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SPREADING THE LOVE

In order to increase the positive impact of Traveller Not Tourist we have decided to go international! This means that we will be able to support people who are helping others by providing structure, paperwork, procedures, marketing and advice to projects all over the world which already work or want to work with foreign volunteers. 

Part of this process involves the founders handing over the in-country responsibilities we currently hold. Therefore Traveller Not Tourist Arequipa will now be run on the ground by Sofia Balbuena, supported by super volunteer Nicola Pembridge in the UK. It will continue to work with the Casa Hogar Luz Alba Orphanage but will not be working with any other projects for the foreseeable future.

We will be working with Sofia and Nicola to ensure that Traveller Not Tourist continues to offer a safe, supportive and fun environment for travellers to volunteer in.

Due to these changes, there are some differences to what we will be offering after June 1st 2013.

The main difference is that the accommodation will be moving to Ceica Peru Spanish School. Please see the "Our Projects" Page for more info

Volunteers will still have the benefit of a Volunteer Co-ordinator, induction, in-country support etc

If you would like to volunteer with us, please follow the ammended instructions on the Volunteer programs page of our website. 

The Admin Fee will remain the same.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

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 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!

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.

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 Director) 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 Director) previously volunteered with a conservation project in Malaysia, & a school & an animal refuge in Bolivia. She grew up in Shropshire, England (although she was actually born in Lima, Peru) & dreamed of doing something like this for years but never thought it would really happen. She was very happy when it did!

Jay and Luis set up TNT in 2007 and now work 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

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.

We have certain criteria by which we run our organisation, these are:

Bullet point Our primary concern are the needs of the beneficiaries

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 people living in poverty (without having to pay large sums of money).

Bullet point All donations may be donated directly to the projects and Admin Fees are used for legitimate organisation needs.

Bullet point We take volunteer complaints/comments/suggestions seriously and work with our volunteers and in-country partners 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 the country they are visiting and to give something back.

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 18th March 2013