I feel very fortunate to have been able to volunteer with the light and leadership initiative! I just left Huaycan a few days ago and although I was only with the program for a short time I miss is deeply. I have volunteered internationally with a few other organizations and this one was by far the best experience yet. The program is extremely well run and does unbelievable things in Huaycan, the community it is based in. LLI makes you feel right at home when you walk into the house. The accommodations are comfortable and clean. I really felt like I was sitting in my own living room after the first day there! The food provided and is made by the sweetest peruvian women and is delicious! Lara, the woman who started LLI makes you feel very safe and taken care of and makes the whole experience very personal and meaningful. She cares so much about the program and is very involved with everything that goes on with the volunteers from their work in the community to their safety and fun during their time off. Not only are you very safe and taken care of while in Peru through LLI, you are also Doing amazing things with the women and children and are really making a difference. The program takes advantage of every volunteer and uses everything that each different person brings to the table. Your ideas and suggestions as a volunteer are listened to and really heard and the program gives you the flexibility to make the biggest impact possible while in Peru. The children and families that you work with in Huaycan are wonderful and so appreciative for everything you do for them. One of the best parts of the program was getting to live in the heart of the community with a diverse group of like minded, interesting people who all share one common goal. I would 100% recommend the light and leadership initiative to anyone who wants to volunteer internationally and really wants the experience to be rewarding, exciting, safe, and fulfilling.
The Light and Leadership Initiative
I was a volunteer with Light and Leadership from Match to June 2010, almost four months. As a volunteer, you live together in a house, right in the middle of the community you are living in. The food provided is fantastic, the house is very secure with 24 hour security guards, and the atmosphere is incredibly friendly and welcoming. The organisation is becoming more international as well, I was the first Brit, but there were increasingly more europeans and non North Americans.
As a volunteer you are expected to take initiative in what you are doing. In teaching roles, or community development and the women's programme. You are fully supported throughout this, but it gives you the opportunity to have your own input, your own ideas.
The organisation is quite young, but that can be to an advantage, as it is not stuck in any rutts, and is constantly open to new ideas, new ways of doing things, new ventures. It is an incredibly exciting thing to be a part of, and is by far the most amazing and rewarding thing i have ever done in my life.
Durant l'été 2009, j'ai effectué un stage de bénévolat dans l'ONG "Light and Leadership Initiative" au Pérou. Jy ai découvert des personnes merveilleuses et une culture trés interessante.Cette toute récente ONG travaille dans le secteur de l'Education à Huaycan ,un bidonville situé à 1H30 de Lima. Cette ONG s'occupe nottament des femmes et des enfants. Durant ces deux mois j'ai donné des cours de français aux enfants et fait toutes les activités autour du sport! Les autres volontaires donnés les cours d'anglais, et il y avait des cours de danse et d'art plastique, et aussi des projets leadership. Cette experience fut extraordinaire, tous les jours j'apprenais de nouvelles choses sur moi, la langue, la population , le pays. L'ONG a fait du chemin depuis et propose aujourd'hui encore plus d'activités pour les enfants. Le Pérou est un pays magnifique où la population vous acceuille à bras ouverts et ne demande qu'à apprendre de l'autre. De plus, la famille et l'ONG sont des personnes avec une grande envie de découvrir des cultures étrangeres et d'aider grâce à notre soutien leur population.
At this point in time, I have participated as an intern in the Light and Leadership program for about two months. As volunteer here you are taking care of perfectly, with secure housing, lots of delicious food, and everything else you might need. Right after you´re arrival, you immediately feel like you are a part of one big family with several Peruvian mothers taking care of you and sisters from all over the world to have lots of fun with.
With two more months to go, it feels like my time in Peru won´t be long enough. Before coming here I could never imagine having such a great time here and I´m already sure that I won´t want to leave all of this behind in December when it´s time for me to go home. It is incredible to help the Peruvian population in Huaycan. My main task here is to organize fieldtrips and projects for the children, which is just amazing. The joy on their faces when they have a day out makes everything worth it. I still remember my first fieldtrip when we visited the ruins in Huaycan. Although the ruins are in their own village, most of the kids had never heard of them before - let alone they visited them. All kids were so excited and they were just running around the place to see and learn as much as possible. At the end of the trip, they didn´t stop thanking us. Everybody is so grateful and you really have the feeling that you can make a difference in their lives. The kids living in this area are so different than the ones in Holland I was used to – here they are eager to learn new things and give you the feeling of being indispensable.
Light and Leadership is very flexible with regards to their volunteers and the things they want to do. When you come up with a new idea for the programs, they will listen to you and help you wherever they can. In this organization you are not treated as just another volunteer, but everybody is truly working together to help the people of Huaycan. Volunteering with the Light and Leadership in Huaycan is the perfect combination of doing something useful and just having the best time of your life.
