Volunteer experiences

Although ‘founding RESPONS’ may be an overstated job description for building and creating content for the RESPONS website during one month, being so closely involved in the dynamic ‘birth’ of this organisation DID feel like contributing to the foundation of RESPONS. In March 2009 we daily set up office in California Café in Huaraz (which in fact just involved turning laptops on), since by then the RESPONS office was still ‘under construction’. Enjoying the best coffee and teas in town, we bit by bit mastered the content management programme, adding pictures and developing texts for the different web pages.

Of course, we wouldn’t be able to write content for the website if we hadn’t undergone the RESPONSible tourism experience ourselves. So we stayed for 3 days at a Vicos homestay, and don’t regret it a bit. The fantastic scenery, welcoming host family, unique experience of preparing and consuming a traditional Pachamanca were overwhelming.

Week 3, 16 – 20 March 2009

T

his week we started in the college on Monday. Our new computer classroom needed a total make-over. There wasn´t any electricity installation and even a few windows were broken or missing. We fixed new windows and made a hole (with primitive equipment) in the corner for electricity cables. We connected the cables, which get the energy from another block, lead them over the roof and entered the room. These were the first steps fixing the security and electricity in our new computerroom!

During the week we slept at Julio´s place; also a beautiful house and ´just´ a half-an-hour-walk! His wife has a very primitive restaurant, so we´ve eaten very tasty!

The next day we went to give some English classes to primary school. Our Spanish grows by the minute and the children loved it. While walking through Vicos, a lot of our students screwed ´good morning´, ´hello´ and ´bye´: they booked advance too!

D

ear fellow travellers,

Let’s introduce ourselves first. We are Erwin and Maarten, both graduated teachers, and are currently involved in volunteer work in the Vicos community. We are working on a primary and secondary school for one month, which is a period we chose ourselves. During the week we are in Vicos and sleep in a hostfamily, which is very cool. We feel one with Vicos’ culture and enjoy their hospitality. We spend the weekends in Huaraz, preparing project activities (preparing classes, in our case), but also to relax of course!

Week 1, 1 - 5 March 2009
The first week consisted of preparing our work. In the beginning of the week Pablo and Guido took us to Vicos to identify the greatest needs in the primary and secondary school.