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 moreCommunity Infrastructure and Village School Education Project
Journey with us beneath the canopy of the most remarkable jungle in the world: the Amazon. This intrepid adventure acquaints you with remote Amazonian villages, fascinating wildlife and the magnificent Andes Mountains. With your help, VESA provides villages with much needed amenities, restores school facilities and teaches English and other key skills to students.
Week 1: Ever thought you’d be living in a remote Amazonian jungle town? This is your week one accommodation, neighboured by troops of playful monkeys. Each morning you’ll take a canoe to an indigenous community that’s otherwise inaccessible, and help out with our infrastructure and teaching projects. Your construction project mission is to build bathrooms/toilet blocks for the Indigenous communities that flank the Napo River. You’ll work alongside our tour leaders and qualified tradespeople to build eco-friendly and self-composting toilets. This project helps prevent river pollution, disease and infection, as traditionally these villages have gone without these facilities, using the river or surrounding land instead.
The education project takes place in the community school, where you’ll assist in teaching basic English to children aged 5-12. English language skills are crucial to local villagers when gaining employment and growing the sustainable tourism industry. These jobs can include guides, canoe drivers, van drivers, and waiters/waitresses. We develop lesson plans based on the age groups, with exams given at the end of the programs. As well as English the VESA team educates older students in the areas of environment, conservation and sanitation, and teaches art and craft to the younger students.
Week 2: This week, experience the world’s most magnificent landscapes and wildlife up close on our jungle tour! Discover the wilderness as you hike through ancient trees, canoe and tube down jungle-lined rivers. Pay a visit to an Amazonian animal refuge and even meet with a Shaman (Witch Doctor). Get your adrenaline pumping as you white water-raft from the peaks back down to civilisation.
From here we travel high into the Andes Mountains, to the beautiful town of Bańos. In the high altitudes and cool climate of Bańos you’ll have the chance to marvel at the Volcano Tungurahua, zipline through breathtaking scenery and dare to attempt the famed tree swing at the end of the world.
From Bańos we say our goodbyes and head back to Quito, where you can fly home or continue on your journey through South America.
