Plans for 2010: Connecting With Small NGOs

The Voluntraveler team has been speaking with a couple of small charity organizations recently that offer volunteer experiences, and we plan to offer their programs as part of our Voluntraveler mission to place excellent volunteers in exceptional programs. Partnerships like these will be our focus moving into 2010.

If you know of a small grassroots charity that is both in need of volunteers and can offer them a meaningful experience that is safe and created with sustainability in mind, please contact us.

The larger volunteer organizations have a very loud "voice" with a huge marketing budget and many staff. One of our goals for 2010 is to help pool the resources and connections of smaller organizations like Para el Mundo to help raise the profile of the little charities running on a shoestring, who need volunteers and funding. In many ways these smaller charities can offer a better, more immersive volunteer experience, especially for volunteers staying longer than a few weeks - something many of the larger adventure travel companies and volunteer organizations don't really focus on.

To keep up with what we are doing, you can follow us on twitter.

You can also find us on facebook.

Volunteer Update from Mancora Peru

(Photo: Volunteers and friends Ann, Armando, Dave, Alex, and Sarah at a beach bonfire)

Hello! My name is Elise, and I am a current volunteer here in Mancora, Peru! I might be updating every so often with exciting news or inane anecdotes (most likely the latter) just to give you an idea of what life is like in Mancora.

After having a full house (8 people! We should have applied to be on 'the Real World') things are mellowing out as now it is just Jason, Samantha, me, and our adorable gatas (cats) Toffee and Eddy. We have been here for about a month and a half, although I am not very good at keeping track so it may have been longer. Time goes way too fast here! We are always busy with projects (I even make time for a paid job from my university which I do via the internet) and somehow, never get sick of surfing.

Recent events include:

• Learning to make homemade ice cream from a friend who owns a restaurant in town
• Drawing up the final sketch for the mural that the Club de Chicas will be painting in their school and preparing for the next meeting on Friday (look forward to pictures!)
• Playing endless games of dodgeball during rec time at Robin Hood (they call it 'Mata-gente' here: literally translated to 'kill people'. Don't worry, its very fun and not violent)
• Celebrating the 4th of July by finishing off an awesome day of surfing and beach volleyball with a barbeque at a friend's house involving excessive amounts of pasta salad, potato salad, s'mores, hot dogs, red beans, and tuna burgers.
• Elise attempting to make the pathetically uncomplicated dish 'Mala Rabia' and ruining dinner for everyone. Luckily the shop across the street makes amazing cake and juice.

Upcoming events include:

• Painting the mural!
• Heading out with the Dengue team tomorrow morning to do our usual rounds of water testing and larvae-cide distribution
• Saying goodbye to our housemate, Alex, this evening as she heads for a week of trekking in Cuzco!
• Pineapple Challenge: Elise, Sam, and Jason attempting to make as many recipes involving pinapple in one weekend as possible. (Lets see if this actually happens or if we just eat all the pineapple)

Feel free to e-mail if you have any questions about life in Mancora! We'll be in touch.

Best,
Elise

Mary Donohue - House Manager and Volunteer

Hi everyone. My name’s Mary Donohue. I’m a current Para el Mundo (PaM) volunteer and the House Manager of the PaM house in Máncora, Peru. I’m going to be contributing a little something every week to the Voluntraveler blog to give everyone a little insight into life in Máncora. 

I’ve been living here since September 2008 and absolutely love it. I work with the Ministry of Health’s Dengue and Malaria Prevention Program that operates out of the local government-run health clinic. Because our work consists of inspecting people’s water deposits for signs of mosquito larvae, I have probably been in about 75% of the homes in town and have therefore gotten to meet tons of great people. 

The people in Máncora are wonderful and many have made me feel like part of the community. If anyone has any questions about volunteering, Máncora, living in Peru, or anything at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me by responding to my posts!

The Kitten

One of the memorable experiences I had in Mancora, was finding a kitten on the front porch of the volunteer house. She was the smallest kitten I've ever seen and she was lying on her side, barely moving. I got some milk and she was able to suck it out of my hand, which instantly revived her. She ate a lot and then took a nap on my lap. I sat with her for hours, feeding her and letting her sleep next to me.

The two cats, Toffee and Fat Eddy, that live in the volunteer house now were rescued from a dumpster and PaM has the reputation of saving animals. I guess someone left this tiny kitten, hoping we could help.

I was leaving in less then a week and knew I had to find him a home. I enlisted the help of Gaby, the wonderful volunteer coordinator that will help you even when she doesn't have the time. Basically we were trying to find a home for a baby that needs to be fed every two hours, kept warm (not hard in Mancora), and stimulated to go to the bathroom. Amazingly, one of the volunteers Caitlin, with the support of her parents Michelle and Maggie, agreed to take on the kitten. I was so relieved and grateful I almost cried.

So many animals in Mancora need help and don't get it. I was happy to play a small role in this one cats life, but also sad to know that I couldn't do more for so many other animals. I dream of a veterinarian volunteering in Mancora and I would love to return and start a community run animal rescue.