What inspired you to work for Vive Peru?
My professional training has allowed me to work in similar organizations, with a high sense of solidarity and social justice based on strengthening the capacities of community members to access their rights in health and education. Working in Vive Perú allows me to feel that my work has an impact on the people and communities in which we intervene and that is very satisfying.
Describe a typical day at work.
My work is based on before, during and after the arrival of our volunteers. I usually coordinate many meetings to organize the work schedule, many calls, paperwork and visits to the work sites. During the stay of the volunteers the schedule is executed respecting the previously coordinated activities. My work is 70% field and 30% office.
Why do you do what you do?
Because I feel satisfied with the results of my work, and that motivates me to achieve better results and replicate successful experiences in other communities that need them. Sharing the problems of the communities in Peru with foreign volunteers, analyzing these problems from a global perspective allows us to propose better strategies and that's great.
Volunteers & staff from arriving at the community fair to promote healthy habits in Señor de los Milagros, Trujillo.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Design and implement training workshops with local leaders, health personnel, authorities, etc. Coordinating with the different institutions and creating connections is the most interesting part of my job and has allowed me to develop personally and professionally. At the same time I am able to share knowledge and experiences with the foreign volunteers.
How do you use your education and international background in your current role?
My experience with participatory methodologies in training workshops has allowed me to explain and make known the uses and customs of the communities in which we intervene so that the strategies we apply can have positive impacts and thus have the acceptance and mutual learning between foreign volunteers and community members.
What challenges do you often face and how do you overcome them?
The cultural clash between our volunteers and the communities is a continuous teaching and learning experience both in the community work and in their daily routine in the city. We continually update cultural orientations, survival guides, such as safe places to visit, safe places to eat, transportation, etc. As well as the social and political situation of our country.
What are some current projects you are working on?
In Vive Perú we are working on the replication of the health project to reduce anemia and parasites in children under 5 years of age in another community. We hope to achieve the same or better results than in the previous community, by strengthening the capacities of local leaders and improving the quality of care in health centers.
Here you can see the Community Medical Campaign in action! It feels good to make a positive difference.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Check the weather and bring outfits for all occasions, usually our volunteers travel on weekends and the weather is very different in each region of our country, so I recommend that you take into account the places you want to visit. I also recommend that you install the whatsapp application, because in Peru it is the most used communication medium and it is easier and faster to locate you.
What makes Vive Peru special?
We are an organization with a high sense of solidarity, like many others, however we seek a sustainable impact on the communities in which we intervene, based on capacity building of community members and strengthening their link with the different state institutions. In this sense we train our volunteers to understand the social and cultural dynamics and to be able to actively participate in our projects, their ideas, proposals and research are always welcome in our organization.
Why should someone choose Vive Peru over competitors?
If you are looking for an organization that fosters scientific research, social, public health, and global education and seeks to have an active participation in the design of sustainable impact strategies, our organization offers you the opportunity to learn and work actively and participate in the execution of our development projects.
What hopes do you have for the future for Vive Peru?
I hope that our organization will have a greater number of volunteers who are the ones who make possible the execution of our projects and thus continue to replicate the project in other communities either in Trujillo or in districts with greater needs. I hope that our organization has more allies such as public and private institutions that allow us to have more sustainable work.
Are there any developments with Vive Peru that you would like to share with us?
Last year we successfully completed the evaluation of the health project in the Señor de los Milagros community in Trujillo, we measured the indicators of anemia and parasites in children under 5 years and indicators of healthy families, after 2 years of lockdown due to the pandemic of COVID 19, because during that period, we had no presence in the community, however the results remain with very low rates. This year we started the replication of this project in the district of Salaverry and we hope to achieve similar results.
What makes Vive Peru easy to market to potential participants?
Our organization has alliances with some universities in the United States so that they can develop volunteer work and do research. We also have alliances with public institutions such as the health management of our region, health centers, local governments such as municipalities and private and public universities. Our achievements are shared with these institutions who give legitimacy to our interventions.
As part of our cultural orientation, our volunteers have access to tours of the city's main cultural and natural attractions.
How is Vive Peru handling Covid protocols? What should participants know about your Covid readiness? How are you assisting participants with navigating the new travel landscape?
Our organization is aligned with the protocols established by the Ministry of Health of our country, we have informed our volunteers about traveling with the full doses of vaccination, our host families are also prepared if a case of covid occurs in their home and they have with their protocols.
What is Vive Peru's mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Vive Peru is a non-profit organization registered in Peru and the United States, dedicated to fostering an understanding of Latin American and Peruvian culture and providing much needed assistance to Peruvian communities. We work to promote cultural understanding and implement innovative and self-sustaining programs in the areas of health, education and social outreach.
Our volunteers are an integral part of our work strategy in Peru.
Their time, energy, creativity and fundraising efforts make our programs possible, and the relationships they establish with communities in Peru are signs that programs like these not only support development but are also shaping future generations with a deeper appreciation of other cultures.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
I hope that our volunteers not only take with them the experience and satisfaction of making an impact in the communities where we work, but also that they can have a more global view of the structural problems of our country, and in general of South America, and thus apply it to their personal and professional lives. As an institution we provide all the facilities for those volunteers who wish to learn at a global level.
How do you help support participants?
During the recruitment process of foreign volunteers, our organization offers different informative conferences, regarding the experience we offer as a volunteer program and at the same time we maintain constant personalized communication before their arrival to know their priorities and the activities they want to focus on, as well as what they want to learn, so that we can design a schedule that fits their needs.
If you could participate in one of your Vive Peru's programs, where would you go and what would you do?
You can go to our website www.viveperu.org and apply to any of our volunteer programs, we have programs like; social work, public health, clinical medicine and teaching English, whether you have experience or not, our programs can be adjusted to your needs, they also have constant support from our coordinators. After receiving your application, we keep in touch via email with our coordinators. You can also learn about us on our social networks on facebook and instagram, we are as Vive Peru.
Vive Perú volunteers participating in the Community Health Fair with health promoters and community leaders.
Why is it important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
Traveling abroad, learning about new cultures, experiencing new flavors, smells, landscapes, climates, are experiences that should be mandatory in the life of human beings, also when you study a professional career and seek to leave your mark on the society in which you live; It is important to have a global view of international problems that allows you to propose more efficient strategies.
Why do you think learning a new language is important?
Learning another language, be it English or Spanish, opens the doors to a world of opportunities and learning. Traveling to a country that speaks another language and being able to communicate will make your experience more satisfying and efficient. In any case, Vive Perú does not close the doors to those who do not speak Spanish, because we have translators who facilitate the stay of our volunteers in Peru.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
A significant trip is one that generates an impact on the place I visit, it is a trip in which I generate close connections and significant learning for my personal and professional life and makes me question the great social differences. Having the opportunity to live with a different culture and experience its customs.
