June 24th Initial Entry

Somehow our very first blog entry did not post so I’m reposting it now, this was written on June 24, sorry that it is out of order.

Tomorrow the BOYANCI crew arrives in Peru. We are a group of 10 volunteers all from the US. The trip participants (Kevin, Thomas, Roma, Sarah, David, Alene, Amy, Erika and Vanessa) will all also hopefully post entries about their experiences. It will be a first time visit for 8 of the 10 volunteers (Vanessa and I have been before). Keep track of us via this blog or from the link on our website.

The week begins with some fun tourist activities and then we begin the volunteer work which is the real purpose of the trip. We will be teaching in schools in a shantytown called Pachacutec and at night volunteering in orphanages in Callao. The schools and orphanages were built and are run by Coprodeli. Coprodeli is a non-profit run by Padre Miguel and supported by Coprodeli US which conducts fundraising and applies for grants to help support the amazing work that Coprodeli does to help develop the most impoverished areas of Peru. Learn more about Coprodeli’s great work on the "Be Uplifting" tab at www.boyanciwine.com or go to Coprodeli’s site directly at www.coprodeliusa.org.

Coprodeli owns a house in a poor area of Callao that serves as a dormitory for its volunteers. The house sleeps 14 and while quite Spartan it does provide the basics (electricity, running water sometimes hot, single beds 2 and 3 to a room and a kitchen). The volunteer house is walking distance to the orphanages which makes it very convenient and allowed us to make additional unplanned visits to the orphanages. The volunteer house is about an hour drive from Pachacutec and we will leave bright and early each day to drive out to Pachacutec to teach in the schools for 8 hours and then return to Callao and bring dinner to the orphanages and play with the kids there. Gotta go get on a plane.

Cheers,

Tom
BOYANCI Wine