My interest in this trip began back in October or November when I became friends with Leah. She's a 3rd year here at UBCO and we decided to collaborate on the creation of the World Vision club on campus. She was leading this trip to Peru and we thought we could promote it as an international volunteering experience through the club. We have gotten to be very close friends since then. Also, she gets all photo credit for the Peruvian pictures in this post.
I hadn't heard too much about Developing World Connections before this. I did my Ghana trip through Lattitude Canada and it is a bit different from that. Our project will be four weeks. We will be working in partnership with an organization called IFEJANT.
"IFEJANT promotes child participation by working with young people to enhance their ability to assert their rights - social, political and most recently, economic. IFEJANT's work has focused on the right to work and earn an income with youth themselves to lobby for legislative reforms that will keep the work of young people visible".
Our work will be done at a school in a small town, just outside of Lima. Leah went on this trip last year and worked at the same school. Last year, she built washrooms, painted classrooms, did odd jobs to help out and worked with the kids. We will be doing similar services this year.
In order to go on another trip, I needed to figure out my funding. I applied to the Irving K. Barber School International Educational Travel Subsidy in early November. This was an 8 page application, where you had to outline itinerary, budget, qualifications and how this experience will benefit myself and the school as a whole. I also had to get a professor to sponsor me. It was a pretty long process but I was one of 4 who won. I have almost 2/3's of my trip paid for and when I return, I will get to make presentations to students.
The remainder of the costs have been covered by my job as a Residence Advisor, which I got in December. Also, money from my birthday.
Flights were booked in early March. We are flying out on May 5th in the evening and we will arrive in Lima early on the 7th after a long layover in the Toronto airport. We will have a month of working on the project and then 6 of us will split off and fly to Cuzco for 2 days and then begin our 4 day Lares trek through the mountains en route to Machu Picchu. We are going with a company called Llama Path, Leah did the same trek last year. We will experience the Andean forest, see the peaks of various mountains, go to a hot springs, and finally arrive at Machu Picchu.
It's going to be an incredible adventure. I am really looking forward to seeing another part of the world, especially because I've always been so focused on Africa. Lima sounds much more Westernized than Senya was in Ghana but we will have a nice contrast between our home at the hostel in Lima and our work site in a much more rural place.
In the next month, I will need to be checking in with a travel doctor although most of my Ghana vaccinations should cover everything, I will need altitude sickness medication for our trek. I will also need to be focusing on budgeting my money for the few expenses that are left and getting things organized for packing, especially since I leave for my summer job in Quebec 2 days after I get home from Peru.
Until then, it's back to the books for exams!
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