Pages for Peru
For those of you who may not know me, I'm Amanda Zirn! Thank you for taking the time to read this!
I'm 26 years old and am extremely passionate about two things: reading and traveling. I grew up surrounded by books and when I started thinking about how many children in the world grow up without the joy of books in their lives, I decided I wanted to do something about it.
Below you'll find all the details about my trip to Peru, where I'll be volunteering at a Peruvian orphanage and bringing a suitcase full of books for the children.
From July 24 - 30, 2016 I will be volunteering in Cusco, Peru at an orphanage run by Maximo Nivel – a non-profit that aspires to change children’s situations by providing caring & nurturing volunteers to work & play with them.
In addition to volunteering for a week, I will also be taking an entire separate piece of luggage full of children's books for the orphange, as every home & child needs a library.
Poverty, abuse, and alcoholism have left many children in Peru without families. The orphanages support and protect these children. Outside the relative protection of orphanages, hundreds of poor children live and sleep on the streets of Peru, Costa Rica, and Guatemala (countries where Maximo Nivel operates). Street children projects focus on providing these boys and girls with shelter, food, and education. Various educational, recreational, and health projects are ongoing to support these unfortunate children.
After volunteering for a month in Costa Rica & seeing how big of an impact I could make, I have been inspired to volunteer again. I love to travel and what better way to travel & experience a different culture than to help volunteer abroad?
During my stay I will be staying with a host Peruvian family with other volunteers and will be given two meals a day (lunch is my responsibility since I will be working during the day). Living is comfortable and my accommodation will have electricity, running water and western bathrooms. Not all host homes have wifi due to the expense but I will have access to wifi at my local volunteer office. During my stay I will also be taking daily Spanish classes so I can better communicate with the locals and children.
Since I will have weekends off, I plan on exploring the beautiful country of Peru. Visiting Machu Picchu has always been on my bucket list and I'm extremely excited to be able to cross this off my list as I will be taking the hike up to see this 15th century Inca ruin. (All costs for personal excursions & exploration have been left out of my fundraising budget as I will be paying for these out-of-pocket).
This trip will be extremely meaningful to me because I am such a passionate believer in the importance of reading - especially for children. Being able to impact these children's lives will be a life-changing and memorable experience that I would not be able to replicate elsewhere.
Being able to bring books into the lives of these children will be amazing in every way a book can bring magic into a child's life. With the money I raise, I will be buying children's books for all ages in both English and Spanish. In addition to buying new books, I will also be collecting lightly used children's books to help full my suitcase. (Please contact me if you wish to donate used books!)
It makes me incredibly sad to think of these children growing up without parents. To think that they also don't even have any books to help them escape their hard lives, makes their situation truly unimaginable.
Please help me bring the magic of books to these children’s lives!
Breakdown:
$640 for airfare (purchased! & saved $400!)
$50 for extra luggage to carry books & supplies
$565 for registration fee & volunteer costs for 1 week (food, shelter, in-country support, etc.)
$150 for volunteer travel insurance
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$1,405
-$230 from T-Shirt Fundraiser
-$195 from cash donations
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$790
Costs I am taking care of:
Any costs not covered by fundraising
Immunizations
Spanish language classes while in Peru
Any books that cannot be collected through donations, I will probably purchase a large quantity of children's book in Spanish
1 week unpaid leave
All lunches & additional food
Any excursions/adventures
Any monetary donations collected that exceed my fundraising goal will be used to purchase the following items that are needed in Cusco:
- Children's vitamins
- Prenatal vitamins
- Adult vitamins
- Hygiene items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, bars of soap)
- Basic medical supplies (latex gloves, bandages, band-aids, antiseptics, aspirin, and other pain relievers)
It is important to note that any additional books collected through my mission that I cannot fit in the luggage will be donated to Read Aloud Delaware.
