Working with Kids—Volunteer in Peru!

My experience in Peru has been absolutely amazing! Working with the kids has been such a wonderful experience, not only do I get a ton of new friends but I get to learn with them. The teachers are so wonderful and are very patient with my Spanish. The kids are the sweetest ever and are so eager to learn. I get to work with the 3 year olds and it is such a rewarding experience. I am learning so much in the classroom and the kids help me with my Spanish so much. Overall, I recommend working on this project to really feel like you are part of the community and see the culture first hand. Exploring cusco has also been so rewarding. I get to take the bus to my placement everyday which is super cool because I am with all of the locals and get to see real life peru. I am grateful to be experiencing this more as a local rather than a tourist. My host family has been super kind and makes me feel like family. I have felt extremely safe and can even walk around at night by myself with no worries. My host siblings and I have also often talked about how the food has never been bad since we´ve been here. This country is so so beautiful and I cannot wait to keep exploring all that it has to offer.

Photos

<we had a lot of fun working with the kids at our daycare placement. <also, the care and attention of the <maximo Nivel staff was top notch. <i had a minor illness while abroad and they got me all the treatment <i needed to be back on my feet in a day without missing my excursions.

IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE FOR PERSONAL GROWTH, EVERYONE IS VERY WELCOMING, KIND AND HELPFUL. IT WAS WONDERFUL SPENDING TIME WITH THE CHILDREN, HELPING THEM WITH THEIR HOMEWORK, AND PLAYING WITH THEM. I LOVED BEING HERE.

I had a wonderful time volunteering in Cusco! I worked in an after school program to support kids in need. I was able to provide emotional support, assist with homeowrk, and help with their English. Can not wait for my next opportunity!

Everyone was very supportive and welcoming. The school was amazing. Would recommend to others.

Maximo Nivel is amazing - Lucas and Gabby went above and beyond not only to help smooth out some bumps, but to make us feel happy and comfortable and taken care of in a way that I have never experienced with any other program!

Victor was the kindest most caring host dad and I couldn't imagine being with anyone else. My placement was beyond amazing and I am sad to leave. Maximo was beyond helpful with everything I needed and any questions I had.

Staff at Maximo are very helpful & kind. They made me feel prepared and comfortable for our project in Cusco, gave great recommendations and felt supported :) Thank you so much!!

Carmen and Rogelio´s homestay was very nice and enthusiastic. Their homecooked meals were GREAT!! I loved staying with them. In addition, the teachers from Niño Divino are very nice. They gave us goodbye gifts which touched my heart - the bread!! Also, the kids were so cute and everybody was nice. All in all, I LOVE THEM ALL!!!

Our family of 5 had the absolute best week volunteering with Maximo Nivel in Cusco Peru! Three of us worked in the preschool with children, while the other 2 worked at the zoo. Cusco is a fabulous city, and I can't recommend Maximo Nivel enough. They were wonderful in communicating before and during the project and in providing meaningful volunteer work. We loved our host stay experience as well. 10/10 recommend!

This has been our first international volunteering experience and has been very positive; we have learned how much more we can do to help, not just as an individual but as a community. Our goal is to create or join an organization to help more and reach more places and needs.

I had an incredibly rewarding and insightful placement at Intiwaynakuna which means "youth of the sun". The few things that struck me with this project placement was the heart and eagerness of the children to want to interact and learn English. It was evident from the time i arrived they were ready to be taught. Additionally, Dariela, who is the Program Director is completely dedicated to making the project work and made every effort to communicate the area of need, via my Google Translate as I didn't speak Spanish. The initial language barrier didn't last long as we were able to communicate via hand gestures and mostly via Google Translate. It also encouraged me to use the Spanish words to ask them questions. The Children were warm and patient with me as i took time to understand their request and support them with their homework which ranged from Spanish, some Math and mostly English. I really enjoyed the creative and playtime portion of the project were i was able to use creative ways to teach them English as well as have fun with them outside playing hop scotch as well as their local games. This project is definitely a special placement with staff and children who are loving and willing to welcome help at any level. I am grateful for having been here for the week long placement and realizing that i learned more from them than i have in a while. If you have a heart for children, are creative or want to fill a need to help children overcome poverty through education then please join this program. Your gift of time, expertise and presence will be very appreciated.

