A BIG thank you…Elise

Nationwide Cleaners kindly sponsored me to go on a trip of a lifetime to Peru for 4 weeks to volunteer on a range of community projects in rural villages.  

Our first project was situated in Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 3812m. We worked at a school, an orphanage and a kindergarten painting a playground, making a path, and laying the foundations for a dining area. We also travelled to an amazing floating island called Uros, which was entirely man made from reeds! Later we camped overnight on a beach, and spent time chatting to the locals and their children. 

Our second project was in Caylloma, in the Colca canyon, going up to an altitude of 4300m. We spent our time building 2 greenhouses for a newly built school, working between brick making, mud mixing and trench 

digging. We celebrated National Peruvian Day with the locals on 28th July, and hiked into the Colca Canyon, experiencing some amazing views and fantastic wildlife. 

We then embarked on the 5 day Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu, going up to an altitude of 4630m! We walked for roughly 7 hours a day, hiking up mountains and hills, and going down through cloud forests. We saw some fantastic views, and experienced a lot of rain! We had little sleep and no showers for the duration of our trek, but spent our last day at Machu Picchu – one of the great wonders of the world.  

Our third and final project was based in Maras, down to an altitude of 3380m. We worked on community and school toilet building, and building a large greenhouse for the educational and nutritional needs of young school children. We managed to complete the building of the greenhouse and toilets just in time as their last project team for the summer. It was very rewarding to see our last projects completed.  

I am so grateful for the support of Nationwide Cleaners in helping me to raise the funds for this trip. I feel so 

privileged to have been able to go and help on so many important projects and impact many local communities, and to have experienced such an amazing culture during my time away.