About VESA
VESA’s humanitarian and conservation projects aim to provide direct action support to communities in parts of the world overlooked by traditional charities and aid organisations.
Learn moreRead about our community infrastructure and village school education project in Ecuador and the achievements of both our VESA staff and all the wonderful people who have assisted during the season. And a special thank you to Maria Jose, Xavier and Shauna who have been exceptional team leaders for 2019 - 2020
XAVIER – Construction Projects
We started the season in a new community and were very excited to meet everyone there. The children and the people were very happy that VESA is there, so the adventure of helping begins.
Rumi Urcu, the name of the new community, means mountain of rocks, and all of us realized why it was named like this when digging. Most of the 25 families live on the top on the mountain, so carrying gravel, bricks and sand was fun!
Days of sun, intense hard work and very hot and sometimes after feeling the extreme heat entering the river it was so refreshing, and it was a challenge to find the places to extract the material and very beautiful sight.
THE FIRST BATHROOM IS COMPLETELY FINISHED!!!!!!!
MARIA-JOSE - Education
New games were introduced to play at CENTRO EDUCATIVO ALBERTO CHIMBO and there were memorable times to meet for the very first time all the students at the school and the teachers too.
We loved to see how exited the children were every morning when we were arriving at school. They are smart and are ready to learn a lot of English lessons.
We worked with 22 students who were separate by age. Our first job was to make friends and our volunteers were a great help with so many ideas to play with the kids, games and songs, we had a great time.
Before the classes we provided some supplies to each student thanks to Kayla B : ) so they were ready to have their English classes.
Basic words like: HELLO, GOOD MORNING, HOW ARE YOU, WHAT IS YOUR NAME AND THE ALPHABET. We worked every day with games and songs. We made Christmas trees together for the students to decorate their rooms at home.
Shauna - Guide
The jungle trek was as amazing as always.
On the 6-hour trek to the jungle lodge, we learnt so much about all the plant life and their medicinal purposes within the communities in the Amazon! Everyone loved learning all about the Quechua communities and their customs and traditions, which are so different to what we are used to. The jungle lodge where we stay is was an amazing experience, living without electricity for 4 days was a big change for everyone, however the volunteers took it in their strides and enjoyed being cut off from the world. We played games and told stories every evening to keep ourselves entertained.
XAVIER – Construction Projects
How good it felt to be part of this program! New group and with all the desire to move forward in our work.
We started in the best way with the group excited to do a good job, the sun was very intense, but the determination of the group was great.
The children of the community as they always are, were our angels and they helped us in what they can and they are always very fun, and after the strenuous work, jumping into the river to cool down feels so good!
We played soccer and it was so fun to bet XD moisturizing drinks. Strong groups like this make me proud to belong to this great family of VESA
We also completed and painted the last four bathrooms that were in process at the last community.
MARIA-JOSE – Education
We finished the season with a great group of volunteers.
Despite the heat and humidity we worked like a team and helped each other to make the job easier. We had a great time at school with the children and we were able to see all the smiles, happiness and a warm welcome from the children every morning when we arrived at school. I am pretty sure they will never forget you!
Shauna – guide
The jungle treks were absolutely brilliant as always. The volunteers learned all about the Quechua community and their customs and traditions and got to meet many Quechua people and even learned some Quechua words.
We learned how to live simply and sustainably and hope that our volunteers will use these lessons in their everyday lives.