DWC in Lima, Peru - May 2011

Volunteering with DWC is a great experience. You feel like you really contribute to the betterment of a community. We worked in a severly impoverished area where there was a lot of malnutrition and we constructed an addition to the school which was a new kitchen, dining room and workshop. It took us about a month to do. Everyday tasks were getting lunch ready in the morning, taking an hour combie ride to the worksite then getting started. We did all the hammering, sawing, nailing.. manual labor basically. I learned to build a wall and reinforce it, to cement (the South American way) and we also puttied, primed and painted the building. Beyond the work we did, we got to hang out with some amazing kids. Even with the language barrier, it was still so fun to goof around with them or just help the mothers in the kitchen by taking their little ones off their hands while they prepared a meal for over a hundred kids. We played soccer and sang and learned some Spanish! We got to live in a hostel with our whole group where we became a family. We cooked or went out for dinner. We toured around Lima and we went to a place called Huacachina for the weekend, where we went dune buggying!
There were some challenges along the way. The language barrier is the most pronounced. If you can learn some Spanish before you go, it'll be worth it! Getting around by local transit can be a challenge aswell, we mostly just walked around our neighbourhood or had other Peruvians if we were going out somewhere different. The work at the school is very tiring and can be a little slow moving, and you have to remember that we are providing a service and things may not go as planned. There were days we were all very frustrated by the way things were going but you just need to be patient and have an open mind. If you do, you will have the most amazing experience! I knew most of the people on my trip but I did meet a few others and that was pretty amazing too. You get such a great opportunity and learn to love to share it with new people.
My trip to Peru was pretty unbelievable, if you have this opportunity.. take it!