Discover his enthusiastic testimony about his Long Term Project in Peru.
''Teaching English was a new challenge that I was excited, if pretty nervous about taking up. Although at first was a struggle to get used to and it’s certainly incredibly tiring job, I feel like I’ve developed my skills as a teacher and have taken on more and more responsibility within the English team.''
Sam
While I have travelled a lot and volunteered in England before, my experience in Peru is my first time living outside of the country and volunteering full time. I chose to come to SKIP after meeting the director, Liz, at an event organized my Everything’s Possible in Leeds. The organization came across as having clear goals, a methodology and a purpose driving it. It also seemed like somewhere I would be able to work hard and actually be able to contribute.
Before arriving here I had some experience of working with kids and working with organizations but no real experience of teaching. Teaching English was a new challenge that I was excited, if pretty nervous about taking up. Although at first was a struggle to get used to and it’s certainly incredibly tiring job, I feel like I’ve developed my skills as a teacher and have taken on more and more responsibility within the English team. This has given me all sorts of new coordination skills, lesson planning experience and increased self-confidence that I feel that will be incredibly useful both personally and professionally in the future.This can also be paralleled with my experience learning Spanish, this too has developed and I hope will continue to do so throughout the rest of my stay here.
What has struck me most whilst working with SKIP, is the immensely high caliber of volunteers that the organization attracts. People with a vast range of experience from around the world seem to be turning up every day.This means that, although a volunteer based organization, everyone is giving their work the dedication, responsibility and hard work that are required in order to make SKIP successful. It also a great place to learn about the world and live and work with people from a variety of countries.
The experience of living and working in Peru has also been incredible. Trujillo itself is, on the surface, a rather unremarkable place. However, the colonial center is nice, its location near to the beach fantastic and the long-weekend trips that are available from here to explore Peru are incredible. The lifestyle here is also intriguing, stimulating and, at times, frustrating, which makes living here all the more enjoyable. The fact that Peru always lurks just outside the door means that the daily routine is often broken up by exciting adventures in taxis, trips to the enormous markets and the exotic sounds (and smells) of the city.
Finally there are the kids. The most incredible bunch of little people you will ever meet. Insane, frustrating and exhausting beyond belief they definitely are extremely hard work. However, spending time with them, working with them and developing my skills amongst them has been a more rewarding experience than I ever imagined. Getting to know the community and seeing their everyday struggles can be difficult. However seeing the work that SKIP does working with the people and immensely positive results that can be noticed nearly every day insures that we can all feel positive about the contribution we are making.
Sam Webb
Project part of BREAKING BARRIERS
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP
and supported by EACEA
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP
and supported by EACEA
and the Youth in Action Programme
of the European Commission.
For more information about BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING PARTNERSHIP, visit the special webapge in clicking here.
For more information about BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING PARTNERSHIP, visit the special webapge in clicking here.
