Volunteers Abroad Reviews and Feedbacks

I came to Cusco on December 23 and stayed for three weeks.  During this time I stayed with my house mom Karem, and two other volunteers.  I worked with the kids at the Clinica  in the mornings, and the Street kids center in the evenings.  I am so happy that I chose to come to Cusco, because I love the city and I don´t think I could have had better house mates.  The city here is so full of life, and I found everyone to be very friendly.  Before I left everyone warned me that it might not be safe for me traveling along, but I never once felt uncomfortable or unsafe in the city.  It is so easy to get around, most anything you could need is in walking distance, and if you do want to take a cab they are everywhere and very inexpensive.  I had a chance to visit some of the historical places around the city as well, the archaeological sites outside of Cusco were great, and so close to the city.  Of course i had the opportunity to visit Sacred Vally and Machu Picchu, which was absolutely amazing.  The city of Cusco is full of travelers from all over the world, and weekends were great for going out and meeting all kinds of people.

My volunteer work here was also so much better than I was expecting, though I didn´t really know what to expect.  Working with the kids at the Clinic was great.  It is hard work, only because most of the kids have disabilities and need a lot of help moving and playing.  But all they really want to do is play and have fun, and they truly do need your help.  The volunteers there take the kids outside, to the park, and help the eat lunch.  All of the children are so happy just to see you there in the morning, and even in my short amount of time here I made some great relationships with the children, and It was wonderful to come in, in the morning and have them great you with a big smile.  My other volunteer job was at the Street Children center, which is a place for children who live and work on the streets to come and just get to be children for a small amount of time.  Its great because the kids there are so active and friendly, they weren´t shy at all to come up to me when I first arrived and in there best English ask me where I was from, my name, and how old I was.

The kids vary in ages from very young, to around 16.  We would take them to the park, which was great because there is so much to do there, and the children absolutely love it.  When the weather wasn´t permitting we would stay in the building and hang out with the kids weather it was drawing, playing hand clapping games, or just talking to all of them.  At the end of my days I was absolutely exhausted, but I loved it because it´s was so great to feel like I was actually making these kids´lives a little bit better, even if my time and attention was all I had to give.
During my stay I lived with Karem, in her apartment and three other girls.  I feels so blessed to be put here with these people because Karem and the other girls Katy and Meagan were brilliant, hilarious, and reallly made me feel at home.  I thought I might get a little home sick while I was here, but I felt so comfortable with my Cusco family that I never felt lonely.  It was great because we had fun no matter what we did, whether it be going out for a night in the square, or just saying home watching a movie.  Even if you come alone, there are so many great volunteers here that are in the same situations it is easy to make friends.  The people I have met here will continue to be my friends and in my thoughts for the rest of my life.  I thought I might be very excited to leave Cusco, but as I write this final reflection I am very sad to leaving everything here behind.  Not only my friends, but my house mother Karem, the kids that I worked with, and the city of Cusco.  My experience here was better than I ever expected, and I really can´t wait until I have the opportunity to do more volunteer work.  It was an amazing experience and I wouldn´t trade anything about it.
Cheers, Danita