in the villages:   www.HeartWalkFoundation.org

"An incredible, amazing experience" --Vicki Baldwin

Five volunteers visited Heart Walk projects in October, where they assisted with making plant-based medicines, sewed diapers, painted a chalkboard for a primary class, and taught games to school children. They gave their time to native Peruvian people, and their own hearts have been changed forever.

"It was a fantastic trip," said Elizabeth Smith. "The indigenous people were wonderful. They live a plain, simple life that we haven't known -- like living without santitation. Their life is hard." She noted that the indigenous people "keep their families together, and they work hard." Elizabeth was also impressed with their ability to keep their culture going. 

Service trips can have big impacts on volunteers. Ryan Baldwin stated that his experience of giving service "is amazing. We're going back in March. That's what inspired me to go back. I discovered I took everything for granted before I went to Peru. I'm so grateful. Now I am a lot happier."   



Earlene Cox especially appreciated “all the personal interaction” with indigenous people.“That was heartfelt.” She stated that she feels “very humble and very grateful. They have so little and we have so much.”

Volunteers often say they receive more than they give. Heart Walk Foundation believes that all of us can learn  more wholeness, balance, and harmony from native communities.

"They are an unbelievable people. And I'm sure they have an unbelievable story to tell," remarked Ted Dodge.  He recognizes the sensitivity required to help traditional communities without pulling them away from the strengths of their cultural traditions. Giving people hope for their children and grandchildren requires assistance with sustainable economic and community development, not simple charity.

Elizabeth learned how urgently the native people "want to send their children to school."  The group visited one of the schools supported by Heart Walk Foundation at Huecco Uno, which lies about 4 hours from Cuzco on the eastern side of the Andes Range. Since Heart Walk Foundation began opening schools, the government has begun to fund the salaries of several of the teachers.  Until recently, the government had not provided any education services at all to many of the isloated Q'ero communities.    

       

The travel-service group crossed the Continental Divide at an altitude of 17,000 feet to reach the little rural school at Huecco Uno that serves 32 children ages 5 to 12 in two small classrooms.  As more children enroll each year, there is need for more classrooms, more materials, and more teachers.

Preparing for the trip to South America, the five travelers filled huge suitcases with donated school supplies, educational games, and newborn kits. They presented the materials to the teachers, and they taught the children how to play the games that they brought.  These generous people traveled far to reach out across cultures to share our common desire for a stable, meaningful, and sustainable life. In a land of scarcity, the five volunteers brought abundance – in their hearts as well as in their luggage.

Are you interested in joining a future service trip?

A large portion of your travel costs may be tax deductible.

Contact:    info [at] heartwalkfoundation.org    
or   contact us through the link to to the right

"Who are these people?

I don't know, but they are my people."

---Pablo Naruda