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Gap Year & Career Gap Ventures > Inca Venture
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Inca Venture Phase 2: Community Development Project in Ecuador & Peru
- Ecuador (weeks 3 and 4)
- Peru (weeks 6 and 7)
Total Time: Four Weeks
“The development project was the most rewarding and challenging aspect of the Venture. I found myself sleeping on a bed made from tree branches in a rural village, where the locals spoke no English, have no real income other than passing tourists, the children have never seen digital cameras or ipods, and only one guy has a car...a red truck that we all
piled into for the drive into town!”
Andy Ferrington, 2005.
Community Development Projects, Ecuador
During the first part of the project phase in Ecuador we divide into two groups and tackle two different community development projects. Venturers can choose either to stay in Quito and join an urban agriculture project, or head to the remote Machalilla National Park to open up forest trails and carry out construction work in local villages.
It’s up to you which project you join in Ecuador: during the language school
you will be briefed by the Project Manager who will tell you exactly what’s
involved on each project. You (the whole group) then have the last week
of the language school to work out who joins which project.
Option 1: Urban Agriculture Project, Quito.
Machalilla National Park: our project partner in
Puerto Lopez, Peru
This project takes place in Puerto Lopez, a small fishing village on
the Pacific coast of Ecuador. We are based in VentureCo's purpose-built
bunkhouse, just outside the village. Machalilla is Ecuador's only coastal
park, known for its stunning beaches, cloud forests and the humpback whales
that can be seen offshore between July and September. Our work within
the park focuses on improving its infrastructure to attract more visitors,
bringing much needed income to the area. The project also involves constructing
facilities in local schools and day-care centres.[[click here
for more]
Aims:
Improve the park's infrastructure and facilities through the construction
of:-
- Footpaths and mountain bike trails.
- Bi-lingual information boards.
- Develop facilities within local villages through the construction
of :-
- Primary school classrooms.
- Day-care centres and playgrounds.
Beneficiaries:
- Machalilla National Park: improved infrastructure and facilities will
attract greater visitor numbers and income to the park.
- Local communities: increased visitor numbers will generate income
for local community in the form of guiding fees, mountain bike hire,
accommodation and food.
- Local children: recent classrooms and day-care centres have been constructed
in Puerto Rico and Chiquilandia, providing children there with a safe
environment in which to learn and play.
- Fishing families: many local families make their living from fishing.
- The classrooms and day-care centres allow parents to leave their children
in a safe environment whilst they are out in the fishing boats.
What will I be doing?:
- Trail Building
VentureCo are involved in constructing two new trails in the park; the
Coastal Trail along the cliff-tops and the Agua Blanca Trail, a mountain
bike trail. Venturers will assist in clearing, building and maintaining
the new trails using machetes. We will also be installing wooden benches
along the trails and erecting bi-lingual information boards. On the
Coastal Trail we will be cutting steps into the cliff-face, members
will have the opportunity to abseil down the cliff-face to cut the steps.
- Construction work
There will always be a building project of some sort, located in one
of the villages within the park. This will involve light to medium construction
work, such as digging foundations, mixing cement, building walls, installing
timber frameworks etc. You will be trained in basic construction techniques,
under the supervision of an experienced builder.
- Working with children
More than half the project sites are in areas where young children live,
so members of the group take it in turns to spend time playing with
the children and teaching them English, allowing the others to get on
with the task in hand.
- Plumbing
Installing simple irrigation systems which involves jointing plastic
hosing, installing header-tanks and fitting valves.
The Great Inca Road Project, Peru
A Rural Community Development Project in the Andes
The town of Huaraz high in the Andes of northern Peru is our base. The expedition brings the group here in time to prepare for two weeks of mountain life. This is a major project and the whole group will work together. The project has been established in association with the Mountain Institute of Peru who have a well-established track record in the area.
The Great Inca Road project aims to generate income from eco-tourism that will benefit local livelihoods in remote Andean communities. VentureCo will be working to build the infrastructure of a new Inca Trail that will take some of the pressure off the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This new Inca Trail follows the Inca footsteps along the Inka Naani (which means Inca Road in the local Quechua dialect) [click here for more]
Project Aims:
To provide a source of income and improve the living standards of remote Andean communities in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, by opening up a new Inca Trail.
Project Tasks:
- Install campsite facilities including cleared camping areas, shelters and sanitation
- Construct tambos (Inca-style mountain huts )
- Construct green houses to improve local diet within villages. Surplus produce being sold to trekkers.
- Reforest selected areas with native Polylepis trees to control soil erosion.
Beneficiaries:
- Communities along the Inca Naani trail through collective income from eco-tourism
- Individual families through home improvement schemes
- The general population
- Visiting tourists and trekkers
- The environment
- The Great Inca Road
What will I be doing?:
- Creating campsites close to the villages.
This is a practical task requiring clearing, levelling and drainage of the camping area. Composting style toilets will be erected and basic shelters constructed. A waste collection system needs to be developed.
- Construction work
Where villages have decided to build a Tambo we will be involved in light construction work.
- Improving nutrition
Where requested we will be constructing micro-greenhouses using timber and thermo-plastic sheeting thus raising the standard of nutrition and providing a surplus of veggies to sell/trade
- Reforestation
Planting Polylepis tree seedlings to create a natural habitat and to create a root system that will
prevent soil erosion.
- Working with the local people
Practice your Spanish and teach the local mountain guides a smattering of English in return!
Your role in making the project work
It's the hard work, dedication and teamwork from Venture groups that gets
each project started: every Venturer plays a vital role in making the
project a success. We find that within every group are a wide range of
skills and talents that can be drawn upon at different stages to complete
the project. For example, interpersonal skills that help the group "bond"
and form an effective team; practical skills such as language, the use
of basic hand-tools and the ability to provide a decent meal from "challenging"
ingredients, all help to make the project team efficient and self-sustaining.
Venturers with a talent for art, music or sport make all the difference
during project "down-time" (especially at our remote sites!)
and a positive approach fired by the desire to help others will provide
the motivation to keep the group on track throughout the project.
Project funding
Funding for the development project comes directly from the VentureCo Trust. For each person that joins a Venture, we as a company, donate $400 to the Trust. 100% of the money the Trust receives (that is every penny!) is spent on projects. To date, the Trust has funded 63 development projects around the world.
For more information on the VentureCo Trust click here, and to read about the projects VentureCo supports, click here.
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