The ideal person to volunteer with Bright Futures Peru is someone who has at least an intermediate level of Spanish speaking ability (the person must be able to communicate fairly fluently with the kids and teachers) and is passionate about helping elementary school-aged children learn reading, writing, and math.  A volunteer should be understanding of the social and economic situation of the kids they will be working with.

A volunteer should be responsible concerning their personal behavior and appearance and act as a good role model while working with the school kids.  A volunteer should be an emotionally stable person (especially when in uncomfortable situations). The primary focus of a volunteer should be the volunteer work with the kids, however, there will still be plenty of time for tourism, socializing, and having fun after school hours and during the weekends and holidays.

The ideal amount of time for a volunteer to stay with Bright Futures Peru is one to three months (during a semester off from college classes for example).  If the volunteer has had previous experience living or traveling in South America that is a plus but is not necessary.

A person who is thinking about volunteering with Bright Futures Peru should know that Bright Futures Peru is a new organization.  It was formed to recruit students from the United States to help the teachers expand the existing programs at the Indoamerica elementary school and the associated community center across the street from the school called ‘Niños del Oro’.  That means that if you volunteer with us, you will be among the first to do so and you will be helping to grow Bright Futures Peru so that it may in the future help many more students from La Esperanza and also help students from the United States have a fantastic way to improve their Spanish speaking skills and also learn about Peru.

Being new doesn’t mean Bright Futures is not ready for you!  You will have the support of a former Peace Corps volunteer (Chris Payne) who lived in Bolivia and Peru for 2.5 years (Chris now works as a firefighter in Pembroke Pines, FL) and also several teachers who have lived in Peru their entire lives.  So if you do decide to volunteer with Bright Futures, you can feel secure knowing that you will be supported by Chris and the teachers as much as you need to adapt to living in the city of Trujillo.  There will be a lot of time for socializing with local people and exploring the city, all with the support of Chris and the teachers that work with Bright Futures Peru.

For more information about Volunteering, please click on the link that takes you to the ‘Volunteering Details‘ section of the website.