Program Reviews

I really enjoyed working for otra cosa. I worked in a town where the children had no running water or electricity. I found this experience to be really enriching to my life. I would assist the teacher with Pre-k students along with helping them with crafts. The children become very attached which brought me great joy. I would reccommend working with Otra Cosa.

From experience, volunteering can either be a dream or a nightmare. A nightmare if, after a bumpy 15 hour bus drive, you arrive in the middle of nowhere only to find out that you are not expected, a nightmare if the materials needed for your construction project never actually arrive, a nightmare when you're comfortable clean bedroom is in fact a rundown wooden shack where termites and fleas have set up home.
Otra Cosa was in many aspects a dream volunteering experience. As soon as I arrived I was taken care of by the team; accomodation was set up with a lovely local couple and very quickly I got to work on my project. The work in itself was highly rewarding as I taught English to adults. I've taught many different cultures in my life, but nothing was like teaching these people who have such a thirst for English; here more than anywhere, English is a way out of poverty. They are so curious and it's quite humbling to learn about them and the strides some go to to come to your classes.
But what was great about Otra Cosa, was the inititative I could take. With another volunteer we were encouraged to implement a structure, including syllabuses, so that there's more continuity for future English teachers. Ultimately, the students would benefit most from this and it was great to have the full backing of the Otra Cosa team.

Of course, what you also get at Otra Cosa is the surf, the sun and the fun! Huanchaco is so laid-back that you cannot enjoy your time there...

first off ill describe the scene: Huanchaco is a small village on the coast of Peru, a couple of miles away from Trujillo. It is a very relaxed place to be, the pace of life is SLOW (in a good way). It is also the cheapest place i have encountered for food, and we went on to Bolivia.

I spent 1 month in Huanchaco in march 2012 teaching english to some of the children and helping out in the school there. The school is called "CEP school" it was run by Padre Tumba .

A typical day in my life in Huanchaco went something like this:

7:00 am Wake up in a very safe house (the volunteer house, highly recommended!) eat fresh mango which was bought from the local market (there was a maggot in one once but extra protein all the way.)

8:30 am arrive at school

I would help some of the other volunteers teaching english, have a go at using my spanish with the kids and teachers. They are really friendly kids - cheaky but friendly.

throughout the day I would also help with the P.E lessons, the garden and any other jobs they needed doing. It could be hard work in the sun but the children at the school are really friendly kids.

the school itself is nothing close to what I was used to. For instance, for long periods of time throughout the day there was no running water.

However this said the school is constantly growing. I was amazed to see how far it had come on donations - the padre showed us pictures of how it started out and it is inspiring to see what they have created from nothing.

13:30 finished school. now i could go to the beach, relax, go to a spanish lesson or help out on another project.

In general there always seemed to be alot of socialising between the volunteers. we would eat in the evening together, sometimes go out to a bar, and with the beach so close we had alot of chilled out fires on the beach.

I wish I could have stayed longer.

My name is Diego, I am from Brazil and I have spent 6 weeks volunteering with OCN as an English teacher in Huanchaco.

I was living in a hostel two blocks away from the School I worked. I taught English to 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade. The kids were very attentive to my lessons and very eager to learn. The better we speak Spanish the easier it would be for us to run the classes however the most important virtue required, in my opinion, is to have charisma with the kids and an outgoing personality. Sometimes the local teacher remain in the classroom as we teach and sometimes we are in our own. In any case, I had authority to send homework and to make exams.

I returned to my country with the feeling that his NGO is very serious and reliable. And I recommend joining their team, thats why Im taking this time to write this review.