Photos

I will never forget the trip to Peru. I was in Peru for 3 weeks an I loved it. Thanks to Maximo Nivel, I was able to work with children and gain much experience. It was exciting to see how differently the children live. The children immediately grew on me and I will never forget them. I enjoyed playing with the children and helping them with their homework. We have learned a lot from each other. I have also experienced many adventures such as Machu Picchu and the rainbow mountain. Gracias Peru y gracias Maximo Nivel.

It was my first Trip outside of Europe and i was able to gain many new experiences and learn how other cultures are. I learn to appreciate all the things i have in Germany. To begin it was hard to see that some peoples are living in a much worse condition than peoples i see in Germany. The hardest thing was to see the stray dogs living on the streets some of them in bad condition because I'm a huge pet lover. But after a few Days its getting kind of normal for me. Me and my Wife works with Orphan Kids and it was a great experience. I learn new games and even a few new Spanish words. The Kids show us how they lives and we even do the Homeworks with the Kids to gather it was a beautiful time there. We got much Free time to spend to see Cusco and all the Surroundings.

Amazing projects and staff! I really enjoyed spending time with the host family in Yucay. I learned a great amount about plants and farm living. Juana is a caring host who is willing to go the extra mile to ensure volunteers feel at home. Peru is a great location to volunteer and visit.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience very much. Cusco is such fun city and the sense of community was great! I met so many other volunteers. I would recommend taking Spanish courses prior to coming to Cusco if you do not speak English. The language barrier was the most difficult part of the trip. If you learn Spanish, you will have the best experience! :)

I volunteered for 2 weeks in Childcare and 1 week at a Zoo sanctuary. I loved my experience working with amazing kids and my project manager Gisela. Maximo project staff are very supportive and are there every step of the way. My experience at the Zoo was great as well. Got to take care of amazing wild animals and work alongside a great team that treat the am¡nimals like family!

very interesting week because in such a short time we got to work in different projects. I really enjoyed every moment of it. Even the host family was very welcoming and made it it feel like home Thank you Maximo

I spent 4 weeks in Cusco in a childcare program in July-August 2018. I was hosted by a wonderful family just ten minutes away from the city center. Maximo Nivel (the local office) was located exact in the center of Cusco and its staff was really helpful to me. I enjoyed spending time in the cafeteria and all the activities they organized for the volunteers, such as Salsa Class, Cooking Class and the Market Tour. My program was held just 40 minutes away from the office and I used to work with children aged 4-16. I used to spend there 4 hours in the afternoon, giving them food, helping them with their homework and playing games. One of my favorite day there was when we organized a Fashion Show with the children: it was very hard to keep the kids quiet but many important people were there, such as a major's delegate. I also spent my weekends traveling around Cusco, I have been to Machupicchu, Rainbow Mountain, Salt Mines and few other places. I loved spending time there and enjoyed so much meeting new people. I would really recommend to spend few weeks in Cusco, it is hard to manage the cold but it is definitely worth it!

I had the pleasure of working on two projects while being in Cusco for eight weeks. The experience of working construction in the mornings and working with kids in the afternoon was an incredible opportunity for me to help as well as learn. The support from all the Maximo Nivel staff was amazing and made it such a fun experience. These eight weeks at Maximo allowed me to grow as a human being and gave me the opportunity to learn and experience the beautiful culture of Cusco. My experience here has convinced me even more that I want to dedicate my life to social service and I cant thank Maximo enough. My time here was a very impactful and meaningful eight weeks.