Andean Indigenous Communities Immersion
Outskirts of Cuzco, Peru
→ Prices start from US$945.00 for 2 weeks
Volunteering with indigenous communities
Indigenous communities in Peru are comprised of a large number of ethnic groups that have been inhabiting the country for thousands of years and even since before the arrival of the Spaniards.
However, and despite their long history, there is often intense pressure for indigenous communities to join the global economic system, which may in fact offer some benefits, but also threatens their culture, land, and way of life.
The best answer to this issue is to actually understand these communities, their way of life and promote a real cultural exchange experience!
And that’s exactly what our volunteers on this project go through since they live and work with a Quechua community in the outskirts of Cusco, expanding their horizons! If interested in anthropology, gender roles and indigenous cultures this is certainly the project for you!
Volunteer Reviews
Cusco Community Volunteering
Peru has more than 10,000 years of history, boasting a great wealth of cultures and traditions. It is the oldest civilisation in South America, and it is from here that neighbouring countries emerged. It is home to a large number of ethnic groups, each with its own language, traditions, festivities and ways of life.
Many of these communities actually offer some of the best examples of sustainability in the world since they approach life with a high-quality, low-impact way of living. They provide a unique insight into traditional social and organizational structures and they are often socially conscious communities using participatory ways to enhance their spiritual, social, ecological, and economic aspects of life.
Nevertheless, there ́s still a lot of pressure to get them to join the global economic system, which although promising some benefits, it also may threaten their culture and way of life.
We believe that the best way to tackle these misconceptions, prejudices and pressure for change, lies in cross-cultural understanding and exchange! We offer a unique experience to our volunteers where they get to live and work with an indigenous community to understand their history, culture, social issues they are facing and expand their horizons that way. Living in a rural village offers a complete immersion into a longstanding, native, traditional way of life.
Our volunteers also support these families by taking part in tasks such as agriculture, raising corn and potatoes; herding animals including sheep and cows; light construction; working with kids at the local school; and traditional weaving.
A Day In Your Life
Working hours vary according to the needs of the project, but you can expect to work 3-4 hours per day, Monday to Friday.
- You will have the unique once in a lifetime opportunity to actually live and work alongside a Peruvian indigenous community located about one hour away from Cusco in the Andes Mountains.
- You will get to expand your horizons and go through real immersion and understanding a great deal from holistic cultures that promote high-quality, low impact ways of living. You will get to understand the complexities of history and tradition when they merge with modern day life.
- The best way to promote this cultural exchange is to actually support and work side by side with the locals. You will get the chance to help the families by caring for their animals and livestock, helping with agricultural work, weaving, creating textiles, learning to prepare traditional foods, assisting with local construction projects, and working with children at the local school.
- Enjoy your free time on the outskirts of the former Capital of the Inca Empire and be amazed by this beautiful city and the hundreds of tourism opportunities you´ll be able to experience, including a visit to Machu Picchu, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World!
This project starts every Monday throughout the year. We generally ask for volunteers to arrive at this project the day before on Sunday and you can volunteer from 2 weeks up to 12 weeks. Projects last day is on Saturday.
(This project remains open over the Christmas period)
2 weeks – US$945.00
3 weeks – US$1,125.00
4 weeks – US$1,295.00
Additional weeks – US$165/week
Project Surcharge – US$85/week
