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THANKS FOR VISITING!

Thanks for visiting our website, here you can learn about Perú, our organisation and the projects we are working with.

You can also get more information on the tours we offer (with a donation included that goes towards our project work) and the volunteer programs we have available.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments please contact us, we´d love to hear from you!

Now on eBay...

The building the Casa Hogar Luz Alba orphanage currently operates in is just on loan and the owner needs it back! We already have a piece of land but we need your help to build a new orphanage on it. You can help us by "buying a brick" for just £10 (US$15.50 or s/43.50 or click here for currency conversions).

When you buy a PachaPrezzie, you won't actually receive the item (in this case a brick), but you will be helping us to build an orphanage in Peru!

You can buy bricks for yourself or as gifts for friends and family. With each brick you buy, you get a free card, which includes information about the appeal. We can either send the card directly to you, to keep or send on, or we can write your message in the card and send it to the recipient - the choice is yours!

For each brick bought you will also get one entry into the prize draw to win £100 (which has been kindly donated by a past volunteer specifically for this purpose)

If you would like to buy a brick (or more!), please visit our eBay shop.

By the way...It is run by a UK charity called "Pachawawas - Children of the Earth that has been set up to support the projects in Peru)

You will also find a great range of gorgeous Peruvian goodies that will also help us raise the necessary funds to build the orphanage.

Happy Shopping!

GET ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM OUR VOLUNTEERS

See what our volunteers are up to with our live "Tweets" below to help you keep up to date with events in Arequipa.

"Like" us on facebook to chat with past, present and future volunteers and supporters and get more detailed updates.

WATCH OUR PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

Trouble viewing the video or want to see more?

Click here to go to the Traveller Not Tourist YouTube page.

IN THE UK?

Check out our sister organisation "Pachawawas - Children of the Earth" (Registered charity number 1143738, England and Wales)

ABOUT US

Luis and KarinaLuis Antonio Chavez (Co-founder and Manager) has over 15 years experience of working in the tourist industry & has previously owned 2 independent tour companies. He also has experience of working with children having set up & run an orphan community project in Venezuela. He is from Huaraz, Peru & he wanted to set up this organisation because he is sensitive about the suffering of the people of Perú.

Jay and girlJay Chavez (Co-founder and Manager) previously volunteered with a conservation project in Malaysia, & a school & an animal refuge in Bolivia (after a few years working as an Administrator for an environmental company). She is from Shropshire, England & has been dreaming of doing something like this for years because it is a whole lot more satifying than filing & health and safety reports!

Jay and Luis now work for Traveller Not Tourist from the UK. To find out some of the things they are up to check out the UK charity they set up: Pachawawas - Children of the Earth. www.pachawawas.com

CarmenCarmen (In-Country Manager) has 14 years experience in education and has also worked with social projects related to education in rural areas. They say that charity starts at home, it certainly does with us because Carmen is Luis' sister! Although employing her was certainly not an act of charity on our part - more like the other way around! She likes working at Traveller Not Tourist as she finds it more gratifying than teaching in Government run schools.

BrendaPriya (Volunteer Co-ordinator) volunteered with us for three months in 20011, and loved it so much that she decided to come back on a more permanent basis! She has a degree in Spanish and Politics and has previously worked with a refugee organisation in the Canary Islands, and taught English in Spain and the UK. She is excited that her path has led her to Peru, and she is enthusiastic about welcoming new volunteers to all of the great things Arequipa (and, specifically, Traveller Not Tourist) has to offer." 

RoxanaRoxana (Tour Operator) studied Tourism and Hotel Management and has been working in tourism since her first year of study. She says that she believes "that Perú is wonderful country" and she loves to help people get to know it better. She is interested in charity, having worked on projects before, which is one of the reasons she chose to join us.

OUR VISION AND MISSION

Our VISION for the future is to build an organisation which is self-sustaining and also able to sustain the projects we choose to support whilst raising awareness and attracting donations and volunteers.

Our MISSION is to give foreigners visiting Peru the opportunity to be involved in the true peruvian reality and Peruvians the chance to lift themselves out of poverty and believe in the chance of a better world, and then create it.

Within this mission we also have certain criteria by which we run our organisation, these are:

Bullet point Our primary concern are the needs of the children we work with

Bullet point We work hard to ensure that volunteers who work with us can have a rewarding experience, using the skills and passions they bring with them to enrich the lives of children living in poverty (without having to pay large sums of money).

Bullet point All donations are used directly in projects and Admin Fees are used for legitimate organisation needs.

Bullet point We take volunteer complaints/comments/suggestions seriously and work with our volunteers to ensure that we are continuously improving the organisation.

Bullet point We provide a safe, supportive environment for our volunteers whilst simultaneously allowing them to experience the reality of poverty in Peru and help to relieve it.

 

TRAVELLERS vs TOURISTS

We take our name from the premise that there is a distinction between the terms "Traveller" and "Tourist". It has become a widly held belief within travelling communities that aTraveller is someone who considers the environmental and human impact of their journeys and actively strives to reduce the negative and increase the positive influence their presence has on the place they are visiting. In contrast to this a Tourist is someone who does not consider or care about their impact, does not engage with the locals in a meaningful way and may cause a lot of harm through their thoughtlessness. Please note: We don't mean any offence by applying the above labels, we just needed a reasonable way of explaining the differences between the two groups. Obviously, terms such as Eco-tourism and Responsible Tourism kind of confuse the issue. We apologise if anyone does feel offended.

THANKS A LOT!

Of course, we could never have got to this stage without the help and support of a lot of people so we would like to say "Thank You!" to everyone who has helped, be it with kind words, ideas, time, services or donations. Special thanks go to everyone who has volunteered with us. You have really made a difference!

We have had web counter visitors since we uploaded the new website!

Thank you for your interest! If you like what you see, please spread the word, if not, please let us know what we could do better. Un abrazo (a hug), Jay and Luis :-)

Website last updated 22nd March 2